Now the Stones threaten to leave EMI

With rumours swirling that the Rolling Stones are planning to leave EMI, their home for 20 years, the troubles of the stricken label's boss Guy Hands just keep on piling up. The Stones, whose contract with EMI expires in May, are making eyes at other labels, most notably Universal, who the band announced yesterday would be distributing theCD of the soundtrack to the Martin Scorsese film Shine a Light. If EMI lost the longest-serving rock 'n' roll in the world, it would be the fourth act to date to express unhappiness with Hands' stewardship. Coming on top of recent job losses of up to 2,000, things are looking decidedly creaky at the label that was once home to the Beatles.

Hands took over the record label when his private equity firm, Terra Firma, bought it for £3.2bn last August. With no experience of the industry, Hands was immediately shaken by the different business practices at EMI. He cancelled such perceived fripperies as parties, candles and flowers for artists, and sent out a letter - which was leaked - in which he said that bands that didn't work hard enough would be axed, as if they were underperforming middle managers.

A subsequent apology to stars such as Kylie Mingoue and Robbie Williams didn't cut the mustard, and Williams went on 'strike' this month, refusing to make another album for the label. (Considering that there were 1m unsold copies of his last album, Rudebox, in the UK alone, Hands could be onto a winner here.) Hands also came under attack from Radiohead, who the label failed to re-sign last year and who went on to release their next album solely through the internet. Radiohead's guitarist Ed O'Brien told the Observer that "Terra Firma don't understand music", while the Verve's manager, Jazz Summers, questioned whether Hands "understood the artistic process".

An apocryphal anecdote on the Popbitch messageboard - in which Hands apparently asked whether underperforming bands would have to hand their advances back to the label – suggests he doesn't understand the music industry processes.