- Bertelsmann Music Group
Infobox Company
company_name = Bertelsmann Music Group (defunct)
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company_type = Private
genre = Various
foundation = 1987
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location =Gütersloh, Germany
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parent = Bertelsmann AG
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footnotes =Bertelsmann Music Group, (BMG), was a division of
Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets toSony Corporation of America on October 1, 2008. It was established in1987 to combine the music label activities of Bertelsmann. It consisted of the BMG Music Publishing company, the world's third largest music publisher and the world's largest independent music publisher, and the 50% share of the joint venture withSony Music ,Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Sony BMG).The joint venture with Sony was set up in
August 2004 . It reduced the Big Five of music companies to the Big Four record labels. The company currently has a 21.5% share in the global music market. [http://www.ifpi.org/site-content/publications/rin_order.html] Sony Music and BMG remained separate in Japan, although BMG Music Japan was wholly owned bySony BMG .On March 27, 2006, the New York Times reported that Bertelsmann was looking to raise money by leveraging some of its media assets, and that executives from both companies were in talks about possibly altering the current venture. Bertelsmann sold its 50% share of
Sony BMG toSony Corporation of America for a total of $1.5 billion and the company will be renamed Sony Music Entertainment Inc.While officially withdrawing from the business of recorded music, Bertelsmann will continue its strong presence in the
music industry with the forthcoming BMG branded company, BMG Rights Management, which will specialize in music rights management by representing artists and authors. It will be focused mainly in BMG's European stronghold markets. The basis of the company will be formed though BMG's decision to withhold selected European music catalogs from the formerSony BMG joint venture and the BMG Publishing business.Also kept separate from the acquisition by Sony Corporation of America was
Sony BMG 's wholly owned BMG Japan, whose shares were picked up bySony Music Entertainment Japan instead, which also operates the Sony Music Japan banner which was never part of theSony BMG joint venture.ubsidiaries (Now part of Sony Music Entertainment)
*
RCA Music Group
**RCA Records
**Arista Records
**J Records
***Full Surface Records
***US Records *
Zomba Music Group
**Battery Records
**Epidemic Records
**La Face Records
**Jive Records
**Music for Nations Records
**Pinacle Records
**Scotti Brothers Records
**Silvertone Records
**Verity Records
**Volcano Records/Zoo Records
**X-Cell Records *
Arista Nashville
*RCA Nashville
*BNA Records
*BMG Kidz BMG Music Japan
In Japan, the BMG Music brand is now operated by Sony Music Entertainment Japan, which also dually operates the Sony Music Japan business. It was previously owned and operated by
Sony BMG although it was not branded asSony BMG because ofSony Music Japan remaining independent from theSony BMG joint venture, and thus BMG and Sony labeling were kept separate in this market.Infobox Company
company_name = BMG Music Japan
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company_slogan =
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company_type =
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foundation = 1987
founder =
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origins =
key_people =
area_served =
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products =
revenue =
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parent = Sony Music Entertainment Japan
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homepage = http://www.bmgjapan.com
footnotes =BMG Music Publishing
BMG Music Publishing, which was not part of the
Sony BMG merger, was a business of the Bertelsmann Music Group until it was sold toUniversal Music Group for 1.63bn euros. Universal has folded the company into its publishing businessUniversal Music Publishing Group with Universal Music branding. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5319050.stm] The company was headquartered at 245 Fifth Avenue, 8th FloorNew York , 10016 and had operations in 36 offices in 25 countries.Artists
BMG Music publishing controlled over one million copyrights. Writers/artists signed to the company included
Jaguares , Dido,Avril Lavigne ,Lee Ryan ,Coldplay ,Shakira ,Powderfinger ,Nelly ,Britney Spears ,Diana Yukawa ,Rammstein ,Modern Talking ,R. Kelly ,Shania Twain ,Ville Valo ,Christina Aguilera ,Kelly Clarkson ,Clannad ,Linkin Park ,Maroon5 ,Backyard Babies , Keane,HARD-Fi ,Justin Timberlake ,Joss Stone ,Elvis Costello , Paul Weller,Sara Evans ,Ne-Yo ,Chad Hugo andWestlife .The company's songwriters have written chart-topping hits for
Mariah Carey ,Black Eyed Peas ,Kenny Chesney , The Game, Mario,Rascal Flatts ,No Doubt ,Thomas Anders ,Jessica Simpson and50 Cent as well as legends likeBob Dylan ,Elvis Presley ,Frank Sinatra and Roselyn Sanchez.BMG Music Publishing was the global leader in Classical music and was number one in Contemporary
Christian music .Catalogues owned
Through international subpublishing deals, BMG Music Publishing represents the catalogues of
Famous Music Publishing, Walt Disney,Leiber & Stoller ,Pete Waterman andMalaco in various territories.Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing is BMG Music Publishing's Christian publisher and owns over 60,000 copyrights.
BMG Music Publishing and its assets have now been completely absorbed and folded into
Universal Music Publishing Group .Future of BMG
BMG Rights Management will serve as a new division within
Bertelsmann and as a replacement to the now defunct Bertelsmann Music Group division. Therefore the BMG brand will effectively be revived by this new Bertelsmann business venture. AlsoSony Music Entertainment Japan 's acquisition ofBMG Music Japan will see the continuity of the BMG record label in the Japanese market.See also
*
List of record labels
*Sony BMG Music Entertainment External links
* [http://www.bmgmusicsearch.com BMG Music Publishing site]
* [http://www.bmgjapan.com BMG Japan]
* [http://www.bertelsmann.com Official Bertelsmann Site]
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