Guy Hands, chairman at EMI, has promised to step back from day-to-day management of EMI, the record company, after appointing Elio Leoni-Sceti as chief executive of its recorded music division.

The new boss, whose appointment was revealed by Times Online, has no background in the industry, having spent the past 16 years an executive with Reckitt Benckiser, the consumer products group that makes the stain remover Vanish and Nurofen, the painkiller.

Mr Hands said he would become non-executive chairman, leaving the company to return to its traditional structure of having separate chief executives for its recorded music and music publishing divisions.

Long-serving executive, Roger Faxon, heads music publishing.

By appointing a seasoned marketer, Mr Hands is demonstrating that he believes that EMI needs to focus on selling its music more effectively. The business of signing new artists and handling acts is to be handled by Nick Gatfield, a former Universal executive, who is joining to run its labels worldwide.

Mr Leoni-Sceti joins EMI as it concludes a redundancy programme in which more than 1,500 jobs will go from a business that employs 6,000.

The Italian's job will be to try and steady an operation that has been hit by threats of artist defections. The Rolling Stones are poised to leave, while Robbie Williams has been slow to record a new album, and new signings have run down to a trickle.

Among the latest senior job casualities was Jean-Francois Cecillon, EMI Music's international head, who, in a previous role running the UK business helped to sign Williams to the company's Chrysalis label.

However, there have been signs of a recent upturn, with Coldplay's new album Viva La Vida selling more than 1 million copies in its first week after a successful marketing campaign, and new American hope, Katy Perry, producing a best-selling single on her debut in her native country.

Mr Hands said: "Elio has the passion, drive and belief in the future of the music industry to realise the ambitions we all have for EMI. Having completed the organisational restructuring at the end of June and finalised our strategic work, Elio joins at the right time to shape, drive and lead EMI to become the world’s most artist-focused and consumer-friendly music company."

Leoni-Sceti said: “The potential that can be realised in this industry is massive, music consumption is growing more than ever across the world and I cannot wait to get started and to working with EMI’s artists and employees.”