  Making Major Moves
Antonio "LA" Reid doesn't remember ever having a musical epiphany.
"But then again, I can't remember when I didn't love music either," says Mr Reid, who became the president of Arista Records.
Mr Reid's ascension from drummer, to record executive, to head of one of the most succesful record labels in history, Arista, comes after the controversial departure of the near-legendary Clive Davis from the company.
Mr Davis founded Arista 25 years ago and the company has since produced such international sensations as Barry Manilow, Whitney Houston and recent Grammy award winner Santana.
Arista's German parent, Bertlesmann Music Group, was said to be feuding with Mr Davis and had been grooming the 43-year-old Mr Reid to succeed him.
BMG cited its retirement age policy of 60 for removing Mr Davis, who is 67. But critics say Davis, who was paid $20m a year, spent far too much money promoting his artists, which cut heavily into BMG's profit.
Mr Reid, who took the helm on July 1, 2000 emphasises that he wants to stay out of the line of fire on Mr Davis' departure. "It wasn't really any of my business," he says. "Personally, I never perceived it as a war to begin with. I respect Clive and understand his position. He doesn't want to just walk away. If I were Clive I wouldn't want to walk away either." And while Mr Reid will have big shoes to fill, he is an impersario in his own right.
His Atlanta-based LaFace Records, which he founded 11 years ago with Rhythm & Blues star Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds, has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, promoting acts such as Toni Braxton, TLC and Usher.
Mr Reid's rise is not one of a gradual climb through different jobs. The Cincinnati, Ohio native, who got the nickname LA because of a Los Angeles T-shirt he wore all the time, was simply a drummer.
"Music was all I was ever interested in," he says. "My uncle, who passed away, was a drummer. So by watching him I just picked up on beats and got, I think, pretty good at it."
By the age of 14 he was playing in local bands and touring around the country. As he grew up, he also grew musically, becoming a studio musician.
In the early 1980s he hooked up with Mr Edmonds and formed a band called The Deele.
It was then that he realised he needed to learn about the music business, as well as about music.
"When I started to produce (albums), I found out that my power, creative power and any other power, was limited, if present at all," he recalls. "In fact, I had no decision-making power and I felt I knew more things than the people who were in charge."
So in 1989, he helped create LaFace to maintain control of his own music, and also to act for other bands. Clive Davis, who had sold his Arista label to BMG ten years before, recognized the potential of Mr Reid and Mr Edmonds, who between them had written or produced 33 No. 1 singles.
LaFace entered into a distribution deal with Arista in which Arista would market and promote LaFace artists, with the companies splitting the profits fifty-fifty.
The success of LaFace caught the eye of BMG management, who appreciated Mr Reid's flair for recognising talent, and sent him to an executive training program at Harvard business school.
"The key ingredient to a hit record is the melody, something people can easily sing along to," Mr Reid explains. "The record executive's job is to indentify the artist's strong point and artist songs that are strong and then put them out there."
But melodies weren't always smooth at LaFace. TLC and Toni Braxton both filed for bankruptcy, blaming the company for shorting them on their earnings.
"I think the way an artist gets signed is fair," says Mr Reid. "A lot of people complain after the fact when their records do well. It really depends on how an artist handles their success and finances. What happens sometimes is artists surround themselves with people who give them bad advice."
Ms Braxton recently settled out of court with LaFace for an undisclosed amount and has just released a new album, now climbing the charts.
TLC has also since recovered, and won last year's Grammy for best R&B single and album.
BMG, which had revenue of $4.7bn for fiscal 1999, owns more than 200 labels in 53 countries, but Arista is its crown jewel, contributing $425m in revenue to its parent in the nine months to March 2000.
Mr Reid's critics have questioned whether an executive who has specialised in black music and lacks academic training has what it takes to run a multi-national pop label.
"I'm coming into this job behind one of the most important men ever in the record business. Natually it's a tall order," he says. "I think it's fair to speculate or question my credentials. Let it be known that I want Arista to be number one in the world across all genres and I'm all about making it happen. That's why I'm here.
Mr Reid would like to keep revenues on the same level as they were when Mr Davis ran Arista, and while he credits Mr Davis for many of his successes, he is a different drummer. Excepts from Jabulani Leffall's article.
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