Quickfire: as EMI's North American operation shows signs of a turnaround, the man responsible David Munns explains how he has achieved such a remarkable feat.(Forum)

America has long been EMI Music's achilles heel, but you now seem to be turning it round. What would you put that down to?

Attention to the basics, being realistic about what we can achieve, being very cost-conscious and not chasing market share at the expense of profit and, of course, concentrating on the music--artists and their records and the whole artist development process. That's our life.

Since you took over North America, you've done a fair amount of restructuring, such as bringing Virgin from West to East Coast for instance. How is that all bedding in?

Pretty good overall, although we still have some work to do, particularly in Virgin. EMM [EMI Music Marketing] is working extremely well and I am very proud of what we are doing there. Overall, I guess I am reasonably satisfied that we are tightly run and ready for whatever the market brings us. Capitol, country and Christian Music Group are doing great and Blue Note is very strong--all our business units are very focused.

What would you consider to be your biggest single achievement in the US?

EMI made some money there last year--it can be done and still have hits and be successful.

The list of EMI's biggest selling American acts spans the genres, but Robbie Williams remains an obvious exception. What do you think you can do to make that happen in the US?