Guy Hands has poached a senior executive from Google, Douglas Merrill, to run EMI’s digital strategy. He called the man who led Google’s stock listing in 2004 a ‘proven agent of change’.

This could be Hands’ first sensible move, but what prompted Merrill to go from new to old media? Merrill says:

“I have two passions. One is creating platforms and tools that make it easier for consumers to achieve their goals. The other is music.”

The money helps too, of course.