NMC Music

NMC's activities have spanned recording, physical-media distribution, digital sales, artist services, film distribution, and content production. By 2007, CD sales still generated most of its revenue, but management was seeking greater income from royalties, rights, cellular sales, and online channels.[6] Its launch of songs.co.il and later acquisitions of Hed Arzi and Tel-Ad Studios reflected this expansion beyond a traditional record-label model.[4][9][10]

NMC was established in 1964 as a local division of CBS, the international music and entertainment corporation.[1] Operating within that framework, the company built a catalog of Israeli recordings over several decades before separating from CBS and becoming an independent entity in 1998.[1] From that point, it functioned as one of the larger companies in Israel's music market, with activities encompassing the manufacturing, importing, and marketing of music and video cassettes and discs.[1]

A 1997 commercial recording of Johnny Shuali's song "עכשיו" ("Now") from the album פלורנטין was issued in Israel under the NMC label.[2] Dana International's album Free, dated circa 2000, is likewise credited to NMC; the 58-minute disc contains songs in Hebrew and English.[3] NMC also handled the Parvarim retrospective collection 40 שנות זמר (40 Years of Song), dated 2001—an eight-CD set packaged in four volumes and organized by decade and genre, including songs from the 1960s, songs from the 1970s and 1980s, translated songs, and singles.[11] A 2012 Hebrew-language album by Liat Itzhaki is also catalogued under NMC, with Itzhaki credited as singer, writer, and composer and Nadav Biton credited for musical arrangement and production.[12]

In February 2006, United King—controlled by Moshe Edery—signed an agreement to acquire control of NMC through the purchase of 44.5% of its shares from Daniel Yadin and Yedioth Communications for $900,000, subject to regulatory and bank approvals.[1] United King also undertook to arrange an $800,000 Bank Leumi loan to NMC as part of a settlement with EMI Music.[1] A later Ynet account said United King, owned by the Edery family, bought NMC in May 2006 for NIS 9 million, after which management shifted the company's strategy toward content and away from dependence on physical record sales.[6]

By the first quarter of 2007, CD sales accounted for 76% of NMC's revenue, royalties and copyright income for 18%, and content for approximately 6%.[6] CEO Pnina Edery said the company aimed to reduce CD sales to half of turnover within three years, with the remainder coming from royalties, rights, cellular sales, and digital channels.[6] The same account reported that CD sales fell 13.6% in 2006, a decline attributed to pirated copying.[6]

In December 2008, NMC United agreed to acquire Hed Arzi—one of Israel's oldest record companies—subject to approval from the Antitrust Commissioner.[7] Hed Arzi's early efforts to manufacture records in Israel dated to 1946, and its early catalog included recordings by Yaffa Yarkoni and Shoshana Damari.[7] NMC United's owners, Pnina and Moshe Edery, presented the acquisition as both a response to difficult conditions in the music industry and an effort to prevent the closure of Hed Arzi and its Tower Records stores.[7] A 2010 retrospective characterized Hed Arzi as having entered bankruptcy and its artists' catalog as having been absorbed into NMC United.[8]

In 2011, NMC United Entertainment CEO Pnina Edery announced the completion of a deal to purchase Tel-Ad Studios from chairman Moshe Gaon and other partners. Tel-Ad's owners and staff viewed the merger as a way to adapt to changing entertainment-industry trends and expand the company's capabilities.[10] A 2021 profile also noted that Moshe Edery had acquired NMC along with other music libraries, although it did not specify the date.[13]

By the early 2000s, NMC's Hebrew department was headed by Haim Shemesh, who articulated an open editorial stance toward politically engaged artists. In 2003, NMC signed Habiluyim, a band whose debut album was expected to feature forceful political content; one song, titled "Shaul Mofaz," was anticipated to test how radio stations responded to the band's material.[14] Shemesh characterized NMC's approach plainly: "We don't gag our artists. A song is judged by its quality. But we will never say to an artist: 'Don't go there.' Songs have to create discussion."[14]

Alongside new signings, NMC developed archival and compilation releases. In 2007, the company released Hameshorerim Hagdolim (The Great Poets), a three-part series pairing songs set to poetry by Rachel Bluwstein, Nathan Alterman, and Leah Goldberg with booklets containing lyrics, short biographies of the poets, and notes on when and by whom each song was first performed.[15] Artists represented across the series included Ahinoam Nini, Yehoram Gaon, Chava Alberstein, Arik Einstein, Yehudit Ravitz, and Ilanit. The series drew on previously recorded material rather than new recordings, and the Leah Goldberg volume contained 38 songs.[15] A 2008 release under the NMC United banner took a similar archival approach, assembling a five-CD anthology of 190 Hebrew children's songs spanning recordings from the First Aliya through the contemporary period, with artists including Naomi Shemer, Shula Chen, and Yehoram Gaon.[16]

The company also maintained Audio Collage, a short-lived alternative label spearheaded by rapper Rocky B and positioned apart from NMC's mainstream catalog as a venture into left-field Israeli music.[17]

NMC was among the earliest Israeli music companies to engage seriously with the shift from physical media to digital distribution. In November 2003, the company launched songs.co.il, described at the time as Israel's first legal paid music-download site.[4] The store launched with approximately 1,000 songs from NMC's catalog—Israeli music only, owing to international licensing constraints—and offered 30-second previews and MP3 purchases without copy-protection restrictions. Buyers could play the files, burn them to disc, and use them on music players freely.[18] Pricing was set at NIS 4 per song, NIS 35 for an album, NIS 55 for a double album, and NIS 75 for a triple album, approximately half the cost of equivalent CDs in stores.[18] CEO Zeev Shalik argued at launch that a convenient, reasonably priced service could persuade customers to pay for music rather than copying it.[4]

About six months after launch, NMC reported that customers had purchased 40,000 songs through the site, though the store had not yet reached profitability.[19] The company characterized its digital ambitions as long-term, aimed at shifting consumer attitudes toward legal online music purchases.[19] In parallel, NMC launched a download partnership with Orange, through which customers could charge purchases to their cellular accounts.[19]

In April 2005, Haim Shemesh described the company's broader strategic pivot in direct terms: "In NMC we decided to stop being a record company, and to be a music company."[20] He explained that this meant building deeper relationships with artists, managing their wider activities, supplying content to cellular companies, and producing television content. He framed mobile operators not as rivals but as marketing channels for whoever controlled the underlying content.[20]

Beyond music, NMC United developed a significant role as a distributor of films in Hebrew or with Hebrew subtitles.[5] A partnership with Yad Vashem that began in 2005 led to a 2012 acquisitions agreement through which Yad Vashem's Visual Center obtained DVDs of 39 Holocaust-related films from NMC United's catalogue.[5] Titles in the transfer included Metallic Blues, La Rafle, and Adam Resurrected.[5] The agreement reflected NMC United's position as a leading Israeli distributor of quality films.[5]

The financial terms of two of NMC's major transactions are reported differently across the available sources. Reports on the 2006 acquisition by United King describe it both as a purchase of 44.5% of NMC's shares for $900,000 and as an acquisition of NMC for NIS 9 million; the accounts may reflect different stages or scopes of the transaction.[1][6]

The December 2008 Hed Arzi acquisition is likewise described by one source as carrying a NIS 4 million purchase price, while another values the overall transaction at approximately NIS 15 million—the larger figure including roughly NIS 11 million in debt repayment and NIS 4 million paid to the seller in installments.[9][7]

The integration also unfolded over time. At the announcement of the sale, Ynet reported that it was not yet known how Hed Arzi would be integrated into the Ederys' operations and that antitrust approval remained pending.[7] By 2010, a Mako retrospective characterized the merger as complete and described Hed Arzi's artists' catalog as having been absorbed into NMC United.[8]