Sony Music Entertainment used to be an ardent supporter of jazz music. However, like many other it also neglected promoting jazz musicians in the recent past. The 23 million records that jazz sold in 2003 dwindled down to 14 million in 2007 and just over five million records last year. Now, Sony is resurrecting jazz again with its OKeh Records brand. Since 1916, OKeh has been a supplier of phonographs, phonograph records, and a subsidiary of Columbia Records. In January 2014 it signed a contract with legendary jazz musician Sonny Rollins. They intend to sign deals with established American jazz musicians favored by many.
Sony is looking at is whole new of jazz music. At a time no one is paying attention, Sony is betting on jazz artists to shore up its revenue. It plans to release as many as 20 albums from various jazz artists including Rollins this year. Sony believes that jazz along with few other fields still appeals to the older generation of music lovers. They spend real money to buy records instead of downloading music from the Internet free of charge. This genre exists in the U.S. as well as all over the world.