Sony Music has dissolved the long-running Arista Nashville imprint, a rep for the company confirms to PvNew. The news was first reported in Country Aircheck‘s newsletter.
Most of the artists will be absorbed into Sony Music Nashville, with Nate Smith is going to RCA Nashville and Old Dominion and Megan Moroney moving over to Columbia Nashville.
Brooks & Dunn is the most famous artist on the label, having been one of its cornerstone acts since 1991, but the duo is not a going concern on the recording front. Apart from a retrospective/duets project three years ago, they have not issued an album of new material since 2007.
As for Arista Nashville’s dedicated promotion & artist development staff: Ali O’Connell and Amy Menz are moving over to RCA, with Nicole Walden shifting to a national RCA role; Lisa Owen is going to Columbia. Lyndsay Church is leaving the company.
Founded in 1989 by Arista founder Clive Davis and songwriter/ executive Tim Dubois, the label quickly made its mark as one of the key country labels of the ’90s., with hits from Alan Jackson, Asleep at the Wheel, Pam Tillis, Brooks & Dunn, Diamond Rio, Exile, Lee Roy Parnell, Steve Wariner and others. It expanded to include the Austin-based Arista Texas in 1993, which split into Arista Austin and Arista Latin several years later.
The company continued its hot streak into the 21st century with Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley, but both those stars left Sony for other labels, Underwood in 2017 and Paisley just this year.
Additional reporting by Chris Willman.
