AC/DC's Founding Music Label Alberts Sold To BMG
July 5, 2016, 8 years ago
According to the Financial Review, the family-owned music publishing and recording business behind classic acts like AC/DC has been sold to German music giant Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG).
Alberts, which Swiss immigrant Jacques Albert set up 131 years ago as J Albert & Son originally as a clock, watch and violin-repair shop in inner Sydney, has passed through five generations. Chief executive David Albert said the company had to adapt amid the onslaught of digital disruption.
"It's so much less a territorial world than it once was," he said, noting the regular pilgrimages Jacques would make to New York to buy the Australian publishing rights for sheet music in the early 1900s.
"With the digitalisation of the industry a lot of those boundaries have come down and globalisation is a key part of the business."
David Albert declined to name a sale price but in 2009 when the Albert family was last on the BRW Rich List, with wealth of $160 million, its valuable back catalogue was estimated to be worth $20 million to $30 million.
