EMI just announced the formation of Capitol Music Group in the U.S. It consists of Capitol Records and Virgin Records. Jason Flom, the chairman and CEO of Virgin, will become the chairman and CEO of the newly formed Capitol Music Group.

Andy Slater, president and chief executive at Capitol, "has stepped down from his post."

A statement from EMI chief Eric Nicoli:

"The music business shows exciting growth potential, but the environment remains extremely challenging. In order to thrive and meet the demands of a rapidly evolving and dynamic music market, we must re-think our operations, not only to make them efficient, but also more effective and focused on creative excellence. By bringing Capitol and Virgin into one label group, we will be better equipped than ever to promote and nurture artistic talent. We remain strongly committed to developing artists in America in all genres as this is a key repertoire source for the world, and to that end, we will maintain our A&R focus and keep a presence in both LA and New York. This structure will also allow us to further build our digital capability. Jason Flom quickly demonstrated his leadership and artist development abilities since he has been at Virgin. I am confident that he will take us to new levels of success in the rock, pop and urban genres as leader of the Capitol Music Group"

Bruce Lundvall at Blue Note will continue to report to Nicoli. Others divisons, such as Capitol Nashville, Caroline Distribution and EMI Music Christian Group, will continue to report to Ivan Gavin.

There you have it, the first ripples from EMI restructuring that resulted in the dismissal of Levy and Munns. This consolidation that was expected in many corners of the industry.