2 Record Labels End Joint Venture

Atlantic Group and Mammoth Records announced Thursday that they are terminating their 5-year-old joint venture agreement. Mammoth founder and President Jay Faires, who took a paid leave of absence from his position as vice president of artists and repertoire for Atlantic Records in December, will also leave that post. Atlantic is a division of Warner Music Group, which has laid off more than 100 people since November as the music industry weathers a sales slump. Labels including Interscope, MCA and Mercury are said to be interested in striking a deal with Mammoth; Mercury probably has an inside track, as Danny Goldberg, who made the Mammoth deal while at Atlantic, is now president of Mercury.