![]() Logo used since 2023 | |
![]() Headquarters at 25 Madison Avenue, New York City | |
Formerly |
|
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Company type | Subsidiary |
Industry | Music |
Genre | Various |
Predecessors |
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Founded | September 9, 1929 |
Founder | Louis G. Sylvester |
Headquarters | 25 Madison Avenue, , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Rob Stringer (CEO) |
Products | |
Revenue | ![]() |
![]() | |
Number of employees | 11,100 (2023[2]) |
Parent | |
Divisions | See List of Sony Music Entertainment labels |
Website | www |
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is a Japanese 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.[4]
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 four 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.[5] The merger was completed on August 1, 2019.[6][7]
As of 2023[update], 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.[8][9]
As part of Sony's business goals to increase collaborations across its entertainment units, be closer to creators and unlock more strategic opportunities, I'd like to inform you that effective August 1, we are bringing together Sony's recorded music and music publishing businesses outside of Japan to create a new Sony Music Group.
Effective August 1, Sony Corporation is bringing together its recorded music and music publishing businesses outside of Japan to form Sony Music Group.
The move will take effect on Aug. 1.
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