Veteran producer Tony Berg, the studio force behind recent records by Phoebe Bridgers and SOMBR, is starting his own label. Crime & Punishment Records launches as a joint venture with Warner Records, and its first signing is singer-songwriter Elle Bramhall. The partnership was announced on Thursday, October 22, and the label will concentrate on developing new artists.
Back at Warner
For Berg, the deal is a homecoming of sorts. He produced records for Warner during the Mo Ostin and Lenny Waronker era, and he said that when the label’s current leadership, including Aaron Bay-Schuck, Tom Corson and Chris Morris, raised the idea of a venture, he jumped at it. Berg said he sees young artists returning to strong lyrics, harmonic ambition and musical curiosity, and he described Bramhall as a writer whose perspective feels both new and timeless.
Bay-Schuck, chairman and CEO of Warner Records Group, credited Berg’s taste and his knack for drawing out what makes an artist distinctive. He pointed specifically to Berg’s work with SOMBR, praising the producer for his restraint and for building the right setting around the artist’s own vision.
Five decades of credits
Berg co-produced SOMBR’s 2025 debut I Barely Know Her, which helped earn the artist a Best New Artist nomination at the 2026 Grammys. In the last two years he has also produced Bridgers’ Lost Weekend, Sarah McLachlan’s Better Broken and Bruce Hornsby’s Indigo Park.
His résumé runs back to composing with Jack Nitzsche and serving as Bette Midler’s musical director. As an A&R executive at Geffen and Virgin he helped sign Beck, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, A Perfect Circle and At the Drive-In, and as a producer or player he has worked with Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, Fiona Apple and Aimee Mann. He also co-runs Los Angeles’ Sound City Studios with Blake Mills.
Crime & Punishment is Warner Records’ latest label partnership, following a July venture with Sickamore’s three times LOUDER.
Photo: Tony Berg, by Harrison Whitford, via Music Business Worldwide (https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/phoebe-bridgers-and-sombr-producer-tony-berg-launches-new-jv-label-with-warner-records/).
Source: Music Business Worldwide.