Sony 2000 Annual Report Download - page 29

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 29 of the 2000 Sony annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 102

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94
  • 95
  • 96
  • 97
  • 98
  • 99
  • 100
  • 101
  • 102

SONY CORPORATION ANNUAL REPORT 2000
27
ARTIST DEVELOPMENT
During the year, debut albums by Jennifer Lopez and Macy Gray underscored SMEI’s artist
development successes with sales of approximately 5.1 million and 4.5 million units, respec-
tively, while second albums by Fiona Apple, B*Witched, Charlotte Church, Destiny’s Child, Dixie
Chicks, Mobb Deep, Savage Garden, Will Smith, and Travis cumulatively sold more than 25
million units. Debut recordings by Blaque, Mandy Moore, and Jessica Simpson each surpassed
sales of one million units.
INTERNATIONAL GROWTH
During the year, SMEI launched a wholly-owned subsidiary in Russia, expanded its activities in
Asia and the Middle East, invested in Diesel Music (Scandinavia) and acquired the independent
record labels Luna Music (Mexico) and RTI (Italy). International growth was fueled by global
hits and regional bestsellers from CoCo Lee, Nakarin Kingsak, and Sheila on 7, and the Phir Bhi
Dil Ha i Hindusta ni and Dil Hi Dil Me soundtracks (Asia); Claudio Baglioni, Frances Cabrel,
Adriano Celentano, and Fatboy Slim (Europe); and Ricardo Arjona, ZeZe di Camargo & Luciano,
Chayanne, Elvis Crespo, and Alejandro Fernandez (Latin America).
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Aggregate multimillion sales of Charlotte Church’s Voice of a n Angel and Cha rlotte Church,
together with sales of the Sta r Wa rs – Pha ntom Mena ce soundtrack, positioned Sony Classical as
the leading classical music label in the U.S. during the year. The division won its third consecutive
Academy Award® for Best Original Score with John Corigliano’s score for The Red Violin.
MUSIC PUBLISHING
During the year, Sony/ATV Music Publishing acquired the Alabama, Lowery Music Company,
and Web IV catalogues; completed administration agreements with Marc Anthony, Ruben Blades,
Graham Nash, Bruce Springsteen, and Trimark Pictures; and extended agreements with Babyface,
the Miles Davis estate, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Fox Film Music, and Sarah McLachlan.
SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT (JAPAN) INC. (SMEJ)
SMEJ continues to strive vigorously to improve business efficiencies. During the year under review, in
the music business, SMEJ has been focusing and concentrating resources related to artist development
and marketing costs. During the year, hits included releases by L’Arc~en~Ciel and other artists.
SMEJ has also been striving to adapt to the network era. During the year, SMEJ launched the Internet
site “bitmusic” in Japan, thus starting the world’s first electronic music site offering distribution compat-
ible with the SDMI copyright-protection initiative.