Warners has dramatically trimmed its roster in recent years. What was the rationale for dropping all those acts?

We've been really careful over the last few years to cut back the roster to a point where we feel very strongly about every artist on the label. There was a time when Warner Bros. Had so much product flowing into it from so many disparate sources.

We had international, we had all these label deals, we had all of these different A&R fiefdoms all over the world, and they were all just feeding product into this pipeline. It got to the point a few years ago where it was just overwhelming. What was happening was it was fine for the records at the top of the pile, because they were getting what they needed.

It was a real war for the records that weren't at the top of the pile to distinguish between the good ones and the favored, politically placed records. We've gotten rid of most of those, and it's made a huge difference. The clarity of the operation is so much greater.

We go into a marketing meeting now, and there's a reason for every record there. We're proud of every record there. We ... more.

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