Editing RCA Records (section)

=== 1980s ===
In 1983, [[Arista Records]] owner [[Bertelsmann]] sold 50% of Arista to RCA. In 1985, Bertelsmann and RCA Records formed a joint venture called RCA/Ariola International.<ref name="bertelsmann.com">{{citation |url=http://www.bertelsmann.com/bertelsmann_corp/wms41/customers/bmcorp/pdf/RCA_-_Now_Elvis_rocked_for_Bertelsmann__too.pdf |title=RCA: Now Elvis rocked for Bertelsmann, too |publisher=Bertelsmann Worldwide Media |access-date=June 22, 2010 |archive-date=May 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514204825/http://www.bertelsmann.com/bertelsmann_corp/wms41/customers/bmcorp/pdf/RCA_-_Now_Elvis_rocked_for_Bertelsmann__too.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> In December 1985, the RCA Corporation was purchased by [[General Electric]] (GE), with the acquisition completed in June, 1986. GE sold its 50% interest in RCA Records to its partner Bertelsmann and the company was renamed [[BMG Music]] for Bertelsmann Music Group.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ayQEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22rca+records%22+%2B+%22general+electric%22&pg=PP1 |title=RCA Deal Gives Bertelsmann Multinational Label Ranking |first=Mike |last=Hennessey |author-link=Mike Hennessey |magazine=Billboard |volume=98 |issue=3B |publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. |date=September 20, 1986 |access-date=January 8, 2012}}</ref> BMG revived the RCA "lightning bolt" logo that was retired in 1968 to differentiate RCA Records from the other RCA divisions, which GE either liquidated, sold, or closed. BMG also revived the "RCA Victor" label for Red Seal, Broadway and soundtrack releases and other musical genres outside of rock, pop and country music. In 1986, Bob Buziak, formerly an artist manager, was appointed president of the label.

During the mid-1980s, RCA Records operated at a deficit, due in part to "overpriced deals" with pop stars including [[Kenny Rogers]] and [[Diana Ross]]. In 1986, the label bought back $25 million in unsold albums and lost $35 million during the fiscal year 1987. As a partial corrective, a decentralized style of management which allowed RCA Records to function as a free-standing entrepreneurial business was implemented for 1988. Buziak drastically cut the RCA roster from around 40 artists to 11, and began to rebuild it with a focus on developing new artists, including artists acquired through marketing and distribution agreements with [[Beggars Banquet Records]], a British punk rock label, and [[Jive Records]], whose roster included [[Schooly D]], [[Kool Moe Dee]], and [[DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince]].

By the end of the fiscal year 1988, RCA Records had gross revenue of $236 million in the United States, the most profitable year in the label's history. The  album ''[[The Way It Is (Bruce Hornsby album)|The Way It Is]]'' by [[Bruce Hornsby and the Range]], sold more than three million copies, and the [[Dirty Dancing (soundtrack)|soundtrack]] album from the film ''[[Dirty Dancing]]'', which cost RCA $200,000 to produce, sold 15.6 million copies in less than two years. Its follow-up, ''[[More Dirty Dancing]]'', composed of song tracks which had been left off of the first album, was produced for $80,000 and went on to sell more than 5.6 million. RCA's most successful artists during the 1980s included the [[Eurythmics]], [[Love and Rockets (band)|Love and Rockets]], [[Joshua Perahia]], [[Rick Astley]], [[Hall & Oates]], [[Dolly Parton]], [[Juice Newton]], and [[Bucks Fizz]].<ref name="LA Times 1980s">{{cite news | last1=Knoedelselder | first1=William Jr. |title=Rap On RCA Records: The Original U.S. Record Company Is Back In Groove |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-09-18-fi-3214-story.html |access-date=August 14, 2015 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=September 18, 1998}}</ref><ref name="RCA Hit Men">{{cite book |last1=Dannen |first1=Fredric |title=Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business |date=July 2, 1991 |publisher=Random House |location=New York |isbn=9780679730613 |page=260 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oa97Z7pOWPYC&q=Bob+Buziak++President+of+RCA+Records+US+1986&pg=PA260 |access-date=August 14, 2015}}</ref>