Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It 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, 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.
Capitol Records, LLC is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note in the United States in 1942 by Johnny Mercer, Buddy DeSylva, and Glenn E. Wallichs. Capitol was acquired by British music conglomerate EMI as its North American subsidiary in 1955. EMI was acquired by Universal Music Group in 2012, and was merged with the company a year later, making Capitol and the Capitol Music Group both distributed by UMG. The label's circular headquarters building is a recognized landmark of Hollywood, California. Capitol is well known as the U.S. record label of the Beatles, especially during the years of Beatlemania in America from 1964 to 1967.
MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group.
Polydor Records Ltd. 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 GmbH. It was renamed Polydor Ltd. in 1972.
Universal Music Group N.V. is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its operational headquarters are located in Santa Monica, California. The biggest music company in the world, it is one of the "Big Three" record labels, along with Sony Music and Warner Music Group. Tencent acquired ten percent of Universal Music Group in March 2020 for €3 billion and acquired an additional ten percent stake in January 2021. Pershing Square Holdings later acquired ten percent of UMG prior to its IPO on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange. The company went public on September 21, 2021 at a valuation of €46 billion.
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 an American record label focused on heavy metal and hard rock bands. Founded in the Netherlands in 1980, it is now a division of Warner Music Group and is based in New York City.
Warner Music Group Corp. is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the global music industry, after Universal Music Group (UMG) and Sony Music Entertainment (SME). Formerly part of Time Warner, WMG was publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange from 2005 until 2011, when it announced its privatization and sale to Access Industries. It later had its second IPO on Nasdaq in 2020, once again becoming a public company. With a multibillion-dollar annual turnover, WMG employs more than 3,500 people and has operations in more than 50 countries throughout the world.
Discography is the study and cataloging of published sound recordings, often by specified artists or within identified music genres. The exact information included varies depending on the type and scope of the discography, but a discography entry for a specific recording will often list such details as the names of the artists involved, the time and place of the recording, the title of the piece performed, release dates, chart positions, and sales figures.
V2 Records is a record label that was purchased by Universal Music Group in 2007 and sold to [PIAS] in 2013. In the Benelux, V2 operates separately from PIAS, as the label bought itself out from Universal in 2007.
DRT Entertainment was a New York City based independent record label founded in 2003 by Derek Shulman, Ron Urban, and Theodore "Ted" Green. The label is defunct.
Wind-up Entertainment was an American independent record label founded by Alan and Diana Meltzer in 1997. It was based in New York City and was distributed by BMG Distribution. Wind-up's best-selling artists worldwide were Creed.
Distribution Select was a Canadian music distribution company based in Montréal, Quebec, originally founded in 1965 as Disques Select. It was owned by Quebecor. On December 1, 2018, Outside Music and Distribution Select merged their sales and distribution services, while maintaining their respective offices. On March 16, 2021, Quebecor announced that Distribution Select would cease operations effective July 2 due to declining physical sales; this took effect on that day.
Quality Records was a Canadian entertainment company which released music albums in Canada on behalf of American record labels. They also released recordings by Canadian artists.
A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distributing releases from Polydor Ltd. from the UK. Throughout its operations, A&M housed well-known acts such as Alpert himself, Squeeze, Gin Blossoms, Dishwalla, Joe Cocker, Procol Harum, Captain & Tennille, Sting, Sergio Mendes, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Supertramp, Bryan Adams, Burt Bacharach, Liza Minnelli, The Carpenters, Paul Williams, Quincy Jones, Janet Jackson, Cat Stevens, Peter Frampton, Elkie Brooks, Carole King, Styx, Dennis DeYoung, Extreme, Amy Grant, Joan Baez, The Police, Jann Arden, CeCe Peniston, Shanice, Blues Traveler, Soundgarden, Duffy, Phil Ochs and Sheryl Crow.
Cargo Music Inc. is an American punk rock record label based in San Diego, California. It distributes records for other labels, such as Cherry Red Records, Earth Music, FistPuppet Records, Grilled Cheese, Headhunter Records, Re-Constriction Records, RPM Records and Tackle Box. Notable artists that have been signed to Cargo Music include Blink-182, Young Dubliners, Rocket from the Crypt, Drive Like Jehu, and 7 Seconds.
OVO Sound is a Toronto-based Canadian record label, founded in 2012 by hip hop artist Drake, producer 40, and Oliver El-Khatib. It operates as a subsidiary of, and is distributed through, Warner Music Group's Warner Records, except for Drake's albums, which are distributed by Republic Records, a division of Universal Music Group.
Cargo Records is a record label based in London, England, which distributes musical recordings in the United Kingdom and Europe. The company currently distributes records in a wide variety of genres, both as a label in its own right and as a distributor for other independent record labels.
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).
MNRK Music Group is a New York City-based independent record label and music management company. It was formed in 2009 from the music assets of Koch Entertainment, which had been acquired by the present-day Entertainment One (eOne) in 2005. In April 2021, after the acquisition of eOne by Hasbro, the company announced that it would sell eOne Music to The Blackstone Group.
