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Business News Deals Labels & Publishers
BMG buys Rise Records
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 19 May 2015
Hey indie record label types, hold on tight, BMG is back in acquisition mode. Dare to blink, just for a moment, and you might find yourself acquired by the German music rights firm. Though what would be wrong with that? Being part of the BMG party, that’d be swell. I might set up an indie label this morning, just to be in with a chance of getting an invite.
Or perhaps the bosses at BMG might consider acquiring a top music business news service and consultancy business. I mean, we all know that’s where all the really exciting stuff is happening. You can own the recorded output of metalcore-heads Of Mice & Men and The Devil Wears Prada if you want, but imagine getting your hands on a catalogue full of piracy ponderings, freemium thoughts, Google bashing and 703 stories involving Justin Bieber walking into glass doors. Come on BMG, it’s the future.
Anyway, BMG has bought metal label Rise Records, in a crazy bid to own the recorded output of metalcore-heads Of Mice & Men and The Devil Wears Prada, amongst others. Rise Records, in case you wondered, was founded by Craig Ericson in 1991 and “using digital media it has become the centre of a growing underground community”. Yeah, but not one news report on Justin Bieber walking into a glass door. Amateurs.
Rise will continue to be run out of Portland, Oregon under Ericson’s leadership, but with BMG handling back office dib dabs, and providing an international network. Ericson, unsurprisingly, is “thrilled” with this arrangement, while BMG Chrysalis US’s Laurent Hubert says: “Rise Records is more than a record label, it is a cultural phenomenon which has harnessed digital media to create a genuine community”.
Hey Hubert, if you’re looking for a real cultural phenomenon, click on this link.
