Warner Bros. Records Drops the “Bros.,” Gets a Shiny New Logo in Rebrand

Warner will be bros no mo’. The record label dropped the word from its name in a rebranding effort, Warner Music announced Tuesday.

The rebranding comes after an agreement formed between Time Warner and a group of investors (led by Edgar Bronfman Jr.) expired this year. Bronfman Jr. and company purchased the Warner Music Group from Time Warner in 2004 with the understanding that the Warner Bros. Records branding was to be used for 15 years.

The U.S. Co-Chairman/COO and Co-Chairman/CEO Tom Corson and Aaron Bay-Shuck, both appointed in 2018, explained in a statement how this shift is also a step forward for the label:

For the first time in the label’s history, we’ve had the opportunity to create a distinct, modern identity entirely of our own. The timing couldn’t be better, since we all feel the label is at a moment of reinvention that builds on our legacy, while moving into a future driven by fearlessness and creativity. We have a growing roster of world-class artists, a rejuvenated team, and an incredible new location. It’s a new day for Warner Records, an iconic label that was born in the California sun, and is at home everywhere on earth.

The president of the U.K. label, Phil Christie, also noted:

We’re signing and developing the next generation of British artists to move global culture, so we wanted the Warner Records brand to have the power and freedom to mean different things to different people around the world. A new logo isn’t meaningful on its own, and our label will always be defined by the originality of our artists, our music and our people.

With a name change, an image change must occur as well. An announcement describing the label’s new logo is filled with poetic imagery—as corporations like to do for humanizing reasons (?):

… artful simplicity and impactful typography that are ideally suited to the digital world. The circular icon—suggesting a record, a sun, and a globe—is a nod to the label’s past, present and future. The openness of the design gives it the flexibility to embrace all Warner Records artists and all genres of music around the world.

The logo was developed with Emily Oberman at the design studio Pentagram.

Watch Warner’s promo video and check out the label’s new-look logo below.