Kevin Reilly’s Days Seem To Be Numbered, Is Ben Silverman Coming In?

There is word out of Los Angeles that NBC President Kevin Reilly is on his way out the door. Rumored to be taking his place is Ben Silverman who is Founder/CEO of Reville (Ugly Betty, The Office, etc). There has been speculation that NBC was going to acquire Reville and now Silverman taking Reilly’s place is making more sense.

I actually had a chance to spend some time with Silverman a few weeks ago at the Isobar “Never Ending Friending” research event in LA and I must say I was impressed (and shocked) by how much Silverman “got it” as it pertains to new media. A guy like that could help NBC in what NYT describes as “devising new approaches to unite its broadcast, cable and internet programming divisions.”

Sony Hands Out BIG Pink Slips; KP headed to Def Jam?

Sony Music has handed out layoffs and demotions on Friday resulting in several high profile players leaving the building. Tom Donnarumma was demoted to head of sales from GM, Columbia Records a position he held for about a year. Gone are Lisa Wolfe, Michael Kaplan, Barbara Jones, Jay Krugman and most suprising of all Kawan “KP” Prather.

KP is considered a “golden child” A&R guy and one of the more senior and well respected reps in the business. His track record includes Usher, Outkast, Pink, T.I., As EVP, A&R he was one of the more senior black executives in the business. In many ways leaving 550 Madison Avenue is a blessing at a time when Sony Music is really suffering. Now many are pondering whether KP will end up back with LA Reid at Def Jam????

I Can’t Believe It Is Almost June

Well I let the whole spring go and didn’t get a chance to get KeyInfluencer out. I have been all around the world and even Orlando becoming an expert in the global wireless/mobile space. What a space it is too. I’m so excited to get this next newsletter out and begin to get back into sharing with the community.

When we do launch, you will see some improvements and some additions. The community has blown up since we launched it and it can be overwhelming how many of you actually depend and get mad when we don’t publish!

I have been toying around with Ning and we even have a KeYinfluencer community. If you are reading this jump in now because when I put it in the next newsletter it’s going to be nuts. I think Ning is brilliant, it represents the beauty of Web 2.0 and where things are going.

Talk to you soon. Got lots more to write in this newsletter.