Auralize this...

Re-labeling this...

For several years, the music industry was defined by the six major record labels known as "The Big 6." They were: EMI, Sony, BMG, Polygram, WEA and MCA.

Then there were 5... In 1998, Seagrams, which already owned Universal Music Group*, bought Polygram and the labels were merged. When the merger was complete, the labels were defined much as they are now. On the east coast: Universal/Motown and Island/Def Jam; on the west coast: MCA Records and IGA (Interscope/Geffen/A&M**); as well as many smaller genre and affiliated labels.

* One of the brighter moves in industry history: When Seagram's brought Doug Morris in as Chairman of MCA at the end of 1995, the label underwent a major image change. MCA, the once prestigious Music Corporation of America, had become more popularly known as the "music cemetery of America" and was clearly in need of new branding. Although MCA lived on, a new east coast label, Universal Records, was literally birthed overnight and the group of labels became known as the Universal Music Group.

** One of the dumber moves in merger history: In the Universal/Polygram merger a decision was made to retain the Universal subsidiary, MCA Records, but eliminate the Polygram subsidiary, A&M Records. The move not only raised questions about the direction of the company, but also breached a contract that came back to bite them in the ass. Adding insult to injury, they sold the historical A&M studio lot to Henson. The MCA brand never recovered from it's tarnished image anyway and continued to lose millions and ruin artists careers for several more years before it was finally laid to rest in 2003.

Then there were 4... In 2003, Sony and BMG announced a merger. Details still unfolding and I'll be back with many of them and the dumbest move ever made in the history of the music industry.

New Zealand Googled this...

"major label" "the big 6"

(Originally posted on Answer this... Reposted here cause it's of interest to my aural readers.

You remind me of this...

"Haughty" is my all-time favorite Albert Hill song and one of the many reasons I keep going back to Volume I. 

"Haughty"
Written by Aaron Whisnant

ask me is my head right
i don't know 'cause
you are standing on it
there was once a solution
to our problem
our big problem

floating in my top bunk
i see you meet
needs that i could never
once this folds
it better fold right
for the one drive

you remind me
so much of me
you remind me
so much of me
i'll be smiling
so much for me
ask me something
am i haughty?

i could help you so much
help you sleep much better
and i never

tried to make you someone
you were not then
a happy person
crying in my headlights
kneeling broken
there's no call for that one
take this billing we
need with a head hole
and a try

you remind me
so much of me
you remind me
so much of me
i'll be smiling
so much for me
ask me something
am i haughty?

Of all the people around
you're the one who brightens my day
my day my day my day

[gibberish break--Of all these people around, you're the one who...]

you remind me so much of me

The original MTV generation mourns this...

J.J. Jackson, One Of MTV's First VJs, Dies At Age 62
J.J. Jackson, remembered as one of the first faces of MTV, died Wednesday night in Los Angeles of an apparent heart attack, according to friends and former business associates. He was 62.
...
Mark Goodman, another of the original VJs who helped blaze trails with Jackson in the '80s, said he was floored when he heard the news. "I was at home, I actually got a call from Martha Quinn," Goodman said Thursday from his home in Los Angeles. "I almost couldn't understand what she was saying, she was so upset."

Goodman said that even though the on-air tenure of MTV's original fab five ended almost two decades ago, they remained a tight-knit group.

"I think the kind of bond I had with J.J., the original five of us, it's kind of like soldiers who share a foxhole," Goodman said. "It's a bond that has only gotten deeper through the years. It's worse than a family member dying. It's hard to comprehend. None of us would have expected it. It's too soon. It wasn't supposed to happen now. He's too young. It's kind of scary. [full story at MTV.com]

A sad day indeed for those of us reminiscing over the days when video first began killing the radio star.

Remembering the Original VJ's at About

Coldplaying and collabbing...

I guess I'm late on this, but I just learned Chris Martin of Coldplay has been working with hip-hop superstar producer Timbaland and wife Gwyneth Paltrow will lend her vocals to the track post pregnancy:

WEIRD COMBO NO87 - TIMBERLAND, COLDPLAY AND GWYNETH PALTROW

Gwyneth wasn't pretty good singing her own songs in her father's movie, "Duets." And I'm very curious to see what Tim and Chris have come up with together.

4 hours and a decade of this...

THAT ’80S SHOW: Madonna and Guy Oseary’s Maverick Films have pacted with NBC to develop a four-hour mini-series about the ’80s. The series will follow a group of twentysomethings as they travel through the decade of excess, beginning with John Lennon’s assassination and ending with the fall of the Berlin Wall. NBC previously scored highly with series on the ’60 and ’70s, respectively. NBC longform topper Jeff Gaspin, a VH1 alum, will oversee the production, which will undoubtedly involve mullets, Rubik’s Cube, Thriller, "Like a Virgin" and A Flock of Seagulls. (HITS Daily Double News 3/16)