Warner Music Group
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Profile
Headquarters: New York, NY
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer: Edgar Bronfman Jr.
Corporation Type: Public (NYSE: WMG)
Warner Music Group Website: http://www.wmg.com/
Founding: 1970
The Warner Music Group is comprised of seven corporate divisions. Its roots date back to 1963, when Warner Bros. Records acquired Frank Sinatra's Reprise Records label. In 1967, Warner / Reprise's parent corporation Warner-Seven Arts purchased Atlantic and its subsidiary labels. From 1967 to 1969, Atlantic / Atco operated under the umbrella of the parent corporation, but remained independent from Warner Brothers / Reprise.
In 1969, The Kinney Corporation purchased the Warner and Atlantic label companies. In mid-1970, Kinney acquired Elektra Records and formed Warner-Elektra-Atlantic (WEA). This would mark the beginning of the Warner Music Group. Though the three label groups within WEA competed against one another under the control of the parent corporation, WEA established a regional distribution system throughout the United States that enabled their labels to control a key sector of their business, circumvent the independents and compete head to head with other major labels of their day.
In 1972, Kinney changed their corporate name to Warner Communications. In 1987, the company merged with Time Inc. and the multi-media conglomerate Time Warner was formed. After a short sighted merger with AOL in 2000, AOL-Time Warner was forced to spin off the label group in an attempt to reduce its debt. A deal to sell the labels to a group of investors led by Edgar Bronfman for $2.6 billion was reached in February 2004. Shortly after the acquisition, restructuring by the Warner Music Group meant WEA would no longer market or distribute releases.
Structure
- Atlantic Records Group
- Rhino Entertainment Group
- Warner Brothers Records Group
- Warner Classics and Jazz
- Warner Music International
- Word Label Group
- Alternative Distribution Alliance