Is a Rare Thing Bignotti

WARNER CLASSICS' TELDEC, ERATO CONSOLIDATED, PRESIDENTS EXIT (Continued from page 1) Classics International (WCI) um- Giardino Armonico (which teams Universal with Philips and Decca tain new buyers who are not brella. The move also aims to regularly with Decca's superstar `Teldec and Erato merging [in London]," Jolly adds. happy to buy pop music but who facilitate Warner's establishment mezzo -soprano Cecilia Bartoli). were both "If you look at the Warner Clas- also are not comfortable with of a new imprint for classical The label also just launched an sics operation, it was a fairly classical music -those who are crossover material. ambitious contemporary music committed to being extravagant one in terms of per- interested in the likes of Andrea With a staff of about 25, the series, "New Line" (Keeping sonnel and expenditure by main- Bocelli and Charlotte Church. We reorganized WCI will be respon- Score, Billboard, March 3). able to sell top, taining that many offices when will position the company in Lon- sible for A &R and recording for Founded in 1953 as Les bis- the record industry is not at its don to create this third line be- the ongoing Teldec and Erato ques Erato, with a history of proper classical most flourishing, to put it mildly." tween Teldec and Erato." brands, while the new marketing recording much early music and Mark Lowther, co- producer of Notes Jolly of this plan, "It is impetus will encompass promo- French repertoire, the Erato music-which the weekly CD Review program presumably the kind of label that tion, press, the Warner Classics label was acquired by Warner on BBC Radio 3 (the public would enable [WCI] to do the Web site, and strategic planning. Music in 1992. Soprano Sumi Jo is is a rare thing broadcaster's national classical kind of more crossover -y type For the time being, WCI will con- currently Erato's biggest -selling these days.' music station), concurs. "I can't thing without actually branding it tinue at least to have an interest artist, according to the label, with say I'm entirely surprised," he classical. It's always been a prob- in Hamburg's Teldec Studios, its recent choral compilations Ag- -JAMES JOLLY, GRAMOPHONE says. lem that there are an awful lot of which is headed up by Friede- nus Dei I and Agnus Dei II plac- Warner plans to transfer a projects that come out of classical mann Engelbrecht. ing high on Billboard's Top Clas- number of personnel from the two companies that are not very clas- According to WCI president sical Albums chart. sions within Warner Music Ger- labels to the new London opera- sical, and I think it confuses mat- Marco Bignotti (a Warner veter- Erato's catalog includes a many and Warner Music France. tion, but many more employees ters. That imprint then would an who has held this latest post wealth of opera, as well as much Likewise, in other territories, will be let go- including the allow them to experiment with all since 1996), the contemporary music led by the the labels' wares will be market- chiefs of both Teldec and Erato. other sorts of consolidation to likes of conductor Pierre Boulez. ed by the local WMI affiliate's "Unfortunately, both [Sauer and music -and if London is a Its active roster features such classical arm. Durand -Bancel] will be leaving," they can sell it, strategic move, artists as star early -music con- Bignotti says. "It is a painful well, good luck with an eye to ductor William Christie, tenors NEW WORLD TREND decision, but with the problem of Air to them." the future. "It José Carrera and José Cura, vio- Buffeted by consolidations and coming to London plus the advan- ERATO Bignotti TELDEC has very little linist Vadim Repin, pianists cultural cutbacks in recent years, tage for the shareholders, instead hopes to bring L_ to do with the Fazil Say and Hélêne Grimaud, the classical music world hardly of three jobs, now there is only in new VPs to global A &R pol- and American soprano Susan needs more corporate retrench- one -and that will be me for the oversee the new icy for the time being," he tells Graham. Erato's young Detour ment, according to James Jolly, time being overseeing all classi- operations, although there will Billboard, so "the basic idea is to imprint has met some success editor of Gramophone magazine. cal activities." not be VPs specifically for Teldec keep Teldec and Erato alive, to with world -music artists like "But at least they are not doing Revealing plans for the mooted and Erato. Rather there will be capitalize on the historical fado songstress Mísia. something like shutting all the crossover label, Bignotti says, VPs in charge of A &R, market- achievements of these labels, and New Teldec and Erato releas- Warner labels and putting them "We plan to capitalize what we ing, legal affairs, and other func- to keep artists with specific cul- es-as with the products of sis- into one -that would be disas- have built so far with these labels. tions for Warner Classics overall. tural references at the respective ter labels Nonesuch, Finlandia, trous." By bringing them to London, [we Bignotti hopes to name these labels -that means artists with and NVC Arts -will be market- There was "a kind of inevi- can] develop as quickly as possi- executives within a month. mid -European roots at Teldec and ed in Germany and France by tability about this announcement, ble a new line of alternative Reporting to Bignotti under the artists with Latin, Baroque, and the established classical divi- given what has happened, say, at repertoire, which may please cer- (Continued on page 92) operatic roots at Erato." OLD WORLD LEGACY BMG LATIN, ARISTA FORM ALLIANCE WMI acquired Teldec in 1988. (Continued from page 1) Founded in 1929 as Telefunken- Platte (as part of German elec- whose name is yet to be deter- Live to dance to rock and more, it which will help with tour market- Blair, who was captivated by tronics conglomerate Tele- mined, is Gozo Poderoso, the new is the ideal project with which to ing. And there are plans to create Aterciopelados after seeing the funken), the label was long an album by Colombian alternative launch this new marketing part- special marketing tie -ins with group perform in New York last esteemed classical force, as its rockers Aterciopelados, slated nership between Arista Records major brands. year. Reaction to the show con- audiophile engineers recorded for release on BMG U.S. Latin and BMG U.S. Latin." The key, says Matt Stringer, vinced him that the core audience some of Europe's top classical tal- May 15 (BillboardBulletin, Adds Rodolfo López Negrete, senior VP of Arista, is that, for such bands wasn't being ent during the music's Golden March 22). BMG's VP for the Latin region: unlike most Latin music albums, served by any particular medium Age. In the spirit of postwar "It's the beginning of a new "We're joining forces and we're Gozo Poderoso will be set up for and that the possibilities to rehabilitation, British Decca part- frontier," says Arista executive combining our know -how in the release well in advance, and mar- expand on that audience were nered with Telefunken in 1950 to VP Jerry Blair. "It will not be only Latin world keting and sales teams from both endless. Blair form the Hamburg -based Teldec Aterciopelados. It will be artists with the expert- labels and both languages will be took the idea to (an amalgam of "Telefunken- for which there's no typical place ise Arista has in working closely together. In fact, Leslie Zigel, VP Decca"), with joint recording in the traditional marketplace." the other world. release of Gozo was delayed from of business and projects and enhanced distribu- Although critically acclaimed at We believe February to May precisely to legal affairs for tion to come. In the early '80s, all levels, acts like Grammy -nom- there's a mar- ensure every single marketing BMG Enter- Telefunken and Decca sold their inated Aterciopelados and Mexi- ketplace there strategy was in place. tainment, Latin shares in Teldec to a Swiss hold- can rocker Julieta Venegas -also that is expect- Although the Arista /BMG al- region, and the ing company. slated to fall under the new LÓPEZ NEGRETE ing our crop of liance won't have a staff per se, BLAIR notion of an al- It was during the late '60s and alliance's umbrella -have tradi- artists. And I BMG has hired Esteban Apraez liance was born. early '70s that Teldec embarked tionally not sold well in the U.S., think the combination and know - as a product manager focusing "It will have a lot to do with on one of the industry's most ostensibly due to a lack of proper how [of both labels] can do won- solely on the venture, while street teams working things at a sweeping projects of the era -the marketing. A major drawback has ders." Arista has hired Deborah grass -roots level," says Blair, recording of J.S. Bach's 200 -plus been lack of airplay in commercial In the case of Aterciopelados, Castillero and her company, adding that Arista's radio promo- sacred and secular cantatas, Spanish-language radio, which has which will serve as a sort of blue- Maracas Entertainment, as a tion staff would be available to under the aegis of the company's mostly shunned Latin rock and print for the alliance, plans are liaison between the two labels, work product in commercial rock pioneering Das Alte Werk im- alternative music.

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