Bertelsmann Music Group
This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2014) |
Formerly | RCA/Ariola International (1985–1987) |
---|---|
Company type | Division |
Industry | Music |
Predecessor |
|
Founded | 1985 1987 (as Bertelsmann Music Group) | (as RCA/Ariola International)
Defunct | 1 October 2008 |
Fate | The company and most of its assets were sold to Sony Corporation of America; Japanese assets acquired by Sony Music Entertainment Japan |
Successors | |
Headquarters | , U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
Products | Music and entertainment |
Owner | RCA (1985–1986; 50%) General Electric (1986–1987; 50%) Bertelsmann (1985–2008) |
Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008.
Although it was established in 1987, the music company was formed as RCA/Ariola International in 1985 as a joint venture to combine the music label activities of
History
In 1994, BMG acquired Italian publisher Casa Ricordi, which had been founded in 1808.
In March 1998, BMG sold its video game publisher BMG Interactive to Take-Two Interactive, with Bertelsmann taking a 16 percent stake in Take-Two. BMG Interactive published the Grand Theft Auto video game series.[1]
The joint venture between
On 27 March 2006, the
While officially withdrawing from the business of recorded music, Bertelsmann continued its strong presence in other areas of the
Also kept separate from the acquisition by Sony Corporation of America was Sony BMG's wholly owned and operated BMG Japan.
Subsidiaries
Now part of Sony Music Entertainment after the buyout of Bertelsmann's 50% stake in Sony BMG.
- Ariola Records
- RCA Music Group
- RCA Records
- RCA Red Seal
- RCA Victor Group
- Arista Records
- J Records
- Full Surface Records
- US Records
- RCA Records
- Arista Nashville
- RCA Nashville
- BNA Records
- BMG Kidz
- Zomba Music Group
- Battery Records
- Epidemic Records
- LaFace Records
- Jive Records
- Music for Nations Records
- Multitone Records
- Pinnacle Records
- Scotti Brothers Records
- Silvertone Records
- Verity Records
- Volcano Entertainment
- Zoo Entertainment
- X-Cell Records
BMG Music Publishing
BMG Music Publishing (formerly known as RCA Music Publishing), which was not part of the Sony BMG merger, was a business of the Bertelsmann Music Group until it was sold to Universal Music Group for €1.63 billion in 2007. Universal then folded the company into Universal Music Publishing Group, and the BMG name was retired.[2] The company had been headquartered at 245 Fifth Avenue in New York, and had 36 offices in 25 countries.
Artists
BMG Music Publishing controlled over one million copyrights. Writers/artists signed to the company included:
Through
The company's songwriters wrote chart-topping hits for
BMG Music Publishing was the global leader in classical music and was number one in contemporary Christian music.
Catalogues owned
Through international sub-publishing deals, BMG Music Publishing represented the catalogues of
BMG Music Publishing acquired Complete Music in 2006.[4]
Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing was BMG Music Publishing's Christian publisher and owned over 60,000 copyrights. Like with other assets of BMG Music Publishing acquired by Universal Music, it was renamed to Universal Music Brentwood-Benson. It is nowadays managed by Capitol CMG Publishing, Universal Music's christian publishing operations under Capitol Christian Music Group.
BMG Rights Management
After Sony bought out Bertelsmann's share in Sony BMG, Bertelsmann was allowed to keep the rights to several recordings from the former joint venture and rights to BMG trademark. These songs served as the foundation to BMG Rights Management. The company was originally founded with capital support of KKR, and later became a wholly owned subsidiary of Bertelsmann. It now serves as a division within Bertelsmann and as a replacement to the defunct Bertelsmann Music Group.
Criticism
CD price fixing
Between 1995 and 2000, music companies were found to have used illegal marketing agreements such as minimum advertised pricing to artificially inflate prices of compact discs in order to end price wars by discounters such as Best Buy and Target in the early 1990s.[5]
A settlement in 2002 included the music publishers and distributors;
See also
- List of record labels
- Sony BMG Music Entertainment
- RCA Records
- RCA/Jive Label Group
References
- ^ "Telecompaper".
- ^ "Universal to buy BMG publishing". BBC News. 6 September 2006.
- ^ "Imagem Music Group Buys R&H". Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
- ^ "BMG Music Publishing Acquires Complete Music". Billboard. 20 July 2006. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
- ^ a b Stephen Labaton (11 May 2011). "5 Music Companies Settle Federal Case On CD Price-Fixing". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
- ^ David Lieberman (30 September 2002). "States settle CD price-fixing case". USA Today. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
External links
- Official Bertelsmann Music Group website
- Bertelsmann Music Group (mbge.com) at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
- Official Bertelsmann website
- BMG publishing catalog at MusicBrainz