Warner rebranding highlights heritage: name-change reinvigorates Atlantic and Warner Bros.(Restructuring)

Warner Music is rebranding its two mainstream UK companies as Warner Bros Records and Atlantic Records.

The two companies previously WEA London and East West respectively--will take on their new brands immediately. The move reflects the structure introduced in the US last year and will be echoed by all companies in the Warner Music International network.

Warner Music UK chairman and CEO Nick Phillips, who is also overseeing the newly renamed Warner Bros Records until a managing director is found, says, "We have wanted to do this for years. The brand names of Warner Bros Records and Atlantic Records are very special. It is also very exciting, to feel you are working at a label with such history."

WMI chairman and CEO Paul Rene Albertini says the name-changes underline a renewed focus. "These are two of the best broom names in the music industry," he says. "This change will send out a message that we are a company focused on artists and music. This will bring us in sync with the US company, where the West Coast operation is now Warner Bros and the East Coast company is Atlantic," he adds.

Albertini says the brands win be rolled ant in all WMI territories where it applies, with the UK being one of the few markets where the dual record company structure remains in place. In markets such as France and Germany, where the two operations no longer exist as independent ...