Sony, RCA Merge Nashville Ops

Sony Music Nashville and RCA Label Group / Nashville are merging, according to an announcement in an e-mail to employees from Sony BMG’s recently appointed chief Rolf Schmidt-Holtz April 19th. SMN chief John Grady announced he is leaving.

Sony BMG wants to consolidate its operations on Music Row, but the reshuffling caught many off guard, according to Nashville’s Tennessean.

“Joe Galante, who previously served as the chairman of the RCA Label Group Nashville, will head the newly combined group as Chairman,” Schmidt-Holtz reportedly said.

Grady – credited with signing and developing Gretchen Wilson and promoting the O Brother, Where Art Thou? phenomenon – confirmed that same day he was leaving the company.

RCA Label Group Nashville is home to Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, and Carrie Underwood, among others. Sony Nashville houses Wilson, Dixie Chicks, Montgomery Gentry, and Miranda Lambert.