SonyBMG are finally leaving their concrete bunker in Putney to take up new offices on High Street Kensington - a move that has been a very long time in the pipeline. Some of the major's teams will start working from the new base later this week, though Kensington will officially become the home of SonyBMG UK on 28 Jul.
The major has been based in the former BMG UK HQ ever since the sale of Sony Music's swish offices in Soho shortly after the SonyBMG merger. A move to a slightly more central London base has been promised for a long time now, and top execs at the label will hope the move back into Zone 1 will be a morale boost, even if the open plan design of the new offices means bosses and their underlings now have to work side by side.
The move, of course, also means all four of the major record companies will have their London HQs on what is basically the same street. Which will be handy when they eventually all merge to create SonyBMGWarnerUniversalEMIMusic.
The new address is SonyBMG, 9 Derry Street, London, W8 5HY. The phone number will be 020 7937 0188.