USA: ENTERTAINMENT POWERHOUSE SEAGRAM AND GERMAN MEDIA CONGLOMERATE BERTELSMANN UNVEIL JOINT VENTURE ON INTERNET

Record ID: 388227

  • Title: USA: ENTERTAINMENT POWERHOUSE SEAGRAM AND GERMAN MEDIA CONGLOMERATE BERTELSMANN UNVEIL JOINT VENTURE ON INTERNET
  • Date: 9th April 1999
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) THOMAS MIDDLEHOFF CEO BERTELSMANN SAYING: "We have perceived that the true power of the internet lay not just in its ability to deliver information and content but to create communities of interest, that's really important. And we really recognised that the key to future success on the Internet will be to develop robust ecommerce businesses. So we've
  • Embargoed: 24th April 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK AND UNIDENTIFIED LOCATIONS, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVACHKLG8CYJRY92TXDLEV3WHOB7
  • Story Text: North American entertainment powerhouse Seagram and German media conglomerate Bertelsmann unveilled a major joint venture on Wednesday (April 7), offering a collection of sites to make music more accessible on the Internet.
    The Universal-BMG venture announced in New York on Wednesday (April 7) takes the collective clout of two of the music industry's biggest players online, recognising the growing importance of the Internet both in building an audience for musicians and for selling music.This year, an estimated 2 percent of the compact disks sold in the United States will be bough over the Internet.
    Called
    "Getmusic", the new venture consists of online music channels and an e-commerce music site, Getmusic.com, which the media giants intend to "build into the number one music site on the worldwide web."
    Announcing the deal in New York, Seagram Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman said the deal made perfect sense for Universal, the entertainment division of his company."As a market leader, Universal believes we should not only embrace the forces of change impacting our businesses but it is my steadfast belief that we must help to shape them".
    The genre-based sites will feature information about and interviews with artists, chat rooms for fans and live music broadcasts.The companies hope to attract a big audience because, a record comapnies, they have access to better infrmation about artists than other retail sites.
    Thomas Middlehoff, CEO and Chairman of Bertelsmann AG, says the merger is recognition "that the true power of the internet lay not just in its ability to deliver information and content but to create communities of interest, that's really important.And we really recognised that the key to future success on the Internet will be to develop robust ecommerce businesses.So we've committed ourselves to making the Internet and ecommerce in particular a central factor in our future planning across our businesses"
    Ultimately they hope visitors will go to their Getmusic.com site, the music store set up by this venture, which will sell not only music from artists on their labels but also music from other major labels and independent record companies.
    BMG, is part of German media conglomerate bertelsmann AG and has labels sucha s Arista, Elektra Nonesuch and BMG Classicla, and artists including Whitney Houston and the Chieftans.The Univesrasl Music Group is an arm of the Seagram Company, which bough Polygram last fall, and has labels such as MCA Geffen, Def Jam, Mercury, Motown and A&M, with a roster of artists ranging from Elton John to Sting to U2.
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