Artist: Major Labels

The Hong Kong branch of the IFPI - the international wing of the RIAA - has suddenly collapsed like a yeti going down an escalator. All four international majors have quit with plans to establish a local group to dance to their whims. If there's no sense in Sony Hong Kong being part of an international body, what sense is there in Sony UK being part of the same group? The nature of the fudge it's creating has been captured by Music 2dot0: Our sources have clarified that the pull out is [...]

In a sudden announcement in Hong Kong yesterday, all four majors revealed that they were pulling out of the IFPI in Hong Kong and they will be setting up a parallel organization to manage their rights. In a press conference yesterday attended by management representatives from Universal Music, Sony, Warner Music and EMI/Typhoon, they announced their formal withdrawal from IFPI Hong Kong and proclaimed it an appropriate time for what they call a commercial decision – a decision that our sources say had been in the making for the past 2 months. More from [...]

After some fairly intensive competition between interested labels (more on that in the coming weeks), Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights have, as expected , finally put pen to paper with Atlantic Records . That's the word, at least, straight from the band manager's mouth. What's that mean? Well, after a five-state tour planned for the next couple of months, the big-drawing, DOMA-winning blues-pop rock band expects to release an EP and then hit the studio to record its major label debut at some point over the winter. Fans can expect the full-length's [...]

Following last week's much criticized sale of $6.8 million dollars in Warner Music Group's by Lyor Cohen, you would think that other senior execs might wait before selling any significant holdings. Apparently, not. While the transaction is dwarfed in comparison to Cohen's, WMG EVP of Human Resources Mark David Ansorge cashed in 75,000 shares of company stock at $7.56 per share for a total of $567,000. Ansorge still holds WMG stock currently worth another $700,000 - $800,000. ( SEC filing )

Tanya Andersen - the mother who was wrongly accused of illegal filesharing but had the courage to stand up to the RIAA - is to have her legal costs paid in full as the courts instruct the RIAA to dig deep. But that's just settling the case the music industry had brought against her. Now, she's going after the majors seeking compensation for malicious prosecution. Oh, yes - and it's a class action . Potentially expensive for the majors, and certainly embarrassing. No wonder the BPI meekly agreed to the tut-tut letter strategy in the [...]

In part to pay for a $6.8 million "tear down" in the Hamptons, Warner Music Group senior executive Lyor Cohen has sold 800,000 shares of company stock at $8.45 for a matching $6.8 million. Cohen still holds additional WMG holdings of 2.6 million shares. Barrons reported that Cohen's stock sale was among the biggest since the company went public in 2005 and comes just days after WMG reported an additional $9 million loss for the previous 3 months. On Wednesday dropped 9.33% closing at $7.29 in a sell off some [...]

Nick Gatfield, EMI's new President, A&R Labels, North America, UK & Ireland, continues to build his own team with the appointment of artist manager and A&R exec Steven Melrose as VP, A&R Labels based in Los Angeles. Melrose has served as as an A&R consultant to both major and indie labels and is the manager for The Crystal Method and Sam Sparro. Melrose also co-founded independent label City of Angels, where he signed electronic Crystal Method and later entered into a deal for the band with [...]

For the 3rd Q of 2008, domestic revenue for the Warner Music Group declined 6.5% while international was up 17.2%. When fluctuations in the value of the dollar were factored in, the losses from continuing operations were $9 million ; an improvement from a loss of $16 million during the prior year quarter. Revenue from recorded music was down 1% on a constant-currency basis. The decline in revenue reflected strength in Europe offset by declines in the U.S., Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Even a music publishing suffered a drop of [...]

click to enlarge Just a few days after our prank placing a "Major Labels Are Obsoete" ad on ColumbiaRecords.com, eagle-eyed reader Scott Feldman noticed that Columbia had placed an ad below a follow-up story here on Hypebot. Coincidence?

Sony has agreed to acquire Bertelsmann's 50% stake in Sony BMG and will rename the new company Sony Music Entertainment Inc. (SMEI). The deal is valued at $1.2 - $1.3 billion and is still subject to reguloratory approval including an ongoing EU review of the original 2005 merger. Bertelsmann had originally sought $1.5 billion for its stake in the partnership. Under the deal, the parties will continue to share current manufacturing and distribution arrangements between Sony's manufacturing subsidiary, Sony DADC, and Bertelsmann's services company, Arvato Digital Services GmbH by extending the agreements with Arvato for additional [...]

Details coming...

Warner Music Group stock fell 11% yesterday after a Golman Sachs analyst downgraded the stock from Neutral to Sell. Ingrid Chung said WMG will find it difficult to manage costs as revenue continues to drop. U.S. album sales fell 11% in the first 6 months of 2008 according to Nielsen SoundScan. ``WMG will find it increasingly difficult to improve its U.S. market share, after six straight quarters of doing so,'' said Chung. She cut her revenue forecast for the company to $783 million from $830 million. [...]

Our prank placing a " Major Labels Are Obsolete " ad on the front page of ColumbiaRecords.com to illustrate the problems with ads on a major label web site has drawn strong reactions including in the offices of Columbia's parent company Sony BMG. A source inside Sony BMG's Global Digital Business division tells me that "the Hypebot ads are the buzz of the moment" inside the company. The source went on to explain how the practice of ads on Colmbia's sites evolved, "We innovated the advertising on [...]

Former Napster and MusicGremlin executive Miichael Piibe has been upped to Global Head Of Digital Business Development of EMI Music. He had just been named SVP-Business Affairs for EMI North America in December. Piibe is tasked with implementing a digital strategy in all territories. He will remain based in New York and report to Douglas Merrill, President of Digital Business.

If you've been following our little exercise making fun of Columbia Records having ads on their web site, as of early this morning we've spent all of $4.14 cents to achieve 9270 negative impressions. At the moment, the rotating Google ads box on the front page appears to have been replaced by a Jamster Music Tones ad. I can't say if that happened because Columbia got tired of our prank after it spread across the web including via Bob Lefsetz who inspired us [...]

BREAKING NEWS: Rob Stevenson has been named to the President of Virgin US by Nick Gatfield, EMI Music's new President, A&R, North America, UK & Ireland. It is a turnaround for Stevenson, who ousted as EVP of A&R at Universal's Island Def Jam in December 2007. Rob has a track record that includes signing Fall Out Boy, The Killers, The Bravery, Sum 41, Lady Sovereign, Saliva, Thrice and President of boutique label Stolen Transmission,a defunct joint venture label imprint with IDJMG. FROM THE PRESS RELEASE : "I've known [...]

They apparently haven't gotten my message or don't care. Either way, I'm up to 9270 negative impressions for a whopping $4.17 with this rotating ad on ColumbiaRecords.com. Major Labels Are Obsolete R.I.P. or learn and thrive. Music. Tech. The New Music Business Hypebot.com More details on the why I bought the [...]

Sales at Sony BMG decreased 6% over the previous year "due to the continue decline in the physical music market worldwide not being fully offset by growth in digital product sales" according to Sony's latest earnings report. The division lost $42 million before taxes last quarter alone compared to a profit of $31 million in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year. Best selling releases during the quarter included Usher's, Here I Stand, Leona Lewis' Spirit and Neil Diamond's Home Before Dark. The decline left [...]

There are many reasons why corporate and artist sites should not carry advertising. But the most obvious one is that outside ads change the conversation. In one of the few places that a marketer can completely control their message; they're sharing the stage with outsiders who have a different agenda. To prove the point, I placed this ad via Google AdWords in rotation yesterday on the front page of the main Columbia Records web site columbiarecords.com : Major Label Are Obsolete [...]

This one comes courtesy of Bob Lefsetz and first perfectly with out new What Were They Thinking department. Columbia Records has ads from Vonage and Google's AdSense running on almost every page or their site Don't believe me? Go to Columbia.com now ....but be sure to come back and tell us what you think. Even if it's OK to put ads on a corporate web site, is this really the best Columbia can do? Couldn't they at least attract some hip fashion or lifestyle companies? Or why not trade ads with [...]