RCA Records is owned by Sony (Japan, NYSE: SONY), which acquired the brand on 1 October 2008 for $1.2 billion.[1][2] RCA Records was founded in 1901 in the United States and was independent until 2008.
Evidence: Sony Group Corporation Annual Report on Form 20-F filed 2026-06-18, SEC EDGAR, 18 June 2026. Verified from filings; last checked .
RCA Records signed Elvis Presley in 1955 in a deal that transformed popular music, and its Nipper the dog listening to a gramophone is among the oldest trademarks in the industry. Sony took full ownership when it bought out Bertelsmann in 2008.
A plain count of the times the name appears in the text of each annual report, not counting the start of a sentence. A brand that an owner writes about more is usually one it treats as central.
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
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See the full Sony brand portfolio (8) →
Sony controls 8 brands on Brandtree, 5 of them in media & entertainment.
The 18 brands in record labels on Brandtree belong to 6 owners. The largest is Universal Music, with 5; Sony has 3.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Capitol Records | Universal Music | 🇳🇱 Netherlands |
| Chrysalis Records | Reservoir | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Atlantic Records | Warner Music | 🇺🇸 United States |
| BMG | Bertelsmann | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| VAP | Nippon TV Holdings | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Def Jam Recordings | Universal Music | 🇳🇱 Netherlands |
| Interscope Records | Universal Music | 🇳🇱 Netherlands |
| Motown | Universal Music | 🇳🇱 Netherlands |
Sony is a publicly listed company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, founded in 1946. Brandtree records 8 brands under its control, and it is listed as NYSE: SONY.
Sony was founded in a bombed-out Tokyo department store in 1946 and became a consumer electronics giant before buying its way into Hollywood and music. Entertainment now produces more of its profit than electronics, which is a reversal of what the name still suggests to most people.
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,550 brands that began in the United States. 479 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, RCA Records among them.
Sony bought out Bertelsmann's half of Sony BMG for about $1.2 billion, ending a joint venture formed in 2004 and taking full ownership of RCA Records among others. Bertelsmann kept the music publishing catalogue, which it rebuilt into BMG.
The parent company of RCA Records is Sony, a publicly listed company headquartered in Japan.
RCA Records originated in the United States in 1901, but it is owned today by Sony, which is headquartered in Japan. So RCA Records is an American-origin brand under Japanese ownership.
Sony completed its acquisition of RCA Records on 1 October 2008, after announcing the deal on 5 August 2008. The deal was valued at $1.2 billion.
RCA Records was an independent company from its founding in 1901 until Sony acquired it in 2008.
Yes. As of 16 September 2026, RCA Records is still owned by Sony. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
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