Sanctuary finds new home

Universal sold Parlophone to Warners. And now, Sanctuary has gone to BMG.

I suppose that at least, this time, it's not gone to an existing major label - BMG used to be half-owners in Sony-BMG until they sold up in 2008, but haven't been a major for half a decade. Apparently, though, they're kinda regretting that, and want to be a major label again:

Hartwig Masuch, chief executive of BMG, said: "We have made no secret of our ambition to create a new force in the music industry focused on delivering service and revenue to artists."

He added: "We believe this deal will be good news for those artists, good news for our partners, particularly in the independent sector, and good news for the music industry as a whole.

To be fair, selling off your major force in the music industry and not doing it for five years was a pretty good way of making a secret of these ambitions.

It's not entirely obvious how owning the Iron Maiden back catalogue is going to create a new force in the music industry, but who knows?