Heads of BMG, Concord Talk Major Indie Merger: ‘We Have a Very Clear Vision’
Categoria: Musica
"Call it major, call it indie. Doesn't matter. It's a very strong company, a very clear vision, with the means and nimbleness to invest," says BMG's Thomas Coesfeld.
Por Billboard | 07/05/2026
The seed for BMG and Concord’s agreement to merge into a recorded music and publishing giant with the kind of heft that immediately puts it in league with the majors got its start at Thomas Coesfeld and Bob Valentine ‘s first meeting. The duo became CEOs of BMG and Concord, respectively, on the same day — July 1, 2023. Soon after, they met for the first time to discuss their respective approaches to leading their rival but quite complementary independent music businesses. “My takeaway from that initial meeting was how similarly we both thought about not just the industry, but how to build a modern music company,” says Valentine, who is slated to lead the combined BMG company if the deal goes through this year as expected, in an interview with Billboard . “We’ve got two organizations that have been built largely through M&A, and, you know, is there something that we could do together?” It took several years and many more meetings to reach an agreement, but Coesfeld says they now have one in place to complete what would be the biggest music industry merger since the Universal Music Group bought EMI in 2011. “We have aligned shareholders, we have aligned CEOs, we have two great companies, and we have a very clear vision of where this company is headed,” says Coesfeld, who has been designated chairman of the future combined BMG and in January becomes CEO of BMG parent company Bertelsmann. In this conversation, the two CEOs took Billboard inside their thinking about using AI in synch, keeping the Broken Bow Record name, company cuts and how their combined catalog provides a soundtrack to “a century-plus worth of nostalgia.” Thomas, you’ve said you believe music companies must partner with competitors in this day and age. What does this partnership achieve and where may you still look for partners? Thomas Coesfeld: There’s a lot of alignment between these two companies, but also between Bob and myself. We, over the past years, [have] spent a lot of time together and understand each other’s strategies. I think we’re going to be great partners on this. Bob Valentine: Not only were Thomas and I aligned in the way that we thought about how to operate a new business, but I think over the last few years, our shareholders got to know each other and got comfortable with the fact that they were both thinking in very similar ways. We’ve had, for a long, long time, institutional investors. Pension fund investment is thinking about pensioners and the liabilities that they have over multiple decades. Bertelsmann has been around for 190 years — it’s a family-owned business. Thomas Coesfeld: Both shareholders are aligned in patience of capital, long-term thinking, [and] a very distinct take on this industry. What are your financial expectations for this new company? Why did the announcement only disclose EBITDA? Bob Valentine: In the world we live in, having more scale in the industry matters