Annus horribilis should not taint Tony Wadsworth.

Though seemingly paying for EMI's poor performance in 2007, Tony Wadsworth's 20-year record is enviable

Tony Wadsworth's departure from EMI hardly comes as a total shock given the expected consequences of Terra Firma's takeover of the group last year, but it is a disappointing move nonetheless.

The UK and Ireland chairman and CEO has seemingly paid the price for a past year which was memorable for EMI for all the wrong reasons, as its artist albums market share over Christmas dropped in its usual domestic stronghold to only around 6%.

But in parting company with Wadsworth the major has lost one of the most experienced and knowledgeable executives in the UK business and one who can command the trust of both artists and staff alike.

His track record at EMI should not be judged on this disappointing past year but across some 20 years at the group - a run almost unheard of these days when it sometimes feels that even the long-term job prospects of Premiership football club managers are better than those of music industry executives.

In the last decade or so under Wadsworth, firstly running Parlophone and then EMI domestically as a whole, the major can point to an enviable record of developing and breaking UK artists, with a number of them - Coldplay and Gorillaz included - going on to outstanding global success.

Indeed, it was only this time last year that EMI was moving into a new year having taken debut acts Lily Allen, Corinne Bailey Rae and The Kooks all to multi-platinum status domestically.