BMG Rights Management

BMG Rights Management GmbH
Bertelsmann Music Group (2009–present)
Company typeDivision
IndustryMusic
Predecessors
FoundedOctober 2008; 16 years ago (2008-10) in Berlin, Germany
Headquarters,
Germany
Number of locations
20 countries (2020)
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Thomas Coesfeld (CEO)
  • Mathis Wolter (CFO)
  • Ben Katovsky (COO)
ServicesMusic rights management
RevenueIncrease 602 million (2020)
Increase €137 million (2020)
Number of employees
974 (2020)
ParentBertelsmann
Websitebmg.com
Footnotes / references
BMG's main distributor is Universal Music Group for physical media marketing only,[1] with digital distribution duties being transferred to BMG's own systems. Additional distributors, depending on artist and division, are Sony Music, RED Distribution, PIAS Group, SPV GmbH, Good2Go, Demon Music Group, Rough Trade and others.

BMG Rights Management GmbH (also known simply as BMG) is an international music company based in Berlin, Germany.[2] It combines the activities of a music publisher and a record label.[3][4]

BMG was founded in October 2008 after Bertelsmann sold its stake in Sony BMG to Sony.[5] From 2009 to 2013, the investment firm KKR held 51% of the company, which became one of the world's largest music publishers during that time.[6][7] BMG is 100% owned by Bertelsmann and one of the group's eight business divisions.[8]

  1. ^ "BMG Forms Alliance With Universal Music Group". Universal Media Group (Press release). October 19, 2023.
  2. ^ "Musikverlag BMG". mediabiz.de (in German). Retrieved January 10, 2018.
  3. ^ Ohler, Arndt (October 9, 2008). "Bertelsmann bietet Musikern neuen Service". Financial Times Deutschland (in German). p. 5.
  4. ^ Hein, David (October 16, 2008). "Bertelsmann belebt BMG". Horizont (in German). p. 6.
  5. ^ Spahr, Wolfgang (October 14, 2008). "Bertelsmann Unveils BMG Rights Management". billboard.com. Retrieved January 10, 2018.
  6. ^ "Bertelsmann ist die Musik wieder wichtig". Die Welt (in German). March 2, 2013. p. 13.
  7. ^ Briegleb, Volker (March 1, 2013). "Bertelsmann holt die Musik zurück in den Konzern". heise.de (in German). Retrieved January 10, 2018.
  8. ^ Renner, Kai-Hinrich (March 23, 2016). "Bertelsmann sortiert sich neu". Handelsblatt (in German). p. 24.