Island Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another label recently acquired by PolyGram, were both at the time the largest independent record labels in history, with Island in particular having exerted a major influence on the progressive music scene in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s.
Virgin Records Ltd. is a British record label founded by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman in 1972. It grew to be a worldwide phenomenon over time, with the success of platinum performers such as George Michael, Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson, Roy Orbison, Devo, Tangerine Dream, Genesis, Keith Richards, the Human League, Culture Club, Simple Minds, Lenny Kravitz, dc Talk, the Smashing Pumpkins, Mike Oldfield, Gorillaz, and Spice Girls, among others.
Polydor is a British record label and company, that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. In turn, Polydor distributes Interscope releases in the United Kingdom. Polydor Records Ltd. was established in London in 1954 as a British subsidiary of German company Deutsche Grammophon GmbH. It was renamed Polydor Ltd. in 1972.
Skint Records is a Brighton based dance music record label owned by JC Reid, Tim Jeffery and Damian Harris. It was created as a sublabel of Loaded Records, also founded by Reid and Jeffery. Along with Wall of Sound, the label was a leader in the big beat music scene of the mid to late 1990s.
Roadrunner Records is an American major record label that concentrates primarily on heavy metal and hard rock bands. It is a division of Warner Music Group and is based in New York City.
Domino Recording Company is a British independent record label based in London. There is also a wing of the label based in Brooklyn, New York that handles releases in the United States, as well as a German division called Domino Deutschland and a French division called Domino France. In addition, Stephen Pastel presides over the subsidiary label Geographic Music, which releases more 'unusual' music from Britain and outside of the Western world. In 2011, the company announced that it was beginning a book publishing division, The Domino Press.
Ariola Records is a German record label. In the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of Bertelsmann Music Group, which in turn has become a part of the international media conglomerate Sony Music.
Vertigo Records is a record company, which originated in the United Kingdom. It was a subsidiary of the Philips/Phonogram record label, launched in 1969 to specialise in progressive rock and other non-mainstream musical styles. Today it is operated by Universal Music UK.
Shanachie Records is a New Jersey-based record label founded in 1975 by Richard Nevins and Dan Collins. The label is named for the word Shanachie, an Irish storyteller.
East West Records is a record label formed in 1955, distributed and owned by Warner Music Group, headquartered in London, United Kingdom.
Relapse Records is an American independent record label based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990. The label features a large number of grindcore, death metal, and sludge metal artists.
Cherry Red Records is a British independent record label founded by Iain McNay in 1978. The label has released recordings by Dead Kennedys, Everything But the Girl, The Monochrome Set, and Felt, among others, as well as the compilation album Pillows & Prayers. In addition to releasing new music, Cherry Red also acts as an umbrella for individual imprints and catalogue specialists.
ZYX Music GmbH & Co. KG is a German record label which was founded in 1971 by Bernhard Mikulski. It is one of the most successful German record labels of the 1980s and 1990s. Until 1992, the label's name was Pop-Import Bernhard Mikulski. The label specialized in disco, early house music and 90s techno. Founder Bernhard Mikulski is credited with coining the term Italo disco in the 1980s. Since the death of Bernhard, his wife Christa Mikulski took over in 1997.
All Around the World is a British record label originating in Blackburn, United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of Universal and has had success with artists such as N-Trance, Armin van Buuren, Cascada, Dannii Minogue, Lost Frequencies, Scooter, N-Dubz, Skepta, Starley, Yolanda Be Cool and many more. The label also runs four music TV channels; Clubland TV, Total Country, and two Now Music branded channels.
Infectious Music is a record label whose bands have included Alt-J, Ash, Symposium, My Vitriol, Seafood, The Paradise Motel and The Subways. Infectious Music was established in 1993 as Infectious Records by Korda Marshall after leaving RCA Records, where he was the A&R manager. Infectious Records became part of Marshall's Mushroom Records UK operation in the mid-1990s. Korda was also responsible for signing Muse, Paul Oakenfold and Perfecto Records to his Mushroom imprint.
Phonogenic Records is a record label currently under the RCA Label Group, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. The label was originally conceived under BMG UK & Ireland. Acts currently signed to the label include: Natasha Bedingfield, Ross Copperman and The Script. Josh Krajcik, who came in second place on "The X Factor" U.S. in 2011, has signed a deal with Phonogenic Records. Sources say that Krajcik had offers from Sony Music labels Columbia Records and RCA Records, but Krajcik chose to sign with the smaller, boutique Phonogenic Records.
There were hints that Krajcik might sign with Phonogenic when he said on Twitter that he and Kipner were working together on Krajcik’s 2012 album. The album’s title and release date are to be announced. Krajcik is also collaborating with songwriters/producers Andrew Frampton and Julian Bunetta, who have also worked with Bedingfield. In 2008, Phonogenic Records partnered with Clikthrough Inc Official Site, to launch their artists on Clikthrough's interactive video platform. In December 2008, they launched with the first interactive video, "Breakeven" by The Script Breakeven Clickable Video. Subsequently they released three more interactive videos:
An unsigned artist, unsigned band or independent artist is a musician or musical group not under a contract with a record label. The terms are used in the music industry as a marketing technique. Bands that release their own material on self-published CDs can also be considered unsigned bands. Often unsigned bands primarily exist to perform at concerts.
The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the "indie chart", the relevance of the chart dwindled in the 1990s as major-label ownership blurred the boundary between independent and major labels.
The UK Independent Singles Breakers Chart and the UK Independent Album Breakers Chart are music charts based on UK sales of singles and albums released on independent record labels by musical artists who have never made the UK top 20. It is compiled weekly by the Official Charts Company (OCC), and is first published on their official website on Friday evenings. The chart was first launched on 29 June 2009, and, according to Martin Talbot, managing director of the OCC, would have benefited acts such as Friendly Fires and Grizzly Bear.
Virgin EMI Records is a British record label owned by the Universal Music Group that was formed in 2013.
