Clive Moves Aside

Barry Weiss replaced longtime music exec Clive Davis as Chairman/CEO of the BMG label group April 17th as part of a management shakeup at Sony BMG.

The company’s announcement said Davis will continue to work with top artists as chief creative officer of Sony BMG Worldwide and will report to CEO Rolf Schmidt-Holtz. However, BMG label group president/CEO Charles Goldstuck and Sony BMG COO Tim Bowen will leave the company.

Weiss, 49, brings his expertise as president and CEO of the Zomba Label Group to the job, where he’ll oversee a number of labels and artists including Alicia Keys, Justin Timberlake, OutKast, Chris Brown, Kelly Clarkson and T-Pain.

Davis’ reputation for shaping the careers of top artists like Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, Janis Joplin and Carlos Santana has continued most recently with winners of "American Idol," particularly Clarkson.

The announcement was made as Davis’ current protégé, Leona Lewis, debuted at No. 1 on the Nielsen SoundScan chart with more than 200,000 copies sold. Alicia Keys’ latest, As I Am, has sold more than 2 million copies.

Clarkson publicly criticized Davis last year when the two disagreed on the direction of her album, My December. She later apologized for her barbs following the album’s less-than-stellar sales.