Mottola Lands at UMG

When Tommy Mottola was jettisoned by Sony Music in January, you figured he would end up somewhere else eventually – he has landed at Universal Music Group with his own sub-label:

Tommy Mottola, the former head of Sony Music, and Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company, on Monday said they would jointly launch a new label, Casablanca Records.

Universal Music, a unit of Vivendi Universal, said Casablanca’s albums would be distributed by the Universal Motown Records.

“My goal is to have probably at least two records out before September,” Mottola told Reuters in a phone interview.

He said the label had signed three or four new artists in deals he planned to announce over the next few weeks. [Reuters]

All well and swell, but why would he resurrect the name “Casablanca,” Neil Bogart’s disco-era label that was home to KISS, Donna Summer, Cher, and Village People? Is this some kind of continuation of that label, its philosophy, its rampant drug abuse? I am perplexed.