RE: Page & Plant's label affiliation

[mrprox@xxxxxxxxxxx (Hugh Jones)]

Page and Plant are on Atlantic records in the USA and on the Polygram
Distribution Group/Phonogram label Fontana (which may be labelled as
Mercury in some countries) for the rest of the world. This has been true
since "Fate Of Nations," when Robert signed on with PGD/Phonogram as a solo
artist. When he & Page reunited, they both signed on - the "No Quarter"
album came out this way and I believe the duo are under this contract for
quite a while. On the other hand, Led Zeppelin product comes out on
Atlantic all over the world. . .

>When in the world did P/P sign with Mercury Records??? Atlantic was like
>part of the family for years!  Could this possibly be why they are not
>playing at the 50th anniversary party at Atlantic???

Ahmet Eretgun, Atlantic's president, may be like a "part of the family" to
the P/P organization, but don't kid yourself - their relationship with
Atlantic and any other label is *purely* business, and *most*, if not all,
of the decisions made are based on money.

The reason they're not playing Atlantic's Anniversary concert is that it's
not happening - it was cancelled, presumably due to the unstable state of
Ertegun's health.

>As
>far as I know, Atlantic and Mercury are owned by the same massive Warner
>conglomerate.  Can anyone clarify this?

You're incorrect there, Brad - Atlantic is part of the
Warner/Elektra/Atlantic (WEA) conglomerate, which is owned by the even
bigger Time/Warner group - and Mercury is a subsidiary label of the
Polygram Distribution Group (PGD), which I believe is known as Phonogram in
Europe - they're a German company.

Cheers,
- - Mr. "know your major labels" Prox

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