Jay-Z reckons record company execs need to be "smarter", and I don't think he means they should all invest in a new suit. I mean, why would he? Roc-a-wear don't make suits.

Speaking to BBC Newsbeat following his BRIT win this week, the Jayster mused: "Records are not selling as many as they were before and you've still got to go out and pay the Bentley bill. People have to be smarter about how they A&R, and what they put out, record companies need to catch up to that, someone needs to send them the memo".

Being smarter about A&R, in Jay's mind, means signing fewer artists and, presumably, learning to separate the wheat from the chaff before getting out your cheque book, which I think is what most label people are doing anyway, albeit possibly because they have thinner cheque books rather than because of any clever strategy. Jay: "I remember the first year I was at Def Jam we put out 56 artists. There's not 56 great artists in the world, and this is one company. One company operating for like, 80 artists in a year. That's just too many".

Jay, of course, departed his exec role at Universal's Def Jam to set up a JV music company with Live Nation last year, the 360 degree focused Roc Nation. Presumably being aligned to "the world's first artist-to-fan vertically integrated live entertainment platform" is all part of Jay's efforts to be smarter in his music business ventures.

Either way, "the world's first artist-to-fan vertically integrated live entertainment platform" is staging two Jay concerts later this year in addition to his previously reported headline set at Live Nation's Wireless fest in July. The two gigs will be at the Manchester MEN Arena on 7 Jun and at the Birmingham LG Arena on 9 Jun. No word on whether whiteys will be admitted, keep an eye on the Daily Star for updates on that, I'd imagine. More on which here.