David Dollimore to be named RCA UK boss – Dipesh Parmar set to lead Sony’s Ministry Of Sound
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Award-winning executive duo David Dollimore and Dipesh Parmar are poised to be handed major label leadership roles at Sony in London this week – with long-time RCA chief Colin Barlow set to exit the company.

MBW understands that Sony Music UK and Ireland CEO & Chairman Jason Iley will name Dollimore as the new President of RCA Label Group in the coming days.

But what of his long-time MoS colleague?

According to sources, Parmar is believed to be lined-up to replace Dollimore as day-to-day head of Ministry Of Sound, which will become a new frontline label within the Sony structure.

Dollimore’s arrival at RCA, if confirmed, will signal the end of Colin Barlow’s tenure as President after five years.

Dollimore and Parmar’s respective new positions would also be the latest moves in Iley’s strategy to boost Sony’s UK fortunes with a varied range of repertoire centres led by A&R heavyweights.

These include Columbia, now run by former Polydor boss Ferdy Unger-Hamilton, plus the additions of Black Butter (Zara Larsson, Will Heard) and Insanity Records (Craig David).

Widely respected Dollimore and Parmar have broken acts in recent years at Ministry including Sigala, Example, Wretch 32 and London Grammar.

Last month, they jointly won the hotly contested Electronic/Dance prize at MBW’s A&R Awards in London (pictured).

Although Parmar is set to continue to report to Dollimore, Ministry will be run independently from the RCA label at Sony – in a similar ‘mini major’ vein to Insanity and Black Butter.

[UPDATE: All becomes clear: Parmar does indeed take over day-to-day running of MoS as MD, which will operate as an autonomous frontline ‘mini major’. However, it’s also officially a ‘partner’ label to RCA – with Dollimore  named President of both brands.]

Sony would not comment on this story when contacted by MBW – but we already know how substantially Jason Iley rates both Dollimore and Parmar.

When Sony announced its Ministry buyout in August, Iley said: “I’m delighted to welcome one of the most innovative, smart and pioneering labels to the Sony Music family.

“David and Dipesh’s track record, alongside one of the best curation teams in the business, speaks for itself and the label will be another hugely exciting addition to Sony Music UK’s vision for the future.”

According to the latest Official Charts Company statistics, Sony Music UK’s YTD 2016 market share is up in every category on 2015.

Its share of the big one – ‘All Albums’ – is on course to grow by approximately 2% by the end of the year.Music Business Worldwide

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