X5 Music Group is a
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
based in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
, Sweden with a branch in
Manhattan, New York
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. Founded in 2003, it is a digital-only label that primarily licenses pre-existing music for compilation albums. X5 originally focused on
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
, and in 2011 its custom album ''
The Greatest Video Game Music
''The Greatest Video Game Music'', performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, features classical orchestrations of video game themes including those from ''Super Mario Bros.'', ''Call of Duty'', ''Metal Gear Solid'', ''Final Fantasy'', ''Halo ...
'', featuring the
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...
, debuted at #23 on the
''Billboard'' 200. Since 2009 the company has had 24 albums on the chart; all 24 were custom digital releases produced by the label.
They have a partnership with
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...
called U5, which releases approximately 50 digital compilation albums per month.
In 2013 X5 was named one of the ''
Red Herring
A red herring is a figurative expression referring to a logical fallacy in which a clue or piece of information is or is intended to be misleading, or distracting from the actual question.
Red herring may also refer to: Animals
* Red herring (fis ...
'' "Top 100 Most Innovative Companies in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
.
In June 2016, X5 was acquired by
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...
.
History
Founding, business model
X5 Music Group was founded in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
in 2003
by
Johan Lagerlöf, Daniel Bäckström, and Stefan Enberg.
All three founders had pre-existing connections in the music industry. CEO Lagerlöf, for example, had previously co-founded companies such as Mobilehits,
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
's the most popular music site, and was also a songwriter/producer for
Stockholm Records.
X5 was created with the mutual vision of being digital-only.
Classical music was chosen as a focus; many classical compositions are in the
public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work
A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...
.
They also gained access to the catalogs of about 50 other companies, mostly independent
classical labels in Europe, and repacked them into what ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' called "like classical mix-tapes."
X5's producers partly focus on sales data to determine what should go into compilations, paying mind to
keywords and
SEO
Seo or SEO may refer to:
* Search engine optimization, the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines
Organisations
* SEO Economic Research, a scientific institute
* Spanish Ornithological Society (''Socied ...
.
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' stated "To attract classical neophytes, X5’s collections have search-engine-friendly titles and simple, self-explanatory cover art."
Accordingly, compilations often have titles such as ''The Most Essential Classical Music for Your Baby'' and ''Classical Music for Hipsters.''
On May 26, 2008, X5 released ''The 50 Most Essential Pieces of Classical Music.''
The album cost about $150 to compile, and by April 2013 had brought in $3.4 million in revenue.
''The 50 Greatest Pieces of Classical Music''
''The 50 Greatest Pieces of Classical Music'' compilation includes selections performed by the
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...
under the direction of
David Parry, with soloists such as pianist
Finghin Collins
Finghin Collins (born 31 March 1977) is an Irish pianist. He won first prize at the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in Vevey, Switzerland, in 1999.
Studies and competitions
Collins studied with John O'Conor at the Royal Irish ...
.
According to
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
, "While the term 'greatest' may be debatable in the instance of some of the pieces, 'popular' is a description that's easier to support, for there's no denying the staying power of these pieces."
It was #1 on
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
' Classical Albums chart for over a year,
and remained in the iTunes Classical Top 10 for over three years, selling more than 200,000 copies.
Expansion
X5 expanded into the United States in 2009,
setting up an office in the
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...
in
Manhattan, New York
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. Former
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
and
eMusic
eMusic is an online music and audiobook store that operates by subscription. In exchange for a monthly subscription eMusic users can download a fixed number of MP3 tracks per month. eMusic was established in 1998, is headquartered in New York Ci ...
music executive
Scott Ambrose Reilly was hired as North American CEO.
Noelle Bell was also hired as an account manager.
X5 continued to expand its catalog of compilations, and in 2010 had 13 titles on the Billboard Year End Top 50, tying for the top spot with
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...
.
In August 2011 ''The 99 Most Essential Chopin Masterpieces'' was ranked No. 1 on
Amazon MP3
Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and online music store operated by Amazon. Launched in public beta on September 25, 2007, in January 2008 it became the first music store to sell music without digital rights m ...
's classical bestsellers chart. The compilation stayed among the chart's top 100 for 20 months.
In 2011 X5 was the No. 2 classical music label on the US charts, second only to Universal.
Also in 2011 the label began branching into genres such as
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
,
bluegrass,
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
, and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
.
They began forming partnerships with non-classical labels such as
Sun Records
Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny C ...
, whose back catalog included artists such as
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...
and
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made ...
.
''The Greatest Video Game Music''
In November 2011 X5 released one of its most successful albums, ''The Greatest Video Game Music,'' performed by the
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...
and produced by
Andrew Skeet
Andrew John Skeet (born 1969 in Croydon) is an English musician, composer and music producer. He has written scores for television and film and worked with many well-known composers and artists as an arranger, orchestrator and conductor.
Biog ...
.
The twenty-one track set
features classical orchestrations of video game themes such as ''
Super Mario Bros.
is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The successor to the 1983 arcade game '' Mario Bros.'' and the first game in the ''Super Mario'' series, it was first released in 1985 for ...
'', ''
Call of Duty
''Call of Duty'' is a first-person shooter video game Media franchise, franchise published by Activision. Starting out in 2003, it first focused on games set in World War II. Over time, the series has seen games set in the midst of the Cold W ...
'', ''
Final Fantasy
is a Japanese video game, Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and ...
'', ''
World of Warcraft
''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the ''Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azeroth ...
,'' and ''
Angry Birds
''Angry Birds'' is a Finnish action-based media franchise created by Rovio Entertainment. The game series focuses on the eponymous flock of angry birds who try to save their eggs from green-colored pigs. Inspired by the game ''Crush the Castle ...
''.
It debuted at #23 on the
''Billboard'' 200 - the highest debut for an orchestral release since 2005's
''Star Wars Episode III'' soundtrack.
It received praise from ''
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
''
and was named "weirdest hit album" of 2011 by ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
''. A
sequel
A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
was released in October 2012.
Classify app
In early 2012 X5 launched Classify, an
app created through a partnership with Spotify that helps music browsers discover classical music.
The software was downloaded 500,000 times in the first month,
and X5 released statistics saying Classify brought sales of ''The 50 Greatest Pieces of Classical Music'' up by 50%, helping it to top the iTunes classical chart.
In May 2013, X5 announced Spotify apps for
world music,
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
, and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
to be released in August.
In March 2015, Spotify discontinued support for apps in their players, including Classify.
U5 partnership
In its early years, X5 drew mainly from the catalogs of independent classical labels. In its first year of operations in the United States they licensed labels such as
Cooking Vinyl,
Alligator Records
Alligator Records is an American, Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971. Iglauer was also one of the founders of the '' Living Blues'' magazine in Chicago in 1970.
History
Iglauer started the label using ...
, and the
Welk Music Group Welk Music Group is an American record company comprising Ranwood Records. It was founded by Lawrence Welk and is still owned by the Welk Family. The company evolved from when Welk's Teleklew Productions acquired Harry Von Tilzer Music in 1957.
Wel ...
, also commissioning its own recordings.
X5 announced in April 2013 that it had started U5, a joint venture with the music conglomerate
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...
. It gave X5 access to over 50,000 of Universal’s classical tracks, and another 50,000
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
and blues songs.
U5 produces digital compilation albums, curating and releasing more than 50 per month.
The first slate of releases included expansions to the ''50 Greatest'' series, adding ''The 50 Greatest Violin Pieces'' by
Joshua Bell
Joshua David Bell (born December 9, 1967) is an American violinist and conductor. He plays the Gibson Stradivarius.
Early life and education
Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, to Shirley Bell, a therapist, and Alan P. Bell, a psychologis ...
, ''The 50 Greatest Piano Pieces'' by
Lang Lang
Lang Lang (; born 14 June 1982) is a Chinese pianist who has performed with leading orchestras in China, North America, Europe, and elsewhere. Active since the 1990s, he was the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Berlin Philharmonic, ...
and ''The 50 Greatest Performances of Classical Music''.
Later releases focused on jazz and blues, including artists such as
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...
,
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of br ...
, and
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", "B ...
.
X5 also partners with Universal Music on the
Spinnup
Spinnup was a digital music distribution service owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 2013 in Sweden. Spinnup is a signed distribution platform that offers an aggregator service to musicians and artist who are not signed to major labe ...
distribution platform for unsigned artists.
Recent years
In April 2013 ''The New York Times'' stated that "X5’s techniques are now widely imitated, and its profit margins are the envy of any record label." At that time the company had sold over 230 million downloads internationally,
and was putting out several thousand albums a year.
As of summer 2013, X5 had a catalog of 8,000 albums, with about 50% of those being titles custom produced by the company.
From 2009 to 2013 X5 had 24 albums on the
''Billboard'' 200; all 24 were custom digital releases produced by X5.
X5 was named one of the ''
Red Herring
A red herring is a figurative expression referring to a logical fallacy in which a clue or piece of information is or is intended to be misleading, or distracting from the actual question.
Red herring may also refer to: Animals
* Red herring (fis ...
'' "Top 100 Most Innovative Companies in Europe" in 2013.
Label partners
The following is a list of labels and licensing companies that have partnerships with X5 Music Group:
*
Alligator Records
Alligator Records is an American, Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971. Iglauer was also one of the founders of the '' Living Blues'' magazine in Chicago in 1970.
History
Iglauer started the label using ...
(blues)
*
ARC Music
ARC Music is a world music and folk music label based in West Sussex, England, that was established in 1976. Naxos acquired ARC in 2019.
Film and television
ARC Music has been used in the films ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crysta ...
(world, folk)
*
BIS Records
BIS Records is a record label founded in 1973 by Robert von Bahr. It is located in Åkersberga, Sweden.
BIS focuses on classical music, both contemporary and early, especially works that are not already well represented by existing recordings. ...
(classical)
*
Cooking Vinyl (modern folk, rock, etc.)
*
EMI Music
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...
*HHO Multimedia
*
Glyndebourne
Glyndebourne () is an English country house, the site of an opera house that, since 1934, has been the venue for the annual Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The house, located near Lewes in East Sussex, England, is thought to be about six hundr ...
(London Philharmonic)
*
Nacional Records
Nacional Records is an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. It is home to numerous artists including Manu Chao, Grammy-nominated Mexican electronica group Nortec Collective, Colombian rock band Aterciopelados, Argentine rock ...
(world)
*
Sun Records
Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny C ...
(R&B, folk)
*
Six Degrees Records
Six Degrees Records is an independent record label noted for its catalog of recordings from international musicians and vocalists.
History
In 1996, former Windham Hill employees Pat Berry and Bob Duskis founded Six Degrees Records with the in ...
(world)
*
Luaka Bop
Luaka Bop is a New York–based record label founded by musician David Byrne, former lead singer and guitarist for the art rock– new wave band Talking Heads. What began with Byrne making cassettes of his favorite Tropicália tracks for his fri ...
(world, etc.)
*
ONErpm
ONErpm (ONE Revolution People's Music) is a digital distribution service and fan engagement platform founded in 2010 by Emmanuel Zunz and Matthew Olim, the latter one of the co-founders of CDNow, a pioneer in digital music. The company offers su ...
(distribution)
*
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...
**
Blue Note
In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical co ...
(jazz)
**
Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...
(classical)
**
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...
(classical)
**
Spinnup
Spinnup was a digital music distribution service owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 2013 in Sweden. Spinnup is a signed distribution platform that offers an aggregator service to musicians and artist who are not signed to major labe ...
(unsigned artists)
**
Welk Music Group Welk Music Group is an American record company comprising Ranwood Records. It was founded by Lawrence Welk and is still owned by the Welk Family. The company evolved from when Welk's Teleklew Productions acquired Harry Von Tilzer Music in 1957.
Wel ...
(world)
*
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...
(parent label; all genres)
Selected discography
See also
*
References
External links
X5MusicGroup.comX5 Classify Appon
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
{{Authority control
Swedish record labels
Record labels established in 2003
Companies based in Stockholm
Warner Music Group