Amid unprecedented interest from the UK media in the music industry, BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch has given a lengthy outline of BMG’s perspective in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph.

Backdrop to the media focus on music is (i) the interest of financial investors led by Hipgnosis in the sector and (ii) the current inquiry into the economics of music streaming by a UK Parliamentary committee.

In the interview, Masuch revealed:

BMG has the support of shareholder Bertelsmann to invest in more classic catalogues;
Even where it is outbid by other players, BMG is well-placed as the most efficient player in the market, to service the new breed of funds;
BMG’s repertoire focus on established and proven artists is not some kind of easy option. “It’s no great achievement to win the signature of an inexperienced 19-year-old to a record deal when the biggest tool in your armoury is millions of dollars of someone else’s money. It’s far harder to sign a 40-year veteran of the music industry who has seen record executives come and go.”
BMG is not among those badmouthing Hipgnosis and its founder Merck Mercuriadis. “The music industry owes Merck big-time since he is the one who has pushed open the door and persuaded the financial community of the huge unlocked value in music rights once separated from the messy business of running a music company”.
Elsewhere in the UK press over the weekend, the established big three major record companies came in for sharp criticism. “They’re modern-day robber barons,” one leading campaigner for music industry reform told The Sunday Times. “I’m not trying to say that anyone is a deliberate crook. But the culture is crooked.”

A separate piece in the paper described the majors as “greedy gatekeepers”.

BMG EVP Global Corporate Communications Steve Redmond said, “We have been consistent from the very beginning of the new BMG that streaming requires a new kind of music company and that the old power relationship between record labels and artists has to change. It is gratifying is to see that BMG’s analysis of the business is gaining ever greater currency.

“This is an exciting time for the music industry with a new breed of financially savvy investors entering the market. As Hartwig points out, “these funds will be looking for reliable and efficient business partners rather than cigar-smoking moguls with ‘golden ears’”. BMG looks well-placed to satisfy the needs not just of artists and songwriters but also of those who invest in them.”