SONY BMG

'Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Inc.' is the result of a 50/50 joint venture between Sony Music Entertainment (part of Sony) and BMG Entertainment (part of Bertelsmann) completed on August 5, 2004. It is one of the Big Four music companies, and includes ownership and distribution of recording labels such as Arista Records, Columbia Records, Epic Records, J Records, RCA Victor Records, RCA Records, Legacy Recordings, Sonic Wave America, and others.
Financial analysts covering the merger anticipated that up to 2000 jobs could be cut as a result, saving SONY BMG approximately $350 million annually.
The company's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, who succeeded Andrew Lack on February 10, 2006. In the first half of 2005, the company's share of new releases in the United States (US) declined from 33% to 26% according to Nielsen SoundScan. This, and Lack's negotiation of what some called an "ill-conceived" deal with Bruce Springsteen led to Bertelsmann informing Sony that it would not renew Lack's contract. Lack now holds the position of Chairman of the Board, the position formerly occupied by Schmidt-Holz.
The company recently signed a content deal with the popular video sharing community YouTube. [1]

Future of the merger

On March 27, 2006, the ''New York Times'' reported that Bertelsmann was in talks with Sony to possibly alter the current venture. Two executives close to SONY BMG have said that Bertelsmann may offer Sony its half of the company in order to raise money by leveraging some of its media assets. Executives close to Sony BMG have stressed that any such agreement will likely take months to conclude.[2]
On July 13, 2006, however, the European Union annulled the European Commission's clearance decision as IMPALA (a trade association for independent labels in Europe) had asked. This judgment may be appealed by the merging parties or the European Commission. In the meantime, the joint venture is now being examined by the European Commission again. A new decision is expected for 2007.
On June 26, 2007, the European Commission announced that it would look into the merger again after the initial re-examination was postponed in March 2007. The Commission is now expected to conclude it's position on October 10, 2007.
It was announced that SONY BMG will dismantle the Sony Urban Music label. All of the artists will now be assigned to Epic or Columbia.[3]

Management

★ 'Chief Executive Officer' - Rolf Schmidt-Holtz

★ 'Chief Operating Officer' - Tim Bowen

★ 'Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President' - Kevin Kelleher

★ 'Chairman of the Board' – Andy Lack

★ 'Chairman, Sony Music Label Group' - Rob Stringer

★ 'Chairman, BMG U.S. Label Group' - Clive Davis

★ 'President/COO, BMG U.S. Label Group' - Charles Goldstuck

★ 'Chairman, Columbia Records' - Steve Barnett

★ 'Chairman, Columbia Records' - Rick Rubin

★ 'President, Epic Records' - Charlie Walk

Sony BMG artists

★ Aerosmith

★ Air Supply

★ Alicia Keys

★ Anastacia

★ Avril Lavigne

★ Backstreet Boys

★ Beyonce

★ Billy Joel

★ Bob Dylan

★ Boney M.

★ Bow Wow

★ Britney Spears

★ Bruce Springsteen

★ Celine Dion

★ Chris Daughtry

★ Christina Aguilera

★ Cyndi Lauper

★ Dave Matthews Band

★ David Gilmour

★ Delta Goodrem

★ Dido

★ Dixie Chicks

★ Duran Duran

★ Earth, Wind & Fire

★ Elvis Presley

★ Emily King

★ Eurythmics

★ Fiona Apple

★ Franz Ferdinand

★ George Michael

★ Good Charlotte

★ Incubus

★ INXS

★ Jamiroquai

★ Jessica Simpson

★ Jennifer Lopez

★ Joe Satriani

★ John Mayer

★ Johnny Cash

★ Journey

★ Justin Timberlake

★ Kany Garcia

★ Kelly Clarkson

★ Kenny G

★ Kenny Loggins

★ Kylie Minogue (FMR/Warner Bros./Sony BMG)

★ Ludacris

★ Marc Anthony

★ Michael Jackson

★ Natasha Bedingfield

★ Natalia

★ Nelly Furtado (FMR/Warner Bros./Sony BMG)

★ Oasis

★ Ozzy Osbourne

★ Leona Lewis

★ Paul Potts

★ Pearl Jam

★ P!nk

★ R Kelly

★ Ricky Martin

★ Rod Stewart

★ Roger Waters

★ Santana

★ Sean Kingston

★ Shakira

★ Simon and Garfunkel

★ Slayer

★ Switchfoot

★ System Of A Down

★ The Fray

★ The Outfield

★ Toni Braxton

★ Tori Amos

★ Usher

★ Whitney Houston

Sony BMG Australia-Based artists

★ 10,000 Maniacs

★ Amy Pearson

★ Anthony Callea

★ Crosby Stills & Nash

★ Damien Leith

★ Dean Geyer

★ Delta Goodrem (2003’s Innocent Eyes only)

★ Gina Brown

★ Guy Sebastian

★ Il Divo

★ Jessica Mauboy

★ John Collits

★ John Farnham

★ Linda Ronstadt

★ Natalie Merchant

★ Rogue Traders

★ Shannon Noll

★ Stone Sour

★ Tammin

★ TV Rock

★ Westlife

★ Young Divas

Controversy

===2005

July

Sony BMG was fined 10 million dollars after the New York Attorney General's office determined that they had been practicing payola mostly in the form of direct payments to radio stations and bribes to disc jockeys to promote various artists including Franz Ferdinand, Audioslave, Celine Dion and mainly Jessica Simpson.
Epic Records, one of their labels, was specifically cited for using fake contests in order to hide the fact that the gifts were going to disc jockeys rather than listeners . ^[1].

October and November

A controversy over digital rights management (DRM) software that automatically installed itself on people's computers and made them more vulnerable to computer viruses that was produced and shipped by Sony BMG ensued. The scandal caused numerous lawsuits and Sony BMG ended up recalling all affected CDs.

November

November 16 - US-CERT, the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team, part of the United States Department of Homeland Security, issued an advisory on Extended Copy Protection DRM, citing the XCP use of rootkit technology to hide certain files from the computer user as a security threat to computer users and saying that one of the uninstallation options provided by Sony also introduced vulnerabilities to a system.
US-CERT advised, "Do not install software from sources that you do not expect to contain software, such as an audio CD." [5] In its "Top Flops of '05" issue, the enterprise newsweekly eWeek had to create a new category for the "Sony BMG root-kit fiasco." Peter Coffee, of eWeek Labs reported, "The Sony brand name was already in trouble—it lost 16 percent of its value between 2004 and 2005....
Now it has taken a body blow among tech-product opinion leaders. We've never done it before, and we hope we'll never have occasion to do it again but, for 2005, eWeek Labs awards a stupid tech trick grand prize to Sony." eWeek Vol. 22, No.50

List of Sony BMG labels

Independent labels distributed by Sony BMG

★ Dancing Cat Records (Under the Windham Hill Banner)

★ GOOD Music

★ Nick Records

★ One Records

★ Independiente Records

★ Wind-up Records

★ Gun Records

★ Rukus Avenue

★ Shout! Factory

★ NotNowMum! Records

List of offices

Sony BMG is present in many parts of the world:

★ Argentina

★ Australia

★ Austria

★ Belgium

★ Brazil

★ Canada

★ Chile

★ China

★ Costa Rica

★ Czech Republic

★ Denmark

★ Finland

★ France

★ Germany

★ Greece

★ Hong Kong

★ Hungary

★ India

★ Indonesia

★ Ireland

★ Italy

★ Japan

★ Korea

★ Malaysia

★ Mexico

★ Netherlands

★ New Zealand

★ Norway

★ Philippines

★ Poland

★ Portugal

★ Russia

★ Singapore

★ South Africa

★ Spain

★ Sweden

★ Switzerland

★ Taiwan

★ Thailand

★ Turkey

★ United Arab Emirates

★ United Kingdom

★ United States

Japan

In Japan, Sony's Japanese recorded music subsidiary continues to operate independently of Sony BMG due to the strength and size of its business. BMG's former Japanese subsidiary is part of Sony BMG.

References

1. ''Sony Settles Payola Investigation'' from the Office of the Attorney General of New York [4].

★ Leonard, Devin (Nov. 28, 2005). "Music Lessons". ''Fortune'', pp. 31–32.

Listed Elsewhere

★ Big Four

External links

★ Official site

★ Official UK site

★ Official Canadian site

★ Official German site

★ Sony BMG India site

★ Sony BMG Taiwan site

★ Official Hong Kong site

★ Official Sony BMG UK site for Columbia Label Group

★ Official Sony BMG UK site for RCA Label Group

★ Official SONY BMG Argentina site

★ Yahoo! - Sony BMG Music Entertainment Company Profile

★ Music press coverage of Sony BMG merger completion

★ Business press coverage of merger completion

★ Groklaw page on SonyBMG DRM issues and litigation

★ SonyBMG Litigation and Rootkit Info

★

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SONY BMG

Future of the merger

Management

Sony BMG artists

Sony BMG Australia-Based artists

Controversy

October and November

November

List of Sony BMG labels

Independent labels distributed by Sony BMG

List of offices

Japan

References

Listed Elsewhere

See also

External links

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