The second-largest record company in the world is now all Sony’s. As announced in August, Bertelsmann’s 50 percent stake in *Sony* BMG has been acquired by Sony Corp (NYSE: SNE). The former joint venture is now being renamed Sony Music Entertainment – a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corp. of…

As expected, Sony Corp (NYSE: SNE). and Bertelsmann AG have reached an agreement that has Sony buying Bertelsmann’s 50 percent stake in Sony BMG for $1.2 billion. The music company will be called Sony Music Entertainment Inc. and will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. Sony…

Sony (NYSE: SNE) reported its Q208 earnings this morning, and the picture isn’t that pretty: it posted a 39 percent fall in quarterly operating profits, hit by losses in its Sony Ericsson (NSDQ: ERIC) JV. Its profits fell to $327 million (34.98 billion yen)—about half of last year. However, among…

In the permutations being worked out for the sale of BMG part of music label SonyBMG, Bertelsmann is looking to retain a stake in the European part of the business, reports FT, citing sources. The company is looking to sell the 50 percent stake to Japanese company Sony (NYSE: SNE),…

Dada Entertainment and Sony BMG have signed a deal to make full-length DRM-free MP3s available to Dada’s subscribers. The service charges $9.99 a month for 15 tokens, each of which can be redeemed for a ringtone, game or other mobile content—the new deal will let people download full songs to…

Mog, the Berkeley, CA-based music community site, has taken a $2.8 million strategic investment from Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, as well as various angels. The site, which competes with sites like iMeem and iLike, was started by David Hyman, formerly of Gracenote, which recently announced a sale to Sony…

Look at us, we’re planning one too… Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG wants to get into the subscription music game. CEO Rolf Schmidt-Holtz told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, summarized by Reuters, that his company has such a service in the works, although the timeline is still unspecified. And most of…

The common theme through today’s Digital Music Forum East: physical music is for all intents and purposes dead, or if it’s not dead, its only role is as a collectible to complement the digital good. Last January, Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG merged its digital and physical distribution businesses, appointing Thomas…

paidContent has learned that News Corp (NYSE: NWS). is pursuing a music joint venture for MySpace—similar to Hulu, its video joint venture with NBC Universal (NYSE: GE), but with variations on the theme. The constant in both instances is content for equity. Under this scheme, MySpace would be the operator…

Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG reckons its digital music revenue will first meet that of its physical sales next year.  “It’s rapidly going to 50 percent in the US - in ‘09, we’re going to be around 50/50 between physical and digital,” the label’s global digital music president Thomas Hesse said…

Target, the big-box retailer, is finally moving into digital music, with the low-key launch of a Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG album. The new album from John Legend, “Live From Philadelphia” launched exclusively in Target stores last week, and is also available in MP3 format through Target.com. The site/company has been…

It’s official… Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG will begin selling DRM-free tracks through *Amazon*‘s music store by the end of the month, confirming reports that surfaced last week. In the announcement, Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) touts the fact that it’s the first download store to offer DRM-free tracks from all four major…

Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG has confirmed previous reports it will become the last of the major labels to offer DRM-free music. It’s a pretty tentative experiment - from January 15, the label will sell $12.99 plastic gift cards, dubbed “Platinum MusicPass”, in outlets of Best Buy, Target and Fred’s, containing…

Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG will join EMI, Vivendi’s (EPA: VIV) Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) in selling music through Amazon’s (NSDQ: AMZN) MP3 store, making it the last of the major’s to start retailing DRM-free music, BusinessWeek suggests. The Sony/Bertelsmann JV had already been expected this…