RCA shuts down the famous Jive, J Records and Arista Imprints

The music industry continues to change especially among the major record labels.

RCA executive Clive Davis with J Record artist Alicia Keys and one time Arista star Whitney Houston.

On Friday (October 7) Jive Records, Arista Records and J Records all cease to exist as each will merge into one label, RCA Records. The decision is a part of the plan to reinvent RCA.

From The Hollywood Reporter- "New RCA Records CEO Peter Edge, 50, even hesitates to call his company a record label. After all, it would be foolish to limit a label's scope to the business of selling records or to use a term as outdated as the concept itself.

"My vision for RCA is to be more of a music company," he says. "You have to reinvent, and that's what we're doing." Indeed, after a tumultuous year that saw a new leader in Sony Music CEO Doug Morris, several dozen layoffs and the confirmed shuttering of historic labels Arista and Jive (with their major acts bequeathed to RCA), the pressure is on. U.K. native Edge's roster now boasts some of the biggest names in pop and rock, including Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Ke$ha, Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys and Pitbull, making parent Sony the No. 2 music company in terms of market share. (Founded in 1929, RCA is also the second-oldest label in the U.S., behind fellow Sony property Columbia.)" Click here to read more...

Rap artists like Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince, KRS One and Whodini helped establish Jive Records as a leading hip hop label in the 1980's.