Jive Records is Closed!

RCA music group is slimming down for the holidays by shuttering its Arista, Jive and J Records subsidiaries, a move by new label execs to strengthen the identity of the RCA brand. Artists who have been with those three imprints, which have been home to Britney Spears, Alicia Keys, Rod Stewart, Pitbull, Whitney Houston, Justin Timberlake, Barry Manilow, R. Kelly, Kelly Clarkson, Fantasia, Dido, Jennifer Hudson, Leona Lewis and others, will be shifted to RCA.

"In an effort to refresh RCA Records, all label imprints -- J Records, Arista Records and Jive -- will now be under the the iconic RCA Records label," according to a statement RCA issued Friday.] Jive produced several of the biggest-selling albums of all time in the midst of the youth pop boom a decade ago, including the multiplatinum hits for 'N Sync, the Backstreet Boys and Spears. There’s no mention so far of what role under the new arrangement will be played by Davis, who in recent years had continued to sign and develop artists on J.

On Friday morning, there was no indication of the change evident on Jive Records official website, but sites for both J and Arista now default to the RCA Music Group site. The changes do not affect the Arista Nashville label, or the other three country music labels that are under the Sony Music Nashville umbrella: RCA, Columbia and BNA.  "Arista Nashville and its respective roster are not impacted in any way," Gary Overton, Chairman and CEO, Sony Music Nashville, said Friday in a statement. "Our four-label Sony Music Nashville operations remain unchanged."]

“The path we’ve taken is to refresh RCA, so we’re going to retire those brands,” RCA COO Tim Corson tells the Reporter. “There may be a reason down the line to bring them back, but it’s a clean slate here.

“The concept is that there is value on branding RCA and not having it confused or diluted by other labels,” he said. “The artists have all been supportive. We didn’t make this move without consulting our artists, and we haven’t had any push-back. Frankly, they’re the brand. We’re defined by our artists.”