Sony Music (global brand, excluding JP, owned by Sony Music Entertainment)
~ Label
Annotation
Sony Music (as of 2014) uses the following frontline labels:
* Columbia
* RCA
* Epic
* Arista Nashville
* RCA Records Label Nashville
* Columbia Nashville
* Arista France
History
Jan 1, 1991: Sony Music Entertainment (SME) was founded, on the same day Sony reintroduced the Columbia label worldwide (except in Spain and Japan*).
Aug 5, 2004: Sony/BMG merger; SME renamed Sony BMG Music Entertainment (SBME). With the merge, Sony Music gained the use of the BMG-owned Columbia trademark in Spain.
Aug 2008: Sony announces its intention to buy out BMG's stake in merger
Oct 1, 2008: acquisition completed, SBME reverts to the present name Sony Music Entertainment (worldwide – except in Japan*).
Sep 2012: Arista France is created, historic Arista (BMG) disappeared with Sony/BMG fusion in 2008
* JP releases should not be filed under this label – The Sony Music Distribution (Japan) Inc. is a good source for labels. Most JP printings of US releases will retain the US label, with the exception of Columbia due to legal reasons. For more information on the independent music giant, see Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc..
Sony Music Entertainment has offices in the following countries:
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela
Previously known as: Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Aug 5, 2004 – Oct 1, 2008)
Wikipedia
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.
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. The merger was completed on August 1, 2019.
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.