Sony BMG Music Entertainment Sales — the new distribution arm of Sony BMG — is laying off 150 staffers as part of the integration of Sony and BMG’s distribution operations.
“With the integration of the Sony and BMG distribution companies, there has been some duplication, and as a result, a number of positions have been eliminated,” the company says in a statement.
The new distribution entity will have eight field offices in total, in Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas, Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Minneapolis, distribution sources say.
In conjunction with the consolidation, former BMG Distribution offices in Boston and Washington, D.C., are being shuttered. Some staffers in those cities are being relocated to different offices.
Sony and BMG both still have offices in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Chicago. It is expected that in each territory with overlapping operations, one of the two offices will be closed. Further integration plans in those territories have not been disclosed.
A Sony BMG spokesperson declined comment on specific consolidation moves.
Sony BMG Music Entertainment Sales is a unit of Sony BMG Enterprise Sales, the umbrella organization that houses all of Sony BMG’s distribution and special products operations, including RED, Special Products and Sony Wonder.
