Editing Atlantic Records (section)

===2000s===
A country music division, which was founded in the 1980s, was closed in 2001.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=WE&s_site=kansas&p_multi=WE&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EBC6FE65EEC8ABB&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D |title=Atlantic Records to close Nashville offices |date=May 1, 2001 |work=Wichita Eagle |access-date=May 20, 2009}}</ref>

Time Warner sold Warner Music Group to a group of investors for $2.6 billion in late 2003. The deal closed in early 2004, consolidating [[Elektra Records]] and Atlantic into one label operated in the eastern United States.<ref name="AP"/>

[[File:White Nerdy YOU SUCK cropped.jpg|thumb|right|alt=[["Weird Al" Yankovic]] edits Atlantic Records' page to read "YOU SUCK!"|[["Weird Al" Yankovic]] edits Atlantic Records' Wikipedia page to read "YOU SUCK!" in the music video for the song "[[White & Nerdy]]"]]
In 2006, the label denied [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] permission to release "[[You're Pitiful]]", a [[parody]] of [[James Blunt]]'s "[[You're Beautiful]]", despite Blunt's approval. Atlantic said it was too early in Blunt's career, and it did not want him to be a [[one-hit wonder]].<ref name="Stone">{{cite magazine |author=Austin Skaggs |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2006/09/19/weird-al-yankovic-dishes-on-james-blunt-discusses-his-role-as-the-whitest-nerdiest-rock-star-ever/ |title=Weird Al Yankovic Dishes on James Blunt, Discusses His Role as the Whitest, Nerdiest Rock Star Ever |access-date=July 27, 2007 |date=September 19, 2006 |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061021230111/http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2006/09/19/weird-al-yankovic-dishes-on-james-blunt-discusses-his-role-as-the-whitest-nerdiest-rock-star-ever/ |archive-date=October 21, 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Although Yankovic could have made the parody anyway, claiming [[Fair Use|fair use]], his record label, [[Volcano Entertainment]], thought it best not to "go to war" with Atlantic.<ref name="NPR">{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5482774 |title=Free 'Weird Al' Yankovic! |publisher=NPR |date=June 13, 2006 |access-date=November 13, 2007}}</ref> The parody was released online for free on June 7. He later recorded two more parodies, "[[White & Nerdy]]", and "Do I Creep You Out", both released September 26 to replace it. He wore T-shirts reading "Atlantic Records sucks" while performing live and, in the [[music video]] for "White & Nerdy", he defaces Atlantic's article on [[Wikipedia]], replacing the page with "YOU SUCK!" in large type, which resulted in many repeat vandals.<ref>Cameron Adams. "Weird Al Yankovic". ''Herald Sun''. October 5, 2006.</ref>

In 2007, the label celebrated its 60th anniversary with the May 2 PBS broadcast of the ''[[American Masters]]'' documentary ''Atlantic Records: The House that Ahmet Built'' and the simultaneous Starbucks CD release of ''Atlantic 60th Anniversary: R&B Classics Chosen By Ahmet Ertegun''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Atlantic Kicks Off 60th Anniversary Year with 2 Major Events |website=Atlantic Records |date=May 1, 2007 |url=http://www.atlanticrecords.com/news/article/?id=8a0af8121234e3b9011249cdb7ff0d3a |access-date=July 27, 2007}}</ref>

That year also saw Atlantic reach a milestone for major record labels. According to the ''[[International Herald Tribune]]'', "More than half of its music sales in the United States are now from digital products like downloads on iTunes and ring tones for cellphones", doing so "without seeing as steep of a decline in compact disc sales as the rest of the industry".<ref>{{Cite news |author=Tim Arango |title=Atlantic Records hits milestone on digital music sales |work=International Herald Tribune |date=November 25, 2008 |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/25/technology/music.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201200050/http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/25/technology/music.php |archive-date=February 1, 2009}}</ref>