I chuckled when I read Jim Fusilli's article on EMI at the Wall Street Journal. Here's the passage that really stood out:

"As for the rest of its new strategy, a major corporation should be able to, as EMI puts it, 'monetize' the value of the artists' work by finding additional sources of revenue. And given that EMI is home to such brands as Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capitol and Capitol Nashville, Virgin and various EMI-named brands, it must have some redundancy in sales and marketing. The silo mentality encourages the segregation of consumers, and I'd contend that there are jazz artists on Blue Note who would appeal to Virgin's rock base and that Astralwerks has several electronica artists who might find an audience among modern jazz fans."

First of all, yeah, EMI does have some redundancies in sales and marketing. Communication between labels isn't all that bad (though I'm sure it can be). The overlap is mostly at its distributors (e.g., EMD, Caroline). And, yes, labels tend to be very aware of and will try to exploit any crossover potential.

Second, the silo mentality is strongest outside of a music company. In my experience, the distinct silos are at the retail level. Brick-and-mortar stores have separate sections for different genres. Same with digital stores. (Placing albums into different categories, I'll argue, makes it easier for consumers to locate music. They reduce search costs.) Each section can have its own supervisor. For a label, that means there are different point people for pop, jazz and electronic. Not only that, but where an album is stocked will impact sales. For example, an artist like LCD Soundsystem could be considered both rock and dance, but it will fare far better if it is filed under rock.

Third, there are silos in the media as well. If a label has a jazz-influenced electronic album and wants to market it to both the jazz and electronic crowds, it may require hiring two different publicists (unless they can do it in-house) to get press at two different types of publications. Publicists tend to be very specialized and have different sets of relationships. Marketing programs or promotions tend to be good for one genre at a time as well.

Silos, indeed...but EMI won't be able to do much about them.