X5 Music Group

Last updated
X5 Music Group
X5MusicGroup.jpg
Parent company Warner Music Group
Founded2003 (2003), Stockholm, Sweden
FounderJohan Lagerlöf
Daniel Bäckström
Stefan Enberg
Jan Nordlund
StatusActive
Distributor(s) Warner Music Sweden
GenreVarious (classical, jazz, blues, folk, rock, pop)
LocationStockholm, Sweden
Empire State Building, New York City, United States
Official website X5MusicGroup.com

X5 Music Group is a record label based in Stockholm, Sweden with a branch in Manhattan, New York. Founded in 2003, it is a digital-only label that primarily licenses pre-existing music for compilation albums. X5 originally focused on classical music, and in 2011 its custom album The Greatest Video Game Music , featuring the London Philharmonic Orchestra, debuted at #23 on the Billboard 200. Since 2009 the company has had 24 albums on the chart; all 24 were custom digital releases produced by the label. [1]

Contents

They have a partnership with Universal Music Group called U5, which releases approximately 50 digital compilation albums per month. [2] In 2013, X5 was named one of the Red Herring "Top 100 Most Innovative Companies in Europe. [3]

In June 2016, X5 was acquired by Warner Music Group. [4]

History

Founding, business model

X5 Music Group was founded in Stockholm, Sweden in 2003 [5] by Johan Lagerlöf, Daniel Bäckström, and Stefan Enberg. [1] All three founders had pre-existing connections in the music industry. CEO Lagerlöf, for example, had previously co-founded companies such as Mobilehits, Scandinavia's the most popular music site, and was also a songwriter/producer for Stockholm Records. [1]

X5 was created with the mutual vision of being digital-only. [6] Classical music was chosen as a focus; many classical compositions are in the public domain. [7] They also gained access to the catalogs of about 50 other companies, mostly independent classical labels in Europe, and repacked them into what The Wall Street Journal called "like classical mix-tapes." [8]

X5's producers partly focus on sales data to determine what should go into compilations, paying mind to keywords and SEO. [8] The New York Times stated "To attract classical neophytes, X5’s collections have search-engine-friendly titles and simple, self-explanatory cover art." [6] Accordingly, compilations often have titles such as The Most Essential Classical Music for Your Baby and Classical Music for Hipsters. [9] On May 26, 2008, X5 released The 50 Most Essential Pieces of Classical Music. [10] The album cost about $150 to compile, and by April 2013 had brought in $3.4 million in revenue. [6]

The 50 Greatest Pieces of Classical Music

The 50 Greatest Pieces of Classical Music compilation includes selections performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of David Parry, with soloists such as pianist Finghin Collins. [11] According to Allmusic, "While the term 'greatest' may be debatable in the instance of some of the pieces, 'popular' is a description that's easier to support, for there's no denying the staying power of these pieces." [11]

It was #1 on iTunes' Classical Albums chart for over a year, [1] and remained in the iTunes Classical Top 10 for over three years, selling more than 200,000 copies. [9]

Expansion

X5 expanded into the United States in 2009, [12] setting up an office in the Empire State Building in Manhattan, New York. Former Amazon and eMusic music executive Scott Ambrose Reilly was hired as North American CEO. [13] Noelle Bell was also hired as an account manager. [14]

X5 continued to expand its catalog of compilations, and in 2010 had 13 titles on the Billboard Year End Top 50, tying for the top spot with Universal Music Group. [1] [8] In August 2011 The 99 Most Essential Chopin Masterpieces was ranked No. 1 on Amazon MP3's classical bestsellers chart. The compilation stayed among the chart's top 100 for 20 months. [8]

In 2011 X5 was the No. 2 classical music label on the US charts, second only to Universal. [9]

Also in 2011 the label began branching into genres such as folk, bluegrass, [8] blues, and jazz. [7] They began forming partnerships with non-classical labels such as Sun Records, whose back catalog included artists such as Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis. [7]

The Greatest Video Game Music

In November 2011 X5 released one of its most successful albums, The Greatest Video Game Music, performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and produced by Andrew Skeet. [10] The twenty-one track set [15] features classical orchestrations of video game themes such as Super Mario Bros. , Call of Duty , Final Fantasy , World of Warcraft, and Angry Birds . [16] It debuted at #23 on the Billboard 200 - the highest debut for an orchestral release since 2005's Star Wars Episode III soundtrack. [16] It received praise from IGN [15] and was named "weirdest hit album" of 2011 by Rolling Stone . A sequel was released in October 2012. [16]

Classify app

In early 2012 X5 launched Classify, an app created through a partnership with Spotify that helps music browsers discover classical music. [7] The software was downloaded 500,000 times in the first month, [7] and X5 released statistics saying Classify brought sales of The 50 Greatest Pieces of Classical Music up by 50%, helping it to top the iTunes classical chart. [17] In May 2013, X5 announced Spotify apps for world music, blues, and jazz to be released in August. [6] In March 2015, Spotify discontinued support for apps in their players, including Classify.

U5 partnership

“A few years ago we were flipping through the charts and we said, ‘My God, who are these guys?’ What they're doing is disruptive, so we decided to partner with them and innovate rather than fight them.”
— Ross Foster, Universal's VP of commercial affairs [6]

In its early years, X5 drew mainly from the catalogs of independent classical labels. In its first year of operations in the United States they licensed labels such as Cooking Vinyl, Alligator Records, and the Welk Music Group, also commissioning its own recordings. [10] X5 announced in April 2013 that it had started U5, a joint venture with the music conglomerate Universal Music Group. It gave X5 access to over 50,000 of Universal's classical tracks, and another 50,000 jazz and blues songs. [6]

U5 produces digital compilation albums, curating and releasing more than 50 per month. [2] The first slate of releases included expansions to the 50 Greatest series, adding The 50 Greatest Violin Pieces by Joshua Bell, The 50 Greatest Piano Pieces by Lang Lang and The 50 Greatest Performances of Classical Music. [2] Later releases focused on jazz and blues, including artists such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Thelonious Monk. [12]

X5 also partners with Universal Music on the Spinnup distribution platform for unsigned artists. [18]

Recent years

In April 2013 The New York Times stated that "X5’s techniques are now widely imitated, and its profit margins are the envy of any record label." At that time the company had sold over 230 million downloads internationally, [6] and was putting out several thousand albums a year. [13] As of summer 2013, X5 had a catalog of 8,000 albums, with about 50% of those being titles custom produced by the company. [1] From 2009 to 2013 X5 had 24 albums on the Billboard 200; all 24 were custom digital releases produced by X5. [1]

X5 was named one of the Red Herring "Top 100 Most Innovative Companies in Europe" in 2013. [3]

Label partners

The following is a list of labels and licensing companies that have partnerships with X5 Music Group: [19]

Selected discography

Cat. #ArtistTitleNotesYear
London Philharmonic Orchestra/David Parry The 50 Greatest Pieces of Classical Music #1 for 3 weeks on Classical Albums Chart 2009
X5CD101 Carola Häggkvist Elvis, Barbra & jag #1 on charts in Sweden [20] 2011
VariousThe 99 Most Essential Chopin Masterpieces#1 on Amazon MP3's Classical Best-sellers [8] 2011
Jo Stafford 'A' You're Adorable #1 on charts in Sweden [21] 2011
X5CD114 London Philharmonic Orchestra The Greatest Video Game Music #23 debut on Billboard 200 [16]
#1 on iTunes' Classical Albums chart for 1+ year [1] 		2011
X5CD118 London Philharmonic Orchestra The Greatest Video Game Music II 2012
Bond Play #94 on the ARIA Charts 2012
Darin Zanyar "Nobody Knows"#1 on Swedish DigiListan Chart [22] 2013
Darin Zanyar So Yours #32 on Belgium Ultratip 100 Chart [23] 2013
Orphei Drängar, Myrra Malmberg The Greatest Video Game Music III : Choral edition 2016

See also

Related Research Articles

Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Music Group and Interscope Communications, it differed from most record labels by letting A&R staff control decisions and allowing artists and producers full creative control. Interscope's first hit records arrived in under a year, and it achieved profitability in 1993. Chair and CEO until May 2014, Iovine was succeeded by John Janick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astralwerks</span> Record label owned by Universal Music Group

Astralwerks is an American record label primarily focused on electronic music that is now owned by Universal Music Group. Its material is distributed via Capitol Music Group in the United States. The label was founded in 1993 and, in its early years, featured prominent British acts like The Future Sound of London, Fatboy Slim and The Chemical Brothers. In recent years, its roster has expanded to include acts like Halsey, Marshmello, Porter Robinson, Illenium, Zhu and numerous others. In 2018, Astralwerks' headquarters were moved from its original home of New York City to Los Angeles.

ASV Records was a London-based record label set up by Harley Usill, founder of Argo Records, Decca producer and former Argo general manager, Kevin Daly, and producer Jack Boyce, after Argo's parent company Decca was bought by PolyGram in 1980. ASV stood for "Academy Sound and Vision". The label was bought by the Sanctuary Records Group in May 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mercury Records</span> American record label

Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released rock, funk, R&B, doo wop, soul music, blues, pop, rock and roll, and jazz records. In the United States, it is operated through Republic Records; in the United Kingdom and Japan, it is distributed by EMI Records.

A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be created by record companies without express approval from the original artist as a means to generate sales. They are typically regarded as a good starting point for new fans of an artist, but are sometimes criticized by longtime fans as not inclusive enough or necessary at all.

Mannheim Steamroller is an American neoclassical new-age music ensemble founded and directed by percussionist/composer Chip Davis in 1974. The group is known primarily for its Fresh Aire series of albums, which blend classical music with elements of new age and rock, and for its modern recordings of Christmas music. The group has sold 28 million albums in the U.S. alone.

Now That's What I Call Music! is a series of various artists compilation albums released in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Sony Music and Universal Music which began in 1983. Spinoff series began for other countries the following year, starting with South Africa, and many other countries worldwide soon followed, expanding into Asia in 1995, then the United States in 1998.

Walt Disney Records is an American record label owned by the Disney Music Group. The label releases soundtrack albums from The Walt Disney Company's motion picture studios, television shows, theme parks and traditional studio albums produced by its roster of pop, teen pop and country artists.

Beatport is an American electronic music-oriented online music store owned by LiveStyle. The company is based in Denver, Los Angeles, and Berlin. Beatport is oriented primarily towards DJs, selling full songs as well as resources that can be used for remixes. It also operates a specialized music streaming service oriented towards DJs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demo (music)</span> Song recorded for limited circulation or for reference use

A demo is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed format, such as cassette tape, compact disc, or digital audio files, and to thereby pass along those ideas to record labels, producers, or other artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moe Koffman</span> Canadian jazz musician (1928–2001)

Morris "Moe" Koffman, OC was a Canadian jazz saxophonist and flautist, as well as composer and arranger. During a career spanning from the 1950s to the 2000s, Koffman was one of Canada's most prolific musicians, working variously in clubs and sessions and releasing 30 albums. With his 1957 record Cool and Hot Sax on the New York–based Jubilee label, Koffman became one of the first Canadian jazz musicians to record a full-length album. Koffman was also a long-time member of Rob McConnell's Boss Brass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patsy Cline posthumous discography</span>

The posthumous discography of American singer Patsy Cline consists of recordings released after March 5, 1963. Since her death, Cline's record label and other labels have released numerous studio albums, compilation albums and singles. Decca Records planned to release Cline's fourth studio album at the time of her death. Instead, a compilation was released in June 1963 titled The Patsy Cline Story. The album reached number 9 on the Billboard country albums list and number 74 on the pop albums chart. Two singles posthumously released in 1963 became top 10 hits on the Billboard country songs chart: "Sweet Dreams " and "Faded Love". Following the release of two posthumous studio albums, Decca issued Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits in 1967. It was the highest-selling female country album for 28 years until Shania Twain surpassed her record in 1995. Greatest Hits was reissued multiple times and eventually was certified diamond in sales in the United States.

A music streaming service is a type of online streaming media service that focuses primarily on music, and sometimes other forms of digital audio content such as podcasts. These services are usually subscription-based services allowing users to stream digital copyright restricted songs on-demand from a centralized library provided by the service. Some services may offer free tiers with limitations, such as advertising and limits on use. They typically incorporate a recommender system to help users discover other songs they may enjoy based on their listening history and other factors, as well as the ability to create and share public playlists with other users. It may also include customized radio or social media platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miloš Karadaglić</span> Classical guitarist from Montenegro

Miloš Karadaglić, sometimes known just by his mononym MILOŠ, is a classical guitarist and Sony Classical recording artist. He was born in Montenegro. He is often credited for leading the way in the classical guitar revival of the past decade.

<i>The 50 Greatest Pieces of Classical Music</i> 2009 studio album by the London Philharmonic Orchestra

The 50 Greatest Pieces of Classical Music is a compilation of classical works recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor David Parry. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, Royal Festival Hall and Henry Wood Hall in London, the compilation was released in digital formats in November, 2009 and as a 4-CD set in 2011. The 50 Greatest Pieces of Classical Music has sold over 200,000 copies and spent over three days as one of the top 10 classical albums on iTunes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quiero Bailar (song)</span> 2003 single by Ivy Queen

"Quiero Bailar" is a song by Puerto Rican reggaetón recording artist Ivy Queen, from the platinum edition of her third studio album, Diva (2003). It was composed by Queen alongside her then-husband Gran Omar, produced by Iván Joy and released as the lead single from the album in 2004. Lyrically, "the song talks about a guy expecting sex after a dance like it was a bad thing." Addressing the topic of female autonomy of the body, the song has become recognized as a female empowerment anthem.

Spinnup was a digital music distribution service owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in early 2013 in Sweden. Spinnup is a signed distribution platform that offers an aggregator service to musicians and artist who are not signed to major labels so they can distribute their music worldwide via online retailers such as Deezer, Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Tidal, Napster, Amazon Music and Google Play.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Ambrose Reilly</span>

Scott Ambrose Reilly is a music executive whose expertise is in the digital music field. Since 2000, Reilly has held senior positions in digital music companies such as Digital Club Network, eMusic and Amazon. He is currently CEO of X5 Music Group. When Reilly exited Amazon's music division for its Kindle unit, his farewell letter to peers was leaked to the media and widely circulated for criticism of many in the established music industry.

<i>Best of 50 Cent</i> 2017 greatest hits album by 50 Cent

Best of 50 Cent is the first greatest hits album by American rapper 50 Cent. It was released on March 31, 2017, by Shady Records, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. The compilation includes tracks from five of his previous studio albums: Power of the Dollar (2000), Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2003), The Massacre (2005), Curtis (2007) and Before I Self Destruct (2009). Also included are songs from the soundtrack to the film Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005). It also includes the non-album singles "Get Up" and "I Get It In". Best of 50 Cent anthologizes the majority of the singles that 50 Cent released during his joint deals with Eminem's Shady, Dr. Dre's Aftermath, and major-label Interscope. This is the first Shady Records album that does not feature Eminem on a song.

<i>Plasma</i> (Perfume album) 2022 studio album by Perfume

Plasma is the seventh studio album by Japanese girl group Perfume, released on July 27, 2022, by Universal Music Japan sub-label Universal J and its imprint Perfume Records. The album consists of twelve tracks: five singles and their B-sides released between November 2019 and April 2022, plus four new tracks.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "X5 Music Group Company Overview". Shore Fire Media . Retrieved 2013-08-03.
  2. 1 2 3 "Universal Music Group and X5 Music Group Form Unique Joint Venture, U5". Universal Music Group. April 18, 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-03.
  3. 1 2 "2013 Red Herring Europe Finalists". Red Herring: The Business of Technology. April 15, 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-03.
  4. ↑ "Warner Music Group acquires Swedish playlisting firm X5 Music". Music Business Worldwide. 2 June 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  5. ↑ Barth, Chris (October 25, 2011). "How Tiny X5 Music Group Is Slaying Label Goliaths On The Billboard Charts". Forbes . Retrieved 2013-08-03.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sisario, Ben (April 17, 2013). "A Label Finds 99 Ways to Make Classical Profitable". The New York Times . Retrieved 2013-08-03.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Talty, John (July 30, 2012). "X5 Music Group Relies on SEO Tricks, But Inching Closer to Legitimacy". International Business Times . Retrieved 2013-08-03.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Smith, Ethan (August 31, 2011). "The Internet's $10 Million Mix Tapes". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved 2013-08-03.
  9. 1 2 3 Collins, Jennifer (February 23, 2012). "Searching search engines for the sound of music". Marketplace . Retrieved 2013-08-03.
  10. 1 2 3 Christman, Ed (August 7, 2012). "X5 Signs Up Alligator, Highway 87, Nacional, Six Degrees Records". Billboard . Retrieved 2013-08-03.
  11. 1 2 Sanderson, Blair (November 23, 2009). "The 50 Greatest Pieces of Classical Music". Allmusic . Retrieved 2013-08-03.
  12. 1 2 "Universal Music, X5 Music Bring Together Blue Note Records and Verve Catalogs For First Time". X5 Music. July 25, 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-03.
  13. 1 2 Flamm, Matthew (May 8, 2013). "Dining on music with Scott Ambrose Reilly". Crain's New York Business . Retrieved 2013-08-03.
  14. ↑ "X5 Music Group Announces New Hire Noelle Bell, Digital Music Veteran". Shorefire Media. February 10, 2012. Retrieved 2013-03-12.
  15. 1 2 Grischow, Chad (November 7, 2011). "London Philharmonic Orchestra: The Greatest Video Game Music Review". IGN . Retrieved 2013-08-03.
  16. 1 2 3 4 "Nintendo, Sega Go Orchestral With 'Greatest Video Game Music II". X5 Music Group. October 22, 2012. Retrieved 2013-08-03.
  17. ↑ "X5 Music Group says Spotify app boosted album downloads". MusicAlly. April 26, 2012. Retrieved 2013-08-03.
  18. ↑ "Universal-backed digital distribution and A&R platform Spinnup launches in the UK". Complete Music Update. 2014-07-08. Retrieved 2015-09-22.
  19. ↑ "Partners". X5 Music Group. Retrieved 2013-08-03.
  20. ↑ Listplacering (läst 2 april 2011)
  21. ↑ Hung, Steffen. "swedishcharts.com - Swedish Charts Portal". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  22. ↑ Nobody Knows at no. 1 in Sweden.
  23. ↑ So Yours chart position in Belgium (Flanders).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.