RED Music
RED Music, stylized RED MUSIC, formerly RED Distribution, LLC (Relativity Entertainment Distribution) is a Sony-owned sales and marketing division that merged under The Orchard in 2017. RED previously handled releases for more than sixty independent record labels.
Formerly |
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Founded | 1979 |
Headquarters | New York City , US |
Key people | Bob Morelli (President) |
Parent | The Orchard (Sony Music) |
Website | redmusic |
Footnotes / references Sony Merges RED Into The Orchard: What the Music Giant's Latest Consolidation Means for Indie [1] |
History
Founded in 1979 as mainly a hard rock music distributor called Important Record Distributors, which originally distributed Metallica's first two LPs in the US, it became RED Distribution in the 1990s.
In March 2016, Sony announced the acquisition of Essential Music and Marketing. As part of this deal, a new company was launched, Red Essential, which is based at the Cooking Vinyl Group’s West London offices. The company is now located in Farringdon.[2]
Acquisition
On June 1, 2017, Sony Music announced that it would merge RED's British affiliate, Red Essential, into The Orchard.[3] On June 5, Sony also included the American RED Distribution in its merger with The Orchard. The "RED" name will remain active as a new entity named RED MUSIC, which will provide marketing, label services, and joint ventures between Sony's labels and independent labels.[4]
References
- "Sony Merges RED Into The Orchard: What the Music Giant's Latest Consolidation Means for Indie Labels". Billboard.
- "Sony acquires Essential Music & Marketing, launches Red Essential - Music Business Worldwide". Music Business Worldwide. March 2, 2016. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
- Sony Merges The Orchard and Red Essential Into Single Artist/Label Services Division Richard Smirke billboard.com June 1, 2017, Retrieved on June 1, 2017
- Sony Merges RED Into The Orchard: What the Music Giant's Latest Consolidation Means for Indie Labels Ed Christman billboard.com June 5, 2017, Retrieved on June 27, 2017