DigitalMusicNews is reporting that Warner Music Group is rumored to be up for sale. WMG is apparently has Goldman Sachs trying to help them find a buyer to get out of the music industry all together. Among the many potential purchasers is Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR). What makes this all seem weird, though, is that WMG has been on a buying splurge as of late. Back in November, WMG acquired the remaining portion of Roadrunner Records and since then has been rumored to be close to purchasing the struggling EMI. In fact, Goldman Sachs is also working on a deal for them to do that. The takeaway from this? Goldman Sachs wins either way.
While WMG has been one of the more successful and well respected labels in the industry, you can’t exactly blame them for not wanting to stick around. The IFPI recently reported that sales for top 50 charting releases decrease by 77% since 2003, while the number of chart topping debuts have also decreased considerably. However, if you read Metal By Numbers recently, you already knew that. So wanting to get out of the music business completely is a drastic but understandable action. In the same vein, though, would anyone actually want to buy a label in this current climate?
Stay tuned as hopefully more will be revealed soon.
