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For those that are interested in the musiz biz.
Seems this past Friday Arista Records along with Jive Records and J Records closed doors and got absorbed by the Borg or what is called Sony.
From Billboard.biz
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/indus...05394732.story
"RCA's Peter Edge, Tom Corson on the Shuttering of Jive, J and Arista"
October 07, 2011
By Shirley Halperin, The Hollywood Reporter, with Billboard staff
Despite telling Billboard.biz in August that the Jive, J and Arista
labels "are not going to go away," new RCA Records CEO Peter Edge and
President/COO Tom Corson confirmed longstanding rumors that the
imprints will be shuttered, with their artists moving to RCA.
"The path we've taken is to refresh RCA, so we're going to retire
those brands," Corson told The Hollywood Reporter in a new interview.
"There may be a reason down the line to bring them back, but it's a
clean slate here."
Jive Records, run by Barry Weiss for nearly 20 years, was home to
multi-platinum pop stars Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. Arista
was founded in 1974 also by Davis, who signed Whitney Houston, Aretha
Franklin and Barry Manilow to the label. In recent years, it saw
releases by Usher and Pink. All artists will now fall under the RCA
Records banner.
In the digital age, one might think these closures mean there is
little value, awareness or loyalty to a label by name, but the execs
insist it's quite the opposite. "The concept is that there is value
in branding RCA and not having it confused or diluted by other
labels," says Corson. "The artists have all been supportive. We
didn't make this move without consulting our artists, and we haven't
had any push-back. Frankly, they're the brand. We're defined by our
artists."
The move follows a round of layoffs in which dozens of staffers were
let go, including longtime executives Richard Palmese (J's evp of
promotion, who had been Davis' righthand man for three decades), Tom
Carraba and Peter Thea (both Jive evps) and roster cuts made
(American Idol season 9 winner Lee DeWyze was a casualty), all in an
effort to significantly downsize the label. "We've learned to work
with less and hopefully accomplish the same or more," Corson adds.
"But by definition, the business has shrunk - the staffing has
shrunk, our rosters are smaller. But we're still profitable."
Under the Sony Music umbrella, now headed by Doug Morris, RCA was
founded in 1929 and is the second-oldest label in the U.S. (behind
fellow Sony property Columbia). Together, the labels have boosted
their parent company's market share to comfortably place it in the
No. 2 spot, behind Universal Music, Morris' former employer and
Weiss' current home, where he is Chairman & CEO of Island Def Jam and
Universal Motown Republic Group.
Says RCA's Edge of his label's place in the greater Sony picture:
"Doug is intent on making A&R the focus of RCA and the new focus of
Sony Music. The big initiative here is to spend more money on artist
development, making more records and making better records and less
on all of the other stuff. I happen to agree with him."
-----
RCA Music Group is owned by Sony Music Entertainment, the second
largest music conglomerate behind Universal Music Group.
Seems this past Friday Arista Records along with Jive Records and J Records closed doors and got absorbed by the Borg or what is called Sony.
From Billboard.biz
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/indus...05394732.story
"RCA's Peter Edge, Tom Corson on the Shuttering of Jive, J and Arista"
October 07, 2011
By Shirley Halperin, The Hollywood Reporter, with Billboard staff
Despite telling Billboard.biz in August that the Jive, J and Arista
labels "are not going to go away," new RCA Records CEO Peter Edge and
President/COO Tom Corson confirmed longstanding rumors that the
imprints will be shuttered, with their artists moving to RCA.
"The path we've taken is to refresh RCA, so we're going to retire
those brands," Corson told The Hollywood Reporter in a new interview.
"There may be a reason down the line to bring them back, but it's a
clean slate here."
Jive Records, run by Barry Weiss for nearly 20 years, was home to
multi-platinum pop stars Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. Arista
was founded in 1974 also by Davis, who signed Whitney Houston, Aretha
Franklin and Barry Manilow to the label. In recent years, it saw
releases by Usher and Pink. All artists will now fall under the RCA
Records banner.
In the digital age, one might think these closures mean there is
little value, awareness or loyalty to a label by name, but the execs
insist it's quite the opposite. "The concept is that there is value
in branding RCA and not having it confused or diluted by other
labels," says Corson. "The artists have all been supportive. We
didn't make this move without consulting our artists, and we haven't
had any push-back. Frankly, they're the brand. We're defined by our
artists."
The move follows a round of layoffs in which dozens of staffers were
let go, including longtime executives Richard Palmese (J's evp of
promotion, who had been Davis' righthand man for three decades), Tom
Carraba and Peter Thea (both Jive evps) and roster cuts made
(American Idol season 9 winner Lee DeWyze was a casualty), all in an
effort to significantly downsize the label. "We've learned to work
with less and hopefully accomplish the same or more," Corson adds.
"But by definition, the business has shrunk - the staffing has
shrunk, our rosters are smaller. But we're still profitable."
Under the Sony Music umbrella, now headed by Doug Morris, RCA was
founded in 1929 and is the second-oldest label in the U.S. (behind
fellow Sony property Columbia). Together, the labels have boosted
their parent company's market share to comfortably place it in the
No. 2 spot, behind Universal Music, Morris' former employer and
Weiss' current home, where he is Chairman & CEO of Island Def Jam and
Universal Motown Republic Group.
Says RCA's Edge of his label's place in the greater Sony picture:
"Doug is intent on making A&R the focus of RCA and the new focus of
Sony Music. The big initiative here is to spend more money on artist
development, making more records and making better records and less
on all of the other stuff. I happen to agree with him."
-----
RCA Music Group is owned by Sony Music Entertainment, the second
largest music conglomerate behind Universal Music Group.
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