Island Records is a Jamaican multinational 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 having exerted a major influence on the progressive music scene in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. Island Records operates four international divisions: Island US, Island UK, Island Australia, and Island France. Current key people include Island US president Darcus Beese, and MD Jon Turner. Partially due to its significant legacy, Island remains one of UMG's pre-eminent record labels.
Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. They grew to be a worldwide success over time, with the success of platinum performers Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson, Devo, Tangerine Dream, Genesis, Phil Collins, OMD, the Human League, Culture Club, Simple Minds, the Spice Girls, Lenny Kravitz, the Sex Pistols, and Mike Oldfield among others, meaning that by the time it was sold, it was regarded as a major label, alongside other large international independents such as A&M and Island Records.
Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a German-British record label 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/Schallplatte Grammophon GmbH. It was renamed Polydor Ltd. in 1972. The company is usually mentioned as "Polydor Ltd. (UK)", or a similar form, for holding copyrights.
London Recordings is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London name – as London American Recordings, often shortened to London American – was also used by British Decca in the UK market, for releases taken from American labels, which British Decca licensed.
Roadrunner Records is a Dutch–American record label focused on heavy metal and hard rock music. Founded in the Netherlands in 1980, it is now a division of Warner Music Group and is based in New York City. Formerly seen as one of the most powerful independent metal labels of the 1980s and 1990s, it would eventually become a massive host of metal acts; most seen in Roadrunner United and the following live concert. Since then, the label had continued to put out major releases, though by the 2020s, most major acts had left the label and it had been acquired by Warner Brothers, being relegated to something much smaller than before.
Visible Noise is a defunct British independent record label that focuses exclusively on British bands. They are best known for the rock bands Lostprophets, Bullet For My Valentine, and Bring Me the Horizon.
Cherry Red Records is a British independent record label founded in Malvern, Worcestershire 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.
Stephen William Mallinder is an English artist and musician who was a founding member of Cabaret Voltaire, and went on to work as Sassi & Loco, the Ku-Ling Bros., Hey, Rube!, Wrangler, and Creep Show.
Xploded Music is a British record label set up by Cris Nuttall and Matt Cadman. The label is a joint venture with Universal, and has developed from their previous partnership with the All Around the World dance music label. All Around the World originated in Blackburn and has had success with artists such as N-Trance, Cascada, Scooter, Dannii Minogue, Armin van Buuren, Lost Frequencies, N-Dubz, Loud Luxury, Skepta, Starley, Yolanda Be Cool, and many more. AATW also owned & operated four music TV channels; Clubland TV, and three Now Music-branded channels - Now 70s, Now 80s and Now 90s, all of which are now fully owned by Universal.
Infectious Music is an independent record label owned by BMG, whose bands have included Alt-J, Ash and the Subways.
British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards; is home to the Mercury Prize; co-owns the Official Charts Company with the Entertainment Retailers Association; and awards UK music sales through the BRIT Certified Awards.
SPV GmbH is a German independent record label. Founded on 1 January 1984, it has slowly grown to be one of the largest independent distributors and record labels worldwide.
Silvertone Records is a British record label owned by Sony Music UK. Originally an independent label under Clive Calder's Jive Records, it was eventually acquired by the Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG). This original BMG entity later merged with Sony Music, bringing the Jive catalogue to Sony as part of the Zomba Music Group. In 2017, Sony Music UK relaunched Silvertone as a label for left-field artists, signing acts from the indie, alt-folk, blues, and jazz genres.
Angel Air is an English independent record label established in February 1997, specialising in reissues of classic pop and rock albums originally issued in the 1960s and 1970s. It was formed by Peter and Shirley Purnell.
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.
Universal Classics and Jazz (UCJ) was the name of various record label divisions, as of 2013 one division, of the Universal Music Group record company.
14th Floor Records is a British subsidiary record label of Warner Music UK, founded in 2002 by part owner Christian Tattersfield. The label has released albums by artists including: Biffy Clyro, Damien Rice, David Gray, Longview, Mark Joseph, Nerina Pallot, Ray LaMontagne and The Wombats.
An independent record label is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented by trade associations in their country or region, which in turn are represented by the international trade body, the Worldwide Independent Network (WIN).
Signum Records, also known as Signum Classics, is a classical musical record label in the UK founded in 1997.
