The Beat

AYEROFF RETURNS: Fifteen years after leaving Warner Bros. Records, Jeff Ayeroff returns to the label as creative director. In the interim, of course, Ayeroff was co-chairman of Virgin Records America and co-founder of the Work Group with his former partner Jordan Harris. Most recently he ran the U.S. marketing campaign for the Beatles' 1 album.

Ayeroff will also serve as creative consultant to Warner Music Group. His duties will include representing Warner in certain initiatives with parent company AOL Time Warner.



HAPPY TOGETHER: Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell and his actress wife, Leighanne Littrell, have launched Brileigh Productions. The first release from the production company will be the Navarre-distributed Oct. 23 soundtrack to Olive Juice, which arrives on video Oct. 9.

Leighanne, who appears in Olive Juice, will serve as the president of Brileigh Productions, which is wholly owned by the Littrells. Non-equity participants in the label are Brett Donowho and Greg Weiss of Insight Entertainment Group.

The pair deliberately decided to start small because, Leighanne says, "a lot of times with a larger label, you're not going to get control." She adds that Brileigh is negotiating to sign Brett Laurence, who appears on the soundtrack.

Brian also remains a partner in the Interscope-distributed label run by Backstreet Boys and its management company the Firm. Following a seven-week break from touring to allow Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean to receive treatment for alcoholism and depression, Brian returned to the road with the group Aug. 24.

After the tour ends in October, Brian isn't sure what's next, he says. "There are contracts to go to the Far East. If that will happen, we don't know. We're living day to day, and we want to take care of what we do and what we care about, and that's A.J."

Denying any rumors of a breakup, Brian says, "We definitely have more albums to do."

JUST WATCH: We will be shocked if Metropolitan Entertainment Group (MEG) isn't purchased by SFX/Clear Channel Entertainment (CCE) in the coming months, despite protestations by MEG's new chairman that such a sale is not a given.

To recap, John Scher, who founded the New York/New Jersey-based MEG 30 years ago, was ousted from his post Aug. 15 and replaced by Scott Mackin, CEO of Covanta Energy. Covanta now owns close to 80% of MEG following its purchase of most of Scher's 40% share of the company (Billboard, Aug. 25). Scher will now head its record label, Hybrid Recordings.

Covanta (formerly Ogden) had MEG on the block for more than a year. Several suitors—some in the concert industry, some not—sniffed around MEG, but no deal was struck to buy out Covanta.

Scher says, "It's no mystery that Covanta made a decision in 1999 [to divest its entertainment properties] and, candidly, our management team wasn't able to find a buyer everyone was happy with."

The one company Scher was adamant about not selling to was CCE, with whom he had battled over Northeast territories. This move now clears the way for CCE to move in. It's possible that with Scher no longer having right of first refusal, House of Blues (a previous potential buyer) or another company will step back in, but we doubt it.

Our fear is that once MEG tumbles, the few remaining indie promoters will not be able to stand up against consolidation. As it is now, CCE has snapped up most of the top-tier regional promoters. Among the few holdouts are Chicago-based Jam; New Orleans-based Beaver Productions; West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Fantasma; Dallas-based 462; Portland, Ore.-based Double Tee; Washington, D.C.-based I.M.P.; and Denver-based NIPP, which is suing CCE.

Scher, even though he had Covanta as a partner and before that PolyGram, was emblematic of the indie promoter—the David standing up to Goliath.



In Brief: Former Hollywood Records senior VP/GM Mark DiDia will start in his new role as senior VP at Capitol Records by the end of August . . . Artemis Records has signed Russell Crowe's band, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, and will release the group's Bastard Life or Clarity in the U.S. on Sept. 18 . . . Danzig has inked with Survival Management for representation and is negotiating a new label deal.



Additional reporting by Ray Waddell.