Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
MatthewLMayfield
Background
Sony Music Entertainment was originally known as the CBS Records Group until it was sold to Sony Corporation of Japan on January 5, 1988, when Sony licensed the CBS name and was renamed as "Sony Music Entertainment" on January 1, 1991. On July 20, 2004, Sony Music Entertainment and Bertelsmann Music Group merged their 50% of their music enterprise to form Sony BMG Music Entertainment, which was approved by the European Union.
1st Logo (1991-2001?)

Logo: Same as the CMV Enterprises logo, but the "C" has been replaced with an "S". The whole logo also appears to have been redone; the letters are bolder, the colors are a bit brighter and the pyramids spin slightly differently.
Variant: On the 1996 VHS of Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, the logo is shortened to the last few seconds.
Technique: CGI.
Audio: Same as the CMV Enterprises logo. On the variant, we only hear re-arranged drumbeats and the synth strum.
Availability:
- It can be seen on many Sony Music Video releases from the era such as the VHS/DVD releases of Celine Dion: Unison, Celine Dion: All the Way - A Decade of Song and Video, and Mariah Carey: #1's. The logo continued to be used internationally up into the early 2000's.
- It can also be found on many 90's MTV Home Video releases from the era, such as early Beavis and Butt-Head and MTV Unplugged VHS releases.
- The short variant appeared on the 1996 VHS of Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie.
2nd Logo (1996-2004)

Logo: On a black background, we see a gold ball moving upward. Then, two blue balls move downward, left and right of the gold ball. These move away, as it fades into 3 black smoking circles with the left and right circle with blue outlining and the middle circle with gold outlining. These outlines then spin around, as the smoke disappears and the letters "S" on the left circle in white, "M" on the middle circle in blue, and "V" on the right circle in white appear. The circles turn to the colors of the outlines of the circle, then the words "s o n y m u s i c entertainment" appear one-by-one. "sony music" is spaced out more to fit the width of "entertainment" below.
Technique: CGI.
Audio: Same as before.
Availability:
- Seen on many Sony Music Entertainment VHS and DVD releases from the era, including Computer Animation Festival, Alice in Chains: Music Bank - The Videos, Jennifer Lopez: Feelin So Good, and Kathy Smith re-releases from the company.
- It also appears on many late 1990's-early 2000's MTV Home Video releases such as MTV Gamebrain, Beavis and Butt-Head and The Real World video tapes.
- Strangely, this logo made a surprise appearance on the packaging of the 2006 Shout! Factory DVD sets The Super Mario Bros. Super Show and The Best of the Electric Company, as well as all four seasons of Home Movies, but this logo never appeared on the DVDs themselves.
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Sony Music Entertainment Inc. |
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