Sony BMG

   Sony BMG Music Entertainment was a global recorded music company. They began as a result of a 50-50 joint venture between Music Entertainment and Bertelsmann Music Group completed on March 4, 2004. On August 5, 2008 Sony Corp. bought Bertelsmann AG's 50 percent stake in the music company for $1.2 billion to get full control. The music company will be renamed Sony Music Entertainment Inc and this allowed Sony to have ownership of current and previous artists and also to better intergrate its functions with Playstation 3. The music company is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America and operates music labels such as Arista Records and more.
   In October 2007, Song BMG successfully sued Jammie Thomas, who made $36, 000 a year by making 24 songs available for download on the 'Kazaa' file-sharing network. Also, in 2008, Sony did not restrict minor children's participation in its websites, therefore paid a $1 million fine.

1. What are the subsidairy labels that sony bmg own?
Sony BMG is one of the four major record labels, the others are, Universal Music Group, EMI and Warner Music Group. Sony operates music labels such as, Arista Records, Upstate Records, Columbia Records, Epic Records, J Records, Jive Records, RCA Records and Zomba Records.
 
2. How does sony benefit from being a vertically intergrated company?
Bertelsmann sold its stake because it's a traditional, horizontally-integrated media company. Sony bought it because it's a vertically-integrated company well equipped to take advantage of it's inter-divisional synergies.


3. How does it profit from products other than music?
Sony makes it's money from electronics and producing films but also through products such as, playstation and blu-ray.