Universal Distrib. Melds Music, Video

Universal Music and Video Distribution (UMVD) is venturing where few studios have gone before.
UMVD has joined together two media normally kept separate: music and movies. When the combination was tried at Warner Bros., factional disputes forced movies and music apart, and Warner Home Video took back WEA's responsibility for direct sales to key accounts. Sony and Disney, each strong in music and video, have always kept both under different managements.
Disney, however, made the Universal consolidation possible. UMVD hired a 13-year Disney veteran, Craig Kornblau, as executive VP/GM, a title also held by Jim Urie. Along with UMVD president Henry Droz, the three form a newly minted 'executive office' to oversee retail delivery and inventory management. The troika reports to Universal Music Group chairman Doug Morris and Motion Picture Group chairman Casey Silver.
Kornblau, previously senior VP of operations and logistics for Buena Vista Home Video, was recruited for his pioneering work in direct account management, which tracks product flow and replenishment. 'I'm definitely a video guy,' says Kornblau. 'I've got a lot to learn about music, but I think I can definitely have an impact. We talk to the same buyers.'
Kornblau maintains that video sales are already the beneficiary of 'year 2000 distribution'; he thinks the music industry is less open to change and could use a dose of the same. 'This is a business that has slowed,' he notes.
UMVD will focus on smoothing the bumps that get in the way of moving catalog. Stocking warehouses in advance of the next promotion 'isn't the best way to do it any more,' says Urie. 'People don't want inventory sitting around.' Video suppliers, in contrast, 'are able to keep a steadier flow' going directly to stores. 'There's a lot to be said for this.'
Urie and Droz emphasize that the new approach is not meant to affect UMVD's distributor relations. 'I don't see that changing at all,' Droz says.
The executive office had its genesis in a corporate re-engineering study instituted when Seagram bought a majority interest in Universal Studios from Matsushita. The need for better-coordinated distribution 'came screaming out,' Kornblau notes.
Droz says the change was fueled by the new mantra of 'growth, growth, growth.' Eighteen months ago, he recalls, Universal began sprouting music labels like Interscope with no structure to handle them. Meanwhile, according to Droz, the studio was 'vastly expanding' its movie and video properties, acquiring October Films and taking on distribution of DreamWorks' theatrical output.
'It's a different ballgame from what it was,' he says. 'Just about every major customer we reach is in music and video.' Droz is taking care to differentiate among accounts, but he does expect to take advantage of similarities where possible.

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