German media group Bertelsmann could sell its half of Sony BMG, a German newspaper reported on Tuesday, June 10. Bertelsmann has opened talks with Japanese partner Sony about selling its half of their jointly owned music company Sony BMG, according to a Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper report.
Bertelsmann and Sony have jointly owned music company Sony BMG since 2004. Sony has an option to buy should Bertelsmann decided to sell its stake, the FAZ newspaper said, without identifying its source.
Sony BMG owns top record labels such as Columbia and Epic and has a list of blockbuster artists such as Alicia Keys, Leona Lewis, Avril Lavigne and of course Elvis Presley.
Record sales continue to drop
Bertelsmann boss Hartmut Ostrowski wants to get out of the music business as Internet downloads have caused sales to fall.
The partners have not agreed on a price, but the deal could be finalized within a few months, according to the FAZ report.
Even if Bertelsmann eventually gives up its share in Sony BMG, it will still have record and book clubs. Bertelsmann also has a stake in television together with the RTL group and in publishing together with Gruner + Jahr and Random House.
Sony/BMG To Become Sony?
June 11, 2008 | Other Source:For Elvis CD Collectors ForumBrian Quinn wrote on
June 11, 2008
Given that all of Elvis' recordings have been on the market for many years now, it appears that, apart from new fans, the pot has virtually run dry. A new strategy is required to sell the Elvis
Catalogue apart from the perennial 'Greatest Hits' packages.
As we all know, recordings were only part of the Elvis phenomenon. His iconic stature, stage performances and films were all part of the package. This aspect of Elvis' career, in my opinion, should and could be looked at anew and innovative DVD's released together with a 'Classic' Elvis Album e.g. 'Elvis Is Back' etc., given away free with them as a bonus. The DVD material e.g. suitable on and offstage fan footage and film outtakes would please the original fans and the 'Classic' Album would hopefully show the King's talent to new fans in addition to adding to it's sales.
Jumpin Jehosaphat wrote on
June 11, 2008
BMG (buy my Garbage) may have a good idea here by picking the pocket of their Partner SONY
then Elvis will be bounced to the land of the Copy Cats Japan. What is need is to have Elvis Presley all under ONE roof. Bmg has not put one decent item on the streets in the past 5 years. The FTD label is lost in collectors land over priced and not available to the general public. So its out of sight out of mind.