On a whim I ordered Amy Grant's Unguarded on CD through a discount site where I got it for a couple of bucks with free shipping, and I was surprised to see the CD is on BMG. How the heck did that happen? I can trace the changes that get A&M releases on Verve, Universal, even Decca (a Universal imprint), but this one stumps me. Anyone? (This is not an import CD, in case anyone thinks so--good ol' made in the USA).
How did Amy Grant's Unguarded end up on BMG?
- Thread starter JMK
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jimac51
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This is a convoluted story and I may have a few details wrong but here goes. The Christian music industry is a two-headed dragon. There is a part that deals strictly with the Chrisitian book store and another the secular world. A&M had a secular distribution deal with Word Records which included Amy Grant as a Myrr recording artist and Reunion Records. At the end of the 1980s,the distribution deal ended and Word went to Sony and Reunion went to Geffen. Reunion had the Amy Grant Myrr back catalog,everything up to THE COLLECTION. In the early 1990s,Reunion was partially sold to RCA and the distribution went to RCA. In 1996,BMG(RCA's parent) bought the rest of Reunion and put distribution through Arista. In turn,BMG sold Reunion to Zomba,a company they distributed. The Reunion catalog moved to Zomba. Zomba ran Reunion through a company called Provident,including their gospel holdings,like Verity.(Isn't this fun?) Now,as of 2002,BMG owns Zomba lock,stock and barrel in a two billion dollar deal that probably would leave even Herb & Jerry blushing(the actual value of Zomba may be 250 million,tops). So,in effect,by acquistions,distributions and shenanigans,BMG owns Amy Grant's early catalog and,amongst other things,has released a double CD from their holdings. A box set that evidently will cover her entire career is in the works through A&M/Interscope. Whew! Mac
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