Every so often, when catchy music, clever marketing and the right timing come together, one record company captures prevailing tastes in a way that enables it to define the musical essence of an era. Motown did so in the 1960s with soul; Def Jam followed in the '80s with rap; and Interscope ruled the mid-'90s by mixing rap and metal.
By that same calculus, then, the beginning of the new century unquestionably belongs to Jive Records, the colossally successful independent label that has almost singlehandedly brought the teen-pop revolution--you know, the army of dimpled boy bands and midriff-baring teen queens--into homes across North America, Europe and Asia. Home to three of the world's highest-grossing acts--Britney Spears, 'N Sync and Backstreet Boys--as well as a significant roster of rap, rock and R.-and-B. performers, Jive has climbed to the top of the industry ladder by understanding, reflecting and influencing mass-market tastes to a greater degree than anyone else. Which may be why your sixth-grade daughter tried to leave the house in a halter top last week.
Last year three Jive releases finished among the Top 10 best-selling U.S. albums: Spears' Oops!...I Did It Again, Backstreet's Black & Blue and 'N Sync's No Strings Attached. If you think that's just kid stuff, think again. Privately owned by South African entrepreneur Clive Calder, Jive (and its parent company, Zomba) rode the teen wave to an estimated $800 million in sales last year, making it the world's largest independent label. Jive's 6.7% U.S. market share placed it well ahead of better-established labels, including Arista (4.9%) and Def Jam (3.9%). This year Zomba (which also includes Verity, a gospel label, and Silvertone, a blues label) could pull in as much as $1 billion.
Numbers like that make friends and competitors pay attention. "We'd be lining up if they wanted to sell," says Ken Berry, chief of the gigantic EMI Music conglomerate, "as would a lot of other people too, I suspect." Record industry analyst Michael Nathanson of the Sanford Bernstein company says Jive is nimble and quick to catch hot trends: "They've got an incredible track record of breaking new artists and building mass stars." In the expanding worldwide market, Jive has posted the kind of stratospheric sales numbers that the industry hasn't seen since Beatlemania: 60 million for four Backstreet albums, 30 million for two Spears albums and 14 million for 'N Sync's No Strings Attached. The question now is whether Jive can keep its numbers up as its customers--and its key artists--start to outgrow their teen years.
To get to the center of the teen-pop revolution, you enter an unmarked, soot-colored brownstone in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. In his office on the 11th floor, behind his big wooden desk with its neatly organized stacks of CDs, Jive president Barry Weiss is a crackling wire of energy, jumping up to fetch a DVD from a shelf, scribbling memos, barking orders in a brisk, rat-tat-tat fashion. The walls of the native Long Islander's office are decorated with the trophies of two decades of conquests--half a dozen gold and platinum albums.