Guy Hands will outline his strategy for EMI to staff next week, but he is not expected to reveal the extent of job cuts being planned at the music company.

Mr Hands, chief executive of Terra Firma, the private equity group, said in an internal e-mail that the theme of next Tuesday’s meeting would be the “importance of keeping artists at the heart of what we do”, “understanding the needs of the consumer” and “tackling digital challenges”.

A source said that Mr Hands was also expected to outline to staff his desire to provide artists with a fuller service, by moving into new areas, such as touring. “I and my colleagues have spent a lot of time hearing the views of artists, staff and business partners,” Mr Hands said in the e-mail.

Mr Hands is keen to provide greater incentives for artists than those traditionally offered by the music majors, because the rise of digital downloading has changed the needs of the consumer, making artists less dependent on remaining with a large record label.

It is believed that Mr Hands will say that the group intends to digitise more of its back catalogue, to move its marketing strategy towards digital sales and to make better use of social networking sites to find new talent.

Mr Hands is also understood to be planning to centralise procurement, back office and information technology functions as part of his cost-cutting exercise.

This week Terra Firma said that Tony Wadsworth, the chairman and chief executive of EMI Music UK and Ireland, would depart after more than 25 years with the company and six years in his most recent role.

Mr Wadsworth’s fate was sealed after a disastrous performance by EMI’s domestic roster last year. The company’s share of the albums market slumped from 16 per cent to 9 per cent.

Universal Music, its largest rival, secured almost 50 per cent of sales through artists including Mika and Amy Winehouse.

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