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Bertelsmann AG is a non-public stock corporation. At present, its
shareholders are the Bertelsmann Stiftung, Groupe Bruxelles Lambert and
the Mohn family. The capital shares are held by three shareholders: the
Bertelsmann Stiftung (57.6%), the Mohn family (17.3%) and Groupe
Bruxelles Lambert (25.1%, of which 0.1% are non-voting shares). The
voting rights held by the Bertelsmann Stiftung and the Mohn family are
exercised by Bertelsmann Verwaltungsgesellschaft (BVG). BVG controls 75%
of voting rights, while Groupe Bruxelles Lambert controls 25%.
Headquarters:
New York City
Shareholders: SONY (50%) Bertelsmann AG (50%)
Record Labels (selection):
Arista Records, BMG Ariola, BMG Canada, BMG Classics, BMG Japan, BMG
Ricordi, BMG Strategic Marketing Group, BMG UK & Ireland, Columbia
Records Group, Crescent Moon Records, Epic Records, J Records, Jive
Records, LaFace, Legacy Recordings, Provident Music Group, RCA Label Group
- Nashville, RCA Records, RCA Victor Group, Sony Classical, Sony Music
Custom Marketing Group, Sony Music International, Sony Music Nashville,
Sony Music Norte, Sony Music Soundtrax, Sony Wonder, Verity.
Offices:
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China,
Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,
Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea,
Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines,
Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United
Kingdom, United States
Management:
Andrew Lack, Chief Executive Officer, Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Michael Smellie, Chief Operating Officer, Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Kevin Kelleher, Chief Financial Officer, Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Sony BMG Music
Entertainment
Q:Why
a merger and why now?
A: The recorded music industry is facing a global crisis. We have
all seen a massive decline in sales while costs have risen and CD prices
have fallen. By combining operations, and a program of cost savings, Sony
BMG will be able to sustain and increase our investment in artists
worldwide and in multiple genres, instead of continuing on our current
course of streamlining and cutting costs in response to the challenging
market conditions.
Q: What is included in the JV?
A: Sony BMG is comprised largely of the recorded music labels of
Sony Music and BMG. Music publishing, and manufacturing are not included.
In Japan, Bertelsmann's recorded music division will be included in the
joint venture but Sony's will be kept separate.
Q: What is the operating focus of Sony BMG?
A: Our focus is on recorded-music operations, and our relationship
with artists is at the core of what we do. Our focus is on developing
music talent, finding new repertoire, helping established artists branch
out in new areas, and exploring new avenues to promote and market music.
Q: How will the JV approach A&R will the new company focus on
just global hits, or will there be an additional focus on A&R at the
local level?
A: Sony BMG is dedicated to supporting local artists and repertoire
in regions around the world. We believe today's local A&R successes
are tomorrow's global superstars.
Q: What artists and labels comprise the combined company?
A: Sony BMG will benefit from the complementary strengths of the
two companies, including some of the greatest record
labels in the world, impressive current artist rosters, and a vast
catalog of important and influential recordings.
Q: Who will run the JV?
A: The JV has a joint leadership structure, made up of senior
managers from each company. The CEO is Andrew Lack, who will report to a
six-person board of directors split evenly between representatives of Sony
Corp. of America and Bertelsmann AG. The Chairman of the Board of
Directors is Rolf Schmidt Holtz. Michael Smellie will be Chief Operating
Officer, and Kevin Kelleher will be Chief Financial Officer.
Q: Where are the headquarters of Sony BMG? And what about headquarters
for the JV in France, Germany, and other countries?
A: Sony BMG's corporate offices will be based at 550 Madison Avenue
in New York. The JV and its labels will also maintain offices in other
locations within the city of New York. For the time being it will also
maintain offices at the Bertelsmann building in New York City. In other
countries and territories, the locations will be determined as we work
through the integration of Sony Music and BMG.
It's Glenn Miller and Fats Waller's
100th birthday this year and Bluebird/RCA Victor celebrates these giants
of the swing era with The Centennial Collections, a new series
that offers something different . . . a CD of newly remastered greatest
hits by the legends of jazz, plus a bonus DVD of rarely seen
film/performance footage . . . all for the price of one CD. Addational
releases include Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman, and Coleman
Hawkins.
July 14, 2004 (Los Angeles, CA) - Legendary Cuban
pianist Bebo Valdés, and Gypsy flamenco vocalist Diego ¿el Cigala¿
Salazar and their record Lágrimas Negras, produced by
Javier Limón and Academy Award-winning film director Fernando Trueba, are
becoming a unique event in the history of Spanish and international music.
Following their achievements to date with quality mestizo music, now come
the Latin Grammy awards. Bebo & Cigala and the album Lágrimas
Negras have been nominated for this year¿s Latin Grammy awards in
the following categories: Record of the Year, Album of the Year,
Traditional Tropical Album, Best Recording Engineering and Best Producer
of the Year (Javier Limón). The Latin Grammys will be broadcast on CBS on
September 1st. Cigala told the Los Angeles Times, ¿¿if we are able with
this record to open borders and bring people closer to flamenco who never
listened to the music before -- well, that¿s marvelous.¿ These five
Latin Grammy nominations come on top of the important awards that Lágrimas
Negras has won in Spain in the last year: five Amigo awards, three
Musica awards and one Ondas award. In Spain, Lágrimas Negras
has sold more than 250,000 copies and has been in the best-selling charts
for 58 weeks (more than 14 months!). Lágrimas Negras, which
was released in the U.S. last month and in Europe last year, was on the
2003 best albums lists of critics at The New York Times, Newsday, and
other publications. Bebo & Cigala have also been featured in Time and
the Los Angeles Times. Outside of Spain it has sold over 130,000 copies
world wide in just three months, with special success in Mexico, France,
Argentina, Portugal, Venezuela and the United States. The record has been
released in more than 20 countries and is scheduled for release in
Germany, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Bulgaria and Brazil. Lágrimas
Negras is a unique blending of the music of Cuban pianist Bebo
Valdés with the flamenco voice of Diego ¿el Cigala¿ Salazar. The album
represents two artists, two generations, two truths and a half-century age
difference between them. Additionally, Bebo Valdés is eligible for a
sixth Latin Grammy in the category of Latin Jazz for his record We
could make such beautiful music together with violinist Federico
Britos. To make matters even more interesting, Chucho Valdés - Son of
Bebo - is also up for this award for his last record.
Check out the latest news from
Bluebird, including:
1) Cesaria Evora Wins a GRAMMY Award for Voz D?Amor
2) Never ?Before-Released Frank Sinatra to Hit Stores on April 6th!
3) Announcing the New Bluebird Centennial Collections
4) Strange Liberation Making Waves in the Jazz World
5) New Additions to When The Sun Goes Down Series
6) Two More Bluebird First Editions Coming Soon
BEST CONTEMPORARY WORLD MUSIC ALBUM
VOZ D'AMOR - Cesaria Evora (Bluebird)
Awarded to Cesaria Evora at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards on February 8th,
2004!
June 22, 2004 (New York, NY) - After more than ten
years as the hottest supergroup in contemporary jazz, Fourplay hits the
road to support their ninth studio album, Journey. Fourplay is
comprised of keyboardist Bob James, bassist/vocalist Nathan East,
guitarist Larry Carlton, and drummer Harvey Mason -- each a major artist
in his own right. Recorded at Firehouse Recording and produced by longtime
Fourplay producer, Don Murray, the band went into the studio with
sometimes only simple sketches of melodies. Using their innate talents and
their world-class improvising skills, not to mention an unbelievable
amount of teamwork, Fourplay worked on each song with a free give-and-take
session of discussion and performance and then the band would lay it down.
Journey is also the band's first all-digital album, a milestone for a
group known for its embrace of analog sound. Journey includes nine
Fourplay originals and one cover of Sting's "Fields of Gold."
Nathan East lends his vocal talents to "Play Around It" and the
title track "Journey," which also features Bikki Johnson on
background vocals and shaker. Each song on Journey has a story
behind it. Each one offers another perspective on how Fourplay continues
to grow as a writing collective, a rhythm section, and as a source of
continued excellence. August 21 Temecula, CA Thornton Winery August 22 Los
Angeles, CA Hollywood Bowl August 25 Saratoga, CA Garden Theatre September
10 West Bend, WI Kettle Moraine Jazz Festival September 11 St. Paul, MN
Fitzgerald Theater September 12 Marshall, MO Crossroads Amphitheater
September 13 St. Louis, MO The Pageant September 15 Cleveland, OH
Playhouse Square Center September 16 Detroit, MI Detroit Opera House
September 17 Columbus, OH Promowest Pavilion September 18 Chicago, IL
Chicago Theatre September 21 Austin, TX One World Theater September 22
Houston, TX Verizon Wireless Theater October 14 Rehoboth Beach, DE
Rehoboth Autumn Jazz Festival October 15 Glenside, PA Keswick Theatre
October 16 Atlantic City, NJ Trump Marina ¿ The Shell November 11
Jacksonville, FL Florida Theatre November 12, 13 Atlanta, GA Georgia
Institute of Technology November 14 Charlotte, NC Ovens Auditorium
November 15 Durham, NC Carolina Theatre of Durham November 16 Washington,
DC GW Lisner Auditorium November 18 New York, NY Town Hall November 19
Huntington, NY Inter-Media Arts Center November 20 New Haven, CT Southern
CT State University November 21 Palmerton, PA Penn¿s Peak
Frank Sinatra fans and anybody who has ever loved
this blue eyed crooner will be ecstatic to find out that we have rummaged
through the archives and found a collection of NEVER-BEFORE-RELEASED Frank
Sinatra recordings! Young Blue Eyes- Birth of a Crooner will
be in stores on April 6th!
This 20-song collection of the Dorsey-Sinatra collaboration emanates from
their legendary NBC radio broadcasts in the early ?40s. Young Blue
Eyes- The Birth of a Crooner features unique interpretations of
Sinatra classics as well as rare covers that have previously been
unreleased commercially. The live recordings have been exceptionally
remastered by engineer Doug Pomeroy to ensure high sonic quality.
Sinatra launched his career with the Dorsey Orchestra, and together they
held sway over the popular music scene from 1940 to 1942. During that time
they recorded 90 songs for RCA Victor. These studio dates have been
documented on the Bluebird box set The Song Is You. However, the
three-year Dorsey-Sinatra working relationship was more expansive than the
studio setting. Young Blue Eyes?Birth of the Crooner opens a
window on seminal live performances of ballads and romance tunes when
Sinatra was cutting his teeth in the music world with one of the premiere
big bands.
Dave Douglas'new title Strange Liberation is
making waves in the Jazz world, with rave reviews from the critics, number
#1 on jazz radio for a month, and a worldwide tour currently in motion.
Featuring special guest Bill Frisell on guitar, Dave Douglas brings his
amazing trumpet playing ability as well as his compositional skills to the
table, complimented by the New Quintet.
Check out what the press has to say about Strange Liberation...
"The trumpeter reconvenes the quintet behind 2002's gem The Infinite,
adding guitarist Bill Frisell's quavering twang to the mix. He achieves a
richly detailed sound, elegant even in its eccentricities. Often, Frisell
and Uri Caine's piano cast lovely sonic halos around Douglas' pungent
tone. There's an intelligent cohesion to these wide-ranging tracks, and
just the right tension between composition and improvisation. A-"
-Entertainment Weekly
?From the opening track, the sound, the ensemble blend, freezes you right
in your chair? Strange Liberation possesses, in spades, the quality of
immediacy essential to jazz? ?Jazz Times
?Forty-one years old with 21 albums to his credit: that is a remarkable
resume for jazz's most adventurous trumpeter. Dave Douglas' sixth Bluebird
outing, Strange Liberation, is a reflective, whimsical and driving quintet
date with guest Bill Frisell. It marks the first meeting of the fellow
alchemists. The pairing is a perfect tonal match: Frisell's dreamy yet
barbed guitar stylings harmonically mated to Douglas' trademark bumblebee
trills and high-pitched wails. But the Frisell-Douglas partnership is only
part of the CD's success story. Equally vital to its dynamism is Douglas'
brilliant road-honed band? -Billboard
"Strange Liberation is the best album in several years by Dave
Douglas, a prolific trumpeter and bandleader. It doesn't take long for
each of his new bands to sound good, but a lot depends on the material
these bands are working on. Mr. Douglas is project minded, not just
writing to the strengths of his players but often composing with specific
goals, homages or sound combinations in mind.... the band has the rhythmic
and timbral originality to go up against Mr. Frisell properly." -New
York Times
?Douglas works in so many formats and goes to the high-concept well so
often that it?s easy to overlook recordings? that are harder to
categorize, but that is often where the choicest fruit of his vibrant
imagination exist.? ?Downbeat
Tracing the roots of rock & roll, the
critically-acclaimed When The Sun Goes Down series showcases early
versions of songs that were very influential and/or later popularized
with mainstream pop or rock hits. These are the often superior versions
you didn?t even know existed! While the series has focused primarily on
the early influence of blues, the latest two installments expand the
concept highlighting the influence of early country and gospel.
Honey In The Rock demonstrates the singular influence of black gospel on
rock and popular music going back to 1902! This particular program
begins with ultra-rare gems from this period right through Thelma
Houston?s 1972 recordings, providing a breathtaking panorama of
America?s most influential music.
Likewise, Will The Circle Be Unbroken demonstrates the profound impact
of early country and roots music, featuring early versions of familiar
songs, heard as they were originally written or recorded. Featured
tracks include Vernon Dalhart?s ?The Prisoner?s Song? (the first country
music million-seller), The Monroe Brother?s ?Can the Circle Be Unbroken?
(later popularized by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band), and Gray &
Whitter?s 1928 version of ?Tom Dooley?, which later sparked the 1960s
folk revival.
Continuing the critically-acclaimed First
Edition reissue series, Bluebird offers two new stellar titles . . .
completely remastered and sounding better than ever!
Bing Crosby - Bing With A Beat
Regarded by many scholars and fans as Bing Crosby?s greatest album, Bing
With A Beat is the jazz record Crosby always dreamed of making during
his many years of crafting pop hits. He made this record for the sheer
pleasure and love of jazz, collaborating with his ideal wish-list of
musicians, and focusing on songs he loved. You can hear the joy in his
voice as he performs a collection of songs he never otherwise recorded,
including an early version of ?Mack The Knife?, done in tribute to his
friend Louis Armstrong.
Rosemary Clooney ? Rosie Solves The Swingin? Riddle
Rosie Solves The Swingin? Riddle is one of two fantastic recording
collaborations between Rosemary Clooney and Nelson Riddle, that
illustrates their mastery of The Great American Songbook. What many
don?t know is that this collaboration coincided with their passionate
love affair outside the recording studio, a relationship that Clooney
once described as ?. . . the best blending of my job and my personal
life that I?ve ever had.? All of this is reflected in this high-spirited
collection of uptempo tunes, including two never-before-released bonus
tracks.
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