HMV PR head leaves for job at BPI

Head of PR over at HMV, Gennaro Castaldo, has left the firm after almost three decades of employment, to take up a position at the internet's favourite hate group, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), famous for the ineffective blocks it lobbied to have put into place against websites like the Pirate Bay.

Gennaro will be filling the shoes of former BPI hype man, Adam Liversage, who will be stepping down as comms director in mid June.

Geoff Taylor, head of the BPI was front and centre to comment on the move, stating (via MusicWeek):  “We are delighted that Gennaro is joining us at BPI.  His long experience working with the music industry, his focus on consumers and his strong relationships with the press will be key assets as we represent our members' views across a range of media.”

Castaldo has been fielding well wishes from Twitter users for the past few days now

Of course one could argue that the PR man that was with HMV when it went through its recent financial troubles might not be the greatest appointment ever, but with such a pedigree as Castaldo, it's clear he was there during HMV's growing years too. He said in his own statement: “I'm really looking forward to this exciting new challenge – working with Geoff and his team, Tony Wadsworth and, of course, the BPI members to communicate the exciting developments taking place in our industry during this dynamic time of change.”

KitGuru Says: It will be interesting to see if this changes the public face of the BPI at all, as if it hopes to gain any ground in consumer opinion, it will need to reconsider how it portrays itself in the media. As it stands, its public standing is not good.

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