In an interview with THR, CEO Peter Edge and COO Tom Corson explain why it was time to “retire those brands” and how the artists reacted.

Amid some big changes in the music industry, new RCA Records CEO Peter Edge and longtime colleague Tom Corson, who was promoted to president and COO in August, have officially shuttered historic labels Arista and Jive. J Records, launched by Clive Davis in 2000 as an “instant major,” will also see its artists bequeathed to RCA.

“The path we’ve taken is to refresh RCA, so we're going to retire those brands,” Corson tells The Hollywood Reporter in a new interview. "There may be a reason down the line to bring them back, but it's a clean slate here."

Jive Records, run by Barry Weiss for nearly 20 years, was home to multi-platinum pop stars Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. Arista was founded in 1974 also by Davis, who signed Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin and Barry Manilow to the label. In recent years, it saw releases by Usher and Pink. All artists will now fall under the RCA Records banner.

In the digital age, one might think these closures mean there is little value, awareness or loyalty to a label by name, but the execs insist it's quite the oppposite. “The concept is that there is value in branding RCA and not having it confused or diluted by other labels,” says Corson. “The artists have all been supportive. We didn’t make this move without consulting our artists, and we haven’t had any push-back. Frankly, they’re the brand. We’re defined by our artists.”

The move follows a round of layoffs in which dozens of staffers were let go, including longtime executives Richard Palmese (J's evp of promotion, who had been Davis' righthand man for three decades), Tom Carraba and Peter Thea (both Jive evps) and roster cuts made (American Idol season 9 winner Lee DeWyze was a casualty), all in an effort to significantly downsize the label. “We’ve learned to work with less and hopefully accomplish the same or more,” Corson adds. “But by definition, the business has shrunk – the staffing has shrunk, our rosters are smaller. But we’re still profitable.”

Under the Sony Music umbrella, now headed by Doug Morris, RCA was founded in 1929 and is the second-oldest label in the U.S. (behind fellow Sony property Columbia). Together, the labels have boosted their parent company's market share to comfortably place it in the No. 2 spot, behind Universal Music, Morris' former employer and Weiss' current home, where he is Chairman & CEO of Island Def Jam and Universal Motown Republic Group.

Says RCA's Edge of his label's place in the greater Sony picture: “Doug is intent on making A&R the focus of RCA and the new focus of Sony Music. The big initiative here is to spend more money on artist development, making more records and making better records and less on all of the other stuff. I happen to agree with him.”

[Edited 10/7/11 9:59am]

[Edited 10/7/11 10:00am]

Britney, the face of Jive. It's heart & soul, bread & butter, milk & cream.

Wow, back in the late 90s, Jive was IT

musicjunky318 said:

Britney, the face of Jive. It's heart & soul, bread & butter, milk & cream.

Besides Britney Spears, Jive Records was also the original home of R.Kelly, KRS-ONE, Billy Ocean, Too $hort, The Backstreet Boys (BSB), DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (Will Smith), Whodini, E-40, and shitloads of other artists from the 1980's & 1990's that I don't remember off-hand.

I don't think I have ever bought an album based on label

TonyVanDam said:

musicjunky318 said:

Britney, the face of Jive. It's heart & soul, bread & butter, milk & cream.

Besides Britney Spears, Jive Records was also the original home of R.Kelly, KRS-ONE, Billy Ocean, Too $hort, The Backstreet Boys (BSB), DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (Will Smith), Whodini, E-40, and shitloads of other artists from the 1980's & 1990's that I don't remember off-hand.

I know but she's their top selling artist.

TonyVanDam said:

Jive Records was also the original home of Billy Ocean

Jive wasn't Billy Ocean's original label.

[Edited 10/7/11 10:49am]

can we not turn into in a Britney thread. thanks

Has OutKast already left LaFace/Jive/Zomba Music Group for Epic or will that not be necessary since Epic is under Sony anyway?

Musicslave said:

Has OutKast already left LaFace/Jive/Zomba Music Group for Epic or will that not be necessary since Epic is under Sony anyway?

You just answered you answered you own question. Big Boi has a solo deal at Def Jam.

getxxxx said:

Musicslave said:

Has OutKast already left LaFace/Jive/Zomba Music Group for Epic or will that not be necessary since Epic is under Sony anyway?

You just answered you answered you own question. Big Boi has a solo deal at Def Jam.

Thanks for confirming. Yeah, I remember that whole debacle with Big Boi and DJ not allowing 3 Stacks to be featured on his record. Anyway, looking forward to some new sounds from the Mighty O

Labels are modern day dinosaurs struggling to survive the new climate. Not surprised by this at all. I've been expecting similiar reports from other labels too.

getxxxx said:

Musicslave said:

Has OutKast already left LaFace/Jive/Zomba Music Group for Epic or will that not be necessary since Epic is under Sony anyway?

You just answered you answered you own question. Big Boi has a solo deal at Def Jam.

Big Boi's deal was a one album deal. Outkast is still signed to Epic.

http://www.rapbasement.com/outkast/032910-big-boi-of-outkast-explains-how-he-pulled-off-a-one-album-deal-with-def-jam-watch-here.html

MickyDolenz said:

TonyVanDam said:

Jive Records was also the original home of Billy Ocean

Jive wasn't Billy Ocean's original label.

[Edited 10/7/11 10:49am]

Where was he first? I know Billy was definitely the first artist signed to Jive.

HohnerCatcher said:

What will happen to Spliff Starr, Three Times Dope, and the Wee Papa Girls??

Wow! You asked about Three X Dope! Forgot about those dudes

getxxxx said:

In an interview with THR, CEO Peter Edge and COO Tom Corson explain why it was time to “retire those brands” and how the artists reacted.

Amid some big changes in the music industry, new RCA Records CEO Peter Edge and longtime colleague Tom Corson, who was promoted to president and COO in August, have officially shuttered historic labels Arista and Jive. J Records, launched by Clive Davis in 2000 as an “instant major,” will also see its artists bequeathed to RCA.

“The path we’ve taken is to refresh RCA, so we're going to retire those brands,” Corson tells The Hollywood Reporter in a new interview. "There may be a reason down the line to bring them back, but it's a clean slate here."

Jive Records, run by Barry Weiss for nearly 20 years, was home to multi-platinum pop stars Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. Arista was founded in 1974 also by Davis, who signed Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin and Barry Manilow to the label. In recent years, it saw releases by Usher and Pink. All artists will now fall under the RCA Records banner.

In the digital age, one might think these closures mean there is little value, awareness or loyalty to a label by name, but the execs insist it's quite the oppposite. “The concept is that there is value in branding RCA and not having it confused or diluted by other labels,” says Corson. “The artists have all been supportive. We didn’t make this move without consulting our artists, and we haven’t had any push-back. Frankly, they’re the brand. We’re defined by our artists.”

The move follows a round of layoffs in which dozens of staffers were let go, including longtime executives Richard Palmese (J's evp of promotion, who had been Davis' righthand man for three decades), Tom Carraba and Peter Thea (both Jive evps) and roster cuts made (American Idol season 9 winner Lee DeWyze was a casualty), all in an effort to significantly downsize the label. “We’ve learned to work with less and hopefully accomplish the same or more,” Corson adds. “But by definition, the business has shrunk – the staffing has shrunk, our rosters are smaller. But we’re still profitable.”

Under the Sony Music umbrella, now headed by Doug Morris, RCA was founded in 1929 and is the second-oldest label in the U.S. (behind fellow Sony property Columbia). Together, the labels have boosted their parent company's market share to comfortably place it in the No. 2 spot, behind Universal Music, Morris' former employer and Weiss' current home, where he is Chairman & CEO of Island Def Jam and Universal Motown Republic Group.

Says RCA's Edge of his label's place in the greater Sony picture: “Doug is intent on making A&R the focus of RCA and the new focus of Sony Music. The big initiative here is to spend more money on artist development, making more records and making better records and less on all of the other stuff. I happen to agree with him.”

[Edited 10/7/11 9:59am]

[Edited 10/7/11 10:00am]

Its basically consolidation, but lets not lose the issue here, though the label guy says its a benefit, LOTS of artists are going to get axed. Thats the way it goes with any merger or consolidation, so this label guys quote is BS.

TonyVanDam said:

MickyDolenz said:

Jive wasn't Billy Ocean's original label.

[Edited 10/7/11 10:49am]

Where was he first? I know Billy was definitely the first artist signed to Jive.

He was first on GTO Records, then Epic. Jive was his 3rd label.

Old news, I think most artists either moved to Sony or RCA itself anyways. So it was probably coming. Anyways, good riddances. Arista as a label lost its luster years ago. So did Jive and J never got out of the finishing line.

Welcome 2 The Dawn

Baby boomers got their Motown and Atlantic boxsets in the 80s.

Let us get a Jive boxset, yeah??

HohnerCatcher said:

Baby boomers got their Motown and Atlantic boxsets in the 80s.

Let us get a Jive boxset, yeah??

I'll pass (unless it has some really good stuff on it).

lastdecember said:

getxxxx said:

In an interview with THR, CEO Peter Edge and COO Tom Corson explain why it was time to “retire those brands” and how the artists reacted.

Amid some big changes in the music industry, new RCA Records CEO Peter Edge and longtime colleague Tom Corson, who was promoted to president and COO in August, have officially shuttered historic labels Arista and Jive. J Records, launched by Clive Davis in 2000 as an “instant major,” will also see its artists bequeathed to RCA.

“The path we’ve taken is to refresh RCA, so we're going to retire those brands,” Corson tells The Hollywood Reporter in a new interview. "There may be a reason down the line to bring them back, but it's a clean slate here."

Jive Records, run by Barry Weiss for nearly 20 years, was home to multi-platinum pop stars Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. Arista was founded in 1974 also by Davis, who signed Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin and Barry Manilow to the label. In recent years, it saw releases by Usher and Pink. All artists will now fall under the RCA Records banner.

In the digital age, one might think these closures mean there is little value, awareness or loyalty to a label by name, but the execs insist it's quite the oppposite. “The concept is that there is value in branding RCA and not having it confused or diluted by other labels,” says Corson. “The artists have all been supportive. We didn’t make this move without consulting our artists, and we haven’t had any push-back. Frankly, they’re the brand. We’re defined by our artists.”

The move follows a round of layoffs in which dozens of staffers were let go, including longtime executives Richard Palmese (J's evp of promotion, who had been Davis' righthand man for three decades), Tom Carraba and Peter Thea (both Jive evps) and roster cuts made (American Idol season 9 winner Lee DeWyze was a casualty), all in an effort to significantly downsize the label. “We’ve learned to work with less and hopefully accomplish the same or more,” Corson adds. “But by definition, the business has shrunk – the staffing has shrunk, our rosters are smaller. But we’re still profitable.”

Under the Sony Music umbrella, now headed by Doug Morris, RCA was founded in 1929 and is the second-oldest label in the U.S. (behind fellow Sony property Columbia). Together, the labels have boosted their parent company's market share to comfortably place it in the No. 2 spot, behind Universal Music, Morris' former employer and Weiss' current home, where he is Chairman & CEO of Island Def Jam and Universal Motown Republic Group.

Says RCA's Edge of his label's place in the greater Sony picture: “Doug is intent on making A&R the focus of RCA and the new focus of Sony Music. The big initiative here is to spend more money on artist development, making more records and making better records and less on all of the other stuff. I happen to agree with him.”

[Edited 10/7/11 9:59am]

[Edited 10/7/11 10:00am]

Its basically consolidation, but lets not lose the issue here, though the label guy says its a benefit, LOTS of artists are going to get axed. Thats the way it goes with any merger or consolidation, so this label guys quote is BS.

It's totally about consolidation. I wasn't aware that Sony picked up RCA and it's associated labels, but I'm not surprised. The record industry is just going through what GM did back in 2009, when they shuttered or sold all of their brands during the government bailout except Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC.

MickyDolenz said:

TonyVanDam said:

Where was he first? I know Billy was definitely the first artist signed to Jive.

He was first on GTO Records, then Epic. Jive was his 3rd label.

His first album was released on GTO, but his first single was released on Spark Records (which was a Lieber and Stohler record label). He used his real name, Les Charles for his first single.

728huey said:

lastdecember said:

Its basically consolidation, but lets not lose the issue here, though the label guy says its a benefit, LOTS of artists are going to get axed. Thats the way it goes with any merger or consolidation, so this label guys quote is BS.

It's totally about consolidation. I wasn't aware that Sony picked up RCA and it's associated labels, but I'm not surprised. The record industry is just going through what GM did back in 2009, when they shuttered or sold all of their brands during the government bailout except Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC.

That happened around the same time when Clive Davis left Arista for the first time. I want to say it happened around 2002 or 2003. Sony/Columbia/J/Arista/RCA/Jive/Epic/etc. are all under the same umbrella. I guess now, they are just going to combine 7 or so labels into even fewer imprints.

Somebody correct me, but didn't this same type of thing happen in the 60s and 70s? I remember Atlantic merged with Warner Brothers. I know other labels have gone and come also (Casablanca immediately comes to mind).

I wonder if this merger will affect some of their long-term artists (Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, ect.)?

Musicslave said:

Has OutKast already left LaFace/Jive/Zomba Music Group for Epic or will that not be necessary since Epic is under Sony anyway?

LaFace still exist?

HETHRU said:

Musicslave said:

Has OutKast already left LaFace/Jive/Zomba Music Group for Epic or will that not be necessary since Epic is under Sony anyway?

LaFace still exist?

It did for a while after Babyface and LA sold their parts of the company to Arista. I don't think it was full functioning though because the LaFace label only appeared on albums of artists that were signed to LaFace prior to the SonyBMG merger.

[Edited 10/12/11 17:01pm]

musicjunky318 said:

Britney, the face of Jive. It's heart & soul, bread & butter, milk & cream.

Not true.

At this rate, it might as well just be one huge, awful label!

VinnyM27 said:

At this rate, it might as well just be one huge, awful label!

I agree, collapse ALL them boys into one giant label called The Industry!

Is R Kelly on JIve now?