Sony has shut down three of its biggest labels Arista, Jive and J Records and moved the artists to the RCA Records label.
Jive and Arista
New RCA CEO Peter Edge did the deed on Friday.
Jive was founded by Clive Calder in 1977 and sold to BMG in 2002 for $2.74 billion. Jive is the home of Britney Spears, Chris Brown, JLo, R Kelly, Bullet For My Valentine, Nelly, Pitbull and Justin Timberlake.
Clive Davies founded Arista in 1974. Arista artists include Whitney Houston, P. Diddy, Aretha Franklin, Iggy Pop. Kenny G, Annie Lennox and Barry Manilow.
Davies then founded J. Records in 2000. J artists include Rod Stewart, Alicia Keys, Leona Lewis, Jennifer Hudson, Carlos Santana and Kelly Clarkson.
RCA COO Tom Corson told the Hollywood Reporter, “The concept is that there is value in branding RCA and not having it confused or diluted by other labels. The artists have all been supportive. We didn’t make this move without consulting our artists, and we haven’t had any push-back. Frankly, they’re the brand. We’re defined by our artists.”
Corson said that somewhere down the track “there may be a reason to bring them back”.
Right now for Sony, and RCA, it was time to “clean the slate”.
