BMG Returns To Record Business, Signs Brian Ferry

Remember mega-music group Sony-BMG? The BMG half, which sold it's share three years ago to Sony, is getting back into the record business. They've signed Brian Ferry to a worldwide publishing via BMG Chrysalis UK and committed to three albums, but that's just the start.

“The signing of Bryan Ferry is a clear sign of the seriousness of our intent in the record business," states BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch. "In our next stage of development, we are committed to ratcheting up our activity in recording rights. The key to our growth is offering artists an alternative which recognizes that the world has changed."

BMG launched 3 years ago as a partnership between Bertelsmann and investors Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. with a business model that offered artists more transparency and control, along with a larger share of revenues.

"I have always liked to be hands-on with every aspect of the release of my records," said Ferry. "And the BMG deal offers a new way of doing things."