RCA/Jive Label Group
RCA/Jive Label Group (sometimes stylized as RCA/JIVE Label Group) was a short-lived American record label group, owned by Sony Music Entertainment and representing the merger of the RCA Music Group and JIVE Label Group. The umbrella group was formed in 2007 under the name BMG Label Group, was rebranded as RCA/Jive Label Group in 2009. In July 2011 it was finally dissolved into two separate labels: the RCA Music Group and Epic Records which took Jive subsidiaries (LaFace, Battery, etc.) until October 2011 when it retired Jive Records along with Arista Records and J Records. The artists on those three labels were moved to RCA Records.
RCA/Jive Label Group
January 2009
July 2011
Defunct
Sony Music Entertainment
Various
History[edit]
Formation as BMG[edit]
RCA/Jive configuration began as the BMG Label Group during the last year of the Sony BMG merger. The group was officially formed in September 2007 when Bertelsmann Music Group restructured their RCA and Zomba groups into one entity bearing the BMG branding.[1][2] Bob Anderson and Kevin Twitchell led the sales department for the new group, and John Fleckenstein was named senior VP of international. By early 2008, the BMG Label Group was said to consist of RCA Records, Jive Records, J Records, LaFace, Arista, Volcano Entertainment, Verity, GospoCentric and Fo Yo Soul.[3][4] In April 2008, Jive head Barry Weiss was promoted to chairman and CEO of the whole BMG Label Group, a position he still held since the groups rebranding.[5][6] Weiss replaced longtime music exec Clive Davis, who became the Chief Creative Officer. Though some interpreted this move by Sony as a way of shuffling Davis out of the company, he quickly reasserted his position as a hitmaker for Sony working with artists such as Leona Lewis and Jennifer Hudson.[7]
Rebranding to RCA/Jive Label Group[edit]
In August 2008, BMG sold their half of the Sony BMG merger back to Sony.[8] Since Bertelsmann retained the use of the "BMG" name, Sony renamed the BMG Label Group to RCA/Jive Label Group in early 2009,[9] while at the same time, the Zomba Label Group officially began the process of rebranding to Jive Label Group.[10][11] During 2009, branding for both Zomba Label Group and Jive Label Group linked to the same website while RCA/Jive seemed to eschew the Zomba name, suggesting that the branding was in process during this time. By early 2010, the Zomba site was completely reworked as the rebranding process was completed.[12] Following the restructuring, Barry Weiss remained head of both RCA/Jive Label Group, and its constituent Jive Label Group. Weiss left the RCA/Jive Label Group in March 2011.[13]
RCA Music Group
March 2004
RCA/Jive Label Group
Various
2004
Various