I’ve just been told that Jeff Leeds, the Los Angeles-based music industry reporter who was poached by The New York Times from the Los Angeles Times back in 2004, newyorktimes_logo.pngis now a victim of the Gray Lady’s ongoing round of layoffs. I feel badly for him because he’s always had a good handle on his beat. He also writes regularly and breaks news. “It came as a surprise. H was upset to be cut,” an insider tells me. “But it’s an odd beat to cut because it’s not like there’s overlap. It says a lot about how the paper views the music biz.”

Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.