It was announced on Friday (Nov. 3) that both IRON MAIDEN and manager Rod Smallwood are no longer affiliated with Sanctuary Artist Management. Rod has set up a new company, Phantom Music Management, to continue represeting the band and has been joined by his key MAIDEN players Val and Dave. This new management arrangement will have no effect whatsoever on current and future plans for MAIDEN, the fan clubs or anything else MAIDEN-related. Rod comments: "I formed Sanctuary in 1979 and named it after the MAIDEN song, so it's a bit of a wrench leaving after all these years. However, in the latter stages of my career, I want to be able to fully concentrate on and enjoy managing MAIDEN without being distracted by other areas of the business. As you all know, we have an awful lot going on and we have many exciting plans for the future. The forthcoming European tour will be incredible and l want to be at as many of the concerts as possible to enjoy the feeling l think you can only really get at a MAIDEN show! My new company is called Phantom and no prizes for guessing where that came from. Don't worry — it's MAIDEN business as usual!!"

According to Reuters, Sanctuary has struggled since mid-2005 due to delays at loss-making Urban Records, which it bought in 2003 from Mathew Knowles, father of R&B diva Beyonce.

Last month the company shunned a bid approach from MAMA Group, which manages the KAISER CHIEFS and FRANZ FERDINAND, and said it still had a strong independent future.

Smallwood, who was born in the north England town of Huddersfield, started working with Andy Taylor in 1969 in arranging May Balls while studying together at Cambridge University.

In 1979 they took on IRON MAIDEN to start a relationship that led to over 180 platinum and gold awards from some 50 million album sales.