Sony Music Entertainment and BMG Unite

Posted on September 10, 2004

Sony Music Entertainment and BMG have completed the creation of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, a global recorded music joint venture. Sony BMG will be headquartered in New York. The merger did not take place without a reduction in workforce. A reuters news story in July, 2004 said the Sony Music and Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) merger is going to result in around 2,000 layoffs as the two companies integrate operations and try to cut over $300 million in operational costs.

The joint venture will some top record labels a wide array of artists, including Arista (Dido, Whitney Houston, Sarah McLachlan, and Santana); Columbia Records (Aerosmith, Tony Bennett, Beyonce, Bob Dylan, Destiny's Child, Dixie Chicks, John Mayer, Nas, Jessica Simpson, Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand, System of a Down and Train); Epic Records (Anastacia, Good Charlotte, Incubus, Los Lonely Boys, Modest Mouse, Jennifer Lopez); Jive (R. Kelly, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake); J Records (Alicia Keys, Annie Lennox, Maroon 5, Rod Stewart); LaFace (OutKast, Pink, Usher); RCA Records (Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews Band, Avril Lavigne, Velvet Revolver); RLG-Nashville (Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Martina McBride); Sony Music Nashville (Buddy Jewell, Montgomery Gentry, Travis Tritt, Gretchen Wilson); Sony Classical (Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, composer John Williams, and Robert Downey, Jr.), BMG UK (Dido, Westlife, Will Young), BMG Japan (Kazumasa Oda); BMG Ricordi (Eros Ramazzotti); and Sony Music International (Adriano Celentano, Celine Dion, La Oreja de Van Gogh, George Michael, Sade, Shakira, Julio Iglesias, Leonard Cohen, Delta Goodrem, Bic Runga and Jay Chou), among many others.

In addition, Sony BMG Music Entertainment is the home of a broad variety of archival recordings, including works from such all-time greats as Miles Davis, The Byrds, John Denver, Johnny Cash, Robert Johnson, Janis Joplin, Barry Manilow, Louis Armstrong, Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley, Mahalia Jackson, Vladimir Horowitz, Glenn Gould, Laura Nyro, Lou Reed and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Sony BMG Music Entertainment will be 50% owned by Bertelsmann and 50% owned by Sony Corporation of America. The new company will be helmed by a management team from both companies, including Andrew Lack, who will serve as Chief Executive Officer, Sony BMG Music Entertainment (formerly Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Sony Music Entertainment). In addition, Michael Smellie, formerly Chief Operating Officer, BMG, and Kevin Kelleher, formerly Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Sony Music Entertainment, will each retain his role in the new company.

Sony BMG Music Entertainment will be governed by a Board of Directors consisting of six representatives of Bertelsmann and Sony. Rolf Schmidt-Holtz will serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors, Sony BMG Music Entertainment (formerly Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, BMG). Board members will also include Sir Howard Stringer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Sony Corporation of America, and Vice Chairman, Sony Corporation; Katsumi Ihara, Executive Deputy President, Group CSO and CFO, Sony Corporation; Andrew Lack, CEO of Sony BMG Music Entertainment; Gunter Thielen, Chairman and CEO of Bertelsmann AG; and Siegfried Luther, Chief Financial Officer and Head of the Bertelsmann AG Corporate Center.

Andrew Lack, CEO, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, said, "Sony BMG Music Entertainment has access to an extraordinary array of creative resources, ranging from a current roster that includes some of the most talented artists in the world today, as well as an archive that encompasses some of the most important and influential recordings ever made. By pooling the resources of two of the most creative companies in the music industry we are perfectly positioned to help our artists realize their creative goals, while at the same time providing greater value to music consumers around the world. I look forward to working with the entire Sony BMG team as we combine the very best elements of both companies in order to create one of the most creative and dynamic organizations in the history of recorded music and entertainment."



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