Katana VentraIP

Sony BMG

Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout of the remaining 50% held by Bertelsmann. BMG was instead rebuilt as BMG Rights Management on the basis of 200 remaining artists.

Company type

  • Music
  • Entertainment

August 6, 2004 (2004-08-06)

October 1, 2008 (2008-10-01)

Bertelsmann's share acquired by Sony

David Gordon (chairman, Sound & Vision)

"http://sonybmg.com/". Archived from the original on January 1, 2006.

History[edit]

Sony BMG Music Entertainment began as the result of a merger between Sony Music (part of Sony) and Bertelsmann Music Group (part of Bertelsmann) completed on August 6, 2004. It was 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, Mchenry Records, Jive Records, RCA Victor Records, RCA Records, Legacy Recordings, Sonic Wave America and others. The merger affected all Sony Music and Bertelsmann Music Group companies worldwide except for Japan, where it was felt that it would reduce competition in that country's music industry significantly.


Financial analysts covering the merger anticipated that up to 2,000 jobs would be cut as a result, saving Sony BMG approximately $350 million annually.


The company's chief executive officer (CEO) was 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.


The company signed a content deal with the popular video sharing community YouTube.


On August 5, 2008, Sony Corporation agreed to buy Bertelsmann AG's 50 percent stake in the music company for $1.2 billion to get full control. The music company was renamed Sony Music Entertainment and became a unit of Sony Corporation of America.[1] This allowed Sony the rights to artists on the current and historic BMG roster and allowed Sony Corporation to better integrate its functions with its PlayStation 3 and upcoming new media initiatives. As part of the buyout, Bertelsmann kept the rights to master recordings by 200 artists, which formed the basis for a second version of BMG.


Sony and Bertelsmann last teamed up in 2013, in a failed bid to acquire Parlophone from Universal Music Group. BMG would administer the label's back catalogue, while its current artists would sign with Sony.[2] While Sony BMG failed to win Parlophone (which ultimately went to Warner Music Group), BMG acquired Mute Records' back catalogue and licensed Depeche Mode and the catalogue of The Echo Label to Sony.[3]

Sony Music Entertainment

Bertelsmann Music Group

Big Four

which was not part of Sony BMG, distributed Japanese Music in the US through Columbia or Epic, since around March 2007 when previous distributor, Tofu Records, was closed down

Sony Music Entertainment Japan

List of record labels

List of Sony BMG Entertainment artists

List of Sony Music Entertainment labels

List of Sony Music Entertainment artists

Columbia House

Leonard, Devin (November 28, 2005). "Music Lessons." , pp. 31–32.

Fortune

– Official Site

Sony Commercial Music Group (CMG)

on Yahoo!

Sony Music Entertainment, Incorporated – Company Profile

Music Press Coverage of Sony BMG Merger Completion

Business press coverage of merger completion

Groklaw Page on Sony BMG DRM Issues and Litigation

Sony BMG Litigation and Rootkit Info

Archived March 19, 2009, at the Wayback Machine

Sony BMG Sued for Software Piracy – Assets Seized

on YouTube

Sony BMG's channel