SONY MERGES MUSIC, PUBLISHING UNDER STRINGER

Sony Corp. has created a new Sony Music Group, uniting Rob Stringer’s Sony Music Entertainment and Jon Platt’s Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Stringer will be Chairman of the new group.

In a memo sent to employees Wednesday, Sony Corp. President/CEO Kenichiro Yoshida wrote, “The purpose of this new Group is to further strengthen and solidify Sony’s position as a leader in the music industry and create new value for the company. This unification will help us foster a higher level of collaboration between our recorded music and music publishing businesses, while respecting and maintaining the independence and unique culture of each organization.”

Platt will report to Stringer and Stringer will continue to report to Yoshida.

Yoshida attributed the move to the rise in streaming services. “We felt it was particularly important at this juncture for Sony to take proactive steps to sustain its leadership position in the music industry by accelerating the collaboration and value creation between our world-class recorded music and music publishing businesses to strengthen our value to artists, songwriters and business partners.”