Sony Music
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Sony Entertainment and managed by the American umbrella division of multinational conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of the Sony Music Group, with the other half being the publishing division, Sony Music Publishing.[4]
For the Japanese operations using this name, see Sony Music Entertainment Japan.Formerly
- American Record Corporation (1929–1938)
- Columbia Records, USA (1938–1966)
- CBS Records (1966–1991)
- Sony Music Entertainment, Inc. (first incarnation; 1991–2004)
- Sony BMG Music Entertainment (2004–2008)
Various
- Victor Talking Machine Company (1906–1924)
- RCA Victor (1924–1985)
- Ariola Records (1937–1985)
- Bertelsmann Music Group (1985–2004)
September 9, 1929
Louis G. Sylvester
Worldwide
US$8.86 billion [1] (FY 2020)
US$1.74 billion [1] (FY 2020)
11,100 (2023[2])
- Sony Entertainment (2012–2019)
- Sony Music Group (2019–present)[3]
Founded in 1929 as American Record Corporation, it was acquired by the Columbia Broadcasting System in 1938 and renamed Columbia Recording Corporation. In 1966, the company was reorganized to become CBS Records. Sony bought the company in 1991 and renamed it SME. In 2004, Sony and Bertelsmann established a 50–50 joint venture known as Sony BMG to handle the operations of Sony Music and Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG), but Sony bought out Bertelsmann's stake 4 years later and reverted to using the 1991 company name. This buyout led to labels formerly under BMG ownership, including Arista, Jive, LaFace and J Records into former BMG and currently Sony's co-flagship record label, RCA Records, in 2011 and led to the relaunch of BMG as BMG Rights Management. Arista Records would later be revived in 2018.
On July 17, 2019, Sony announced a merger of Sony Music Entertainment and music publishing arm Sony/ATV to form the Sony Music Group.[5] The merger was completed on August 1, 2019.[6][7]
As of 2023, Sony Music Entertainment is the second largest of the "Big Three" record companies, behind Universal Music Group and followed by Warner Music Group. Its music publishing division Sony Music Publishing (formerly Sony/ATV) is the largest music publisher in the world.[8][9]
Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited
January 4, 1980
United Kingdom
2 Canal Reach, London, UK
Sony Music Russia
Сони Мьюзик Энтертейнмент
Soni Myuzik Enterteynment
Music recording
1999
March 10, 2022
Russia
Arina Dmitrieva (CEO)[86]
US$42.7 million (FY 2021)[86]
US$2.22 million (FY 2021)[86]
Sony
40-50 (2022)[87]
SBME Holdings B.V.[86]
Official website (archived)