SuperVision Rumours Gather Strength

Rumours of staff quitting MAMA Group are gathering strength, just as HMV tries to hive off the company to any one of a handful of potential bidders.

The stories mainly concern MAMA’s SuperVision Management, where at least four key players are said to be on their way out.

Last week, SuperVision’s Twitter feed was directing readers to a new page for Trust Management, although reports suggesting that this is a new company are wide of the mark.

Trust was formed by Dave Cronen and Nigel Templeman in 2003 and didn’t join MAMA until 2008, when the partners joined SuperVision to form SuperVision Trust Management. That company has since operated out of MAMA’s offices in East London.

The new Twitter page suggests Cronen and Templeman may have reverted to Trust Management, which looks after acts including Ash, Princess Superstar, Violens, Mabel Love, Turboweekend, We Have Band, The King Blues and Out Like A Lion.

Meanwhile, there’s been a sudden revival of the rumour that James Sandom and Cerne Canning, two of they key players at SuperVision, are off to join U.S. giant Red Light Management.

SuperVision’s acts include Kaiser Chiefs, White Lies, Franz Ferdinand, The Vaccines and The Cribs.

At press time, neither Sandom nor Canning had responded to requests for clarification of the situation.

Various UK papers have reported that AEG Live, Sony Music, Oakley Capital, the private equity firm behind Time Out magazine, venue operator Academy Music Group and CTS Eventim are all eyeing MAMA Group.

The group has 13 venues including London’s Hammersmith Apollo and the Forum and a handful of festivals such as The Next Big Thing, The Great Escape, Lovebox, Global Gathering and High Voltage.

By shifting MAMA, HMV hopes to recoup at least what it paid for it in February 2010 and also cut its estimated £180 million ($284.8 million) debt by at least one-third.