When Music Week broke the story that Robbie Williams had signed to Sony Music back in May, he tweeted: “I’m Sony beyond my wildest dreams."

It was, of course, a self-deprecating remark harking back to his £80 million, 2002 deal with EMI when he said, with rather less tongue in his cheek, that he was “rich beyond my wildest dreams”.

But he wasn’t the only Sony Music employee having big dreams in 2016. In fact, it often seemed like the ...