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| Ensign Records | |
|---|---|
| Parent company |
|
| Founded | 1976 |
| Founder | Nigel Grainge |
| Status | Defunct |
| Distributor(s) | Reservoir Media Management (post-1984 catalogue) EMI Records (post-2020)/Mercury Records (pre-1984 catalogue) |
| Genre | Various |
| Country of origin | UK |
Ensign Records was a record label started in 1976 by London-born Nigel Grainge, elder brother of UMG Chairman Sir Lucian Grainge.
Nigel Grainge began his career in the record business as a sales office assistant at Phonogram UK in 1970. After a promotion to US-affiliated labels manager, he was responsible for the marketing and chart success of many hits by acts such as Faron Young, The Detroit Emeralds, The Stylistics, Chuck Berry, Rod Stewart (switching "Maggie May" from an original 'B' side), and eventually became the company's head of A&R from 1974 to 1976. He directly signed Thin Lizzy, 10cc, The Steve Miller Band, and a worldwide license for the successful All Platinum label (hits by Shirley & Co, the Moments, etc.), among others, before deciding to leave and set up his own independent label, funded by Phonogram Inc., which distributed it.
Ensign had early success with The Boomtown Rats in 1977, who went on to have 13 UK Top 20 entries including two at number 1 – "Rat Trap" and "I Don't Like Mondays". Ensign also had a constant stream of UK and European hits with Flash and the Pan, Eddy Grant, Light of the World, and Phil Fearon & Galaxy. Grainge's cohort throughout the life of the label was London DJ Chris Hill. [1]
Grainge sold the company to Chrysalis Records in 1984 and continued to run it from their offices in Notting Hill until the mid-1990s. The roster had reached its most credible peak with Sinéad O'Connor, The Waterboys, World Party, and the Blue Aeroplanes. The Waterboys' contract with Ensign expired in 1991. [2]
By 1990, millions of records had been sold by O'Connor, the biggest success being "Nothing Compares 2 U" which hit number one in over 30 countries.
After EMI acquired Chrysalis Records in 1991, Grainge felt stifled by the corporate changes and requested to leave the company, and the label was folded into its parent.
With the acquisition of the EMI group by Universal in 2012, the ownership of the Ensign catalogue of artists was transferred to Parlophone/Warner Music Group, [3] and in 2016 Ensign and Chrysalis were acquired by Blue Raincoat Music.
Chris Hill continues to DJ in the London area, and Grainge relocated to Santa Monica, California in 2002, where he co-founded cultural search-engine TunesMap, owned by G. Marq Roswell, and [4] worked as a special advisor on the HBO series Vinyl . [5] He died, at age 70, on 11 June 2017. [6] [7]
Parlophone Records Limited is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parlophone Company Limited, which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a jazz record label. On 5 October 1926, the Columbia Graphophone Company acquired Parlophone's business, name, logo, and release library, and merged with the Gramophone Company on 31 March 1931 to become Electric & Musical Industries Limited (EMI). George Martin joined Parlophone in 1950 as assistant to Oscar Preuss, the label manager, taking over as manager in 1955. Martin produced and released a mix of recordings, including by comedian Peter Sellers, pianist Mrs Mills, and teen idol Adam Faith.
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.
EMI Group Limited was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 2012, it was the fourth largest business group and record label conglomerate in the music industry, and was one of the "Big Four" record companies. Its labels included EMI Records, Parlophone, Virgin Records, and Capitol Records, which are now owned by other companies.
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.
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.
Chrysalis Records is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright Agency.
Chrysalis Group was a UK media company that was founded by Chris Wright, chairman, and Terry Ellis. Wright was named in Sunday Times Rich List 2009 of the 1,000 richest persons in the UK. Previously having interests in television, books and radio, Chrysalis now focuses on the areas of music publishing, music recording, artist management and entertainment product distribution. The music branch includes The Hit Label, Echo and Papillon Records.
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.
EMI Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. The original EMI Records was founded by the music company of the same name in 1972 as its flagship label, and launched in January 1973 as the successor to its Columbia and Parlophone record labels. The label was later launched worldwide. It has a branch in India called "EMI Records India", run by director Mohit Suri. In 2014, Universal Music Japan revived the label in Japan as the successor to EMI Records Japan. In June 2020, Universal revived the label as the successor to Virgin EMI, with Virgin Records now operating as an imprint of EMI Records.
United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B.
Rak Records is a British record label, founded by record producer Mickie Most in 1969. Rak was home to artists such as Herman's Hermits, Suzi Quatro, Mud, Kenny, Hot Chocolate, Smokie, Arrows, Span, Racey and Kim Wilde. Rak Records were distributed via a licensing deal with EMI Records, which bought the company and its master recordings from Most in 1983. Most kept the company name and his RAK Studios, which still exists in St. John's Wood along with Rak Publishing. The latter company represents artists such as Joan Jett, Ben Taylor and KK. In 1986, Most defected the label from EMI to PRT Records which handled the last releases until February 1988. Owing to the records not being hits, the label folded. However, 26 years later in late 2014, Rak Records was revived as a label for new artists releasing both downloads and 7-inch vinyl in the form of a singles club. The Cadbury Sisters, Trojanhorse, and Beautiful Boy were the new signings. They recorded their own original songs as the A-sides, and covered a classic Rak artists cover as the B-side. The Cadbury Sisters covered Steve Harley's 1975 classic "Make Me Smile ", Trojan Horse did Cozy Powell's "Dance With The Devil", and Beautiful Boy did "Kids In America". As PRT Records is no longer in existence, the label is now distributed by Gearbox Records using the original sailing yacht paper label and the records packaged in the original royal blue paper sleeves.
Cooking Vinyl is a British independent record label, based in Acton, London, England. Founded in 1986 by former manager and booking agent Martin Goldschmidt and business partner Pete Lawrence. Goldschmidt remains the current owner and chairman, while Rob Collins is managing director. The company focuses on artist service-based deals where the artist retains ownership of their copyrights.
Radioactive Records was an American record label. It was formed as a joint venture between talent manager Gary Kurfirst and MCA Records, and it is now out of business. Its catalogue is now owned by Geffen Records and licensed through Universal Music Enterprises.
Capitol Music Group (CMG) is an American front line umbrella label distributed by Universal Music Group which oversees handling of record labels assigned to UMG's Capitol Records division. It was inherited from UMG's acquisition of EMI's catalog. It is one of seven umbrella labels distributed by UMG, the other six being Interscope Geffen A&M, Island Records, Def Jam Recordings, Republic Records, Verve Records, and Decca Records.
Sir Lucian Charles Grainge is the chairman and chief executive officer of Universal Music Group. Over the course of his career, he has worked with artists including Lady Gaga, Amy Winehouse, ABBA, Eurythmics, Rihanna, Shawn Mendes, Kanye West, Sam Smith, Take That, Psychedelic Furs, The Rolling Stones, Sting, Ringo Starr, Jamie Cullum and Andrea Bocelli. Grainge has worked in the music business for his entire career. Billboard magazine named Grainge as the most powerful person in the music business on four occasions in the 2010s, and the first-ever Executive of the Decade.
Kobalt Music Recordings is a division of Kobalt Music Group. KLS provides record label services to artists, receiving a share of revenues, while allowing artists to retain ownership of their master recordings. The company was founded in 2012 when Kobalt acquired digital distributor AWAL. Their roster includes artists such as Chip, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Prince, New Kids on the Block, Pet Shop Boys, Maya Jane Coles, and Travis.
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).
Tony Wadsworth has had a lifelong career in the music industry, including stints as Managing Director of the Parlophone label, Chairman & CEO of EMI Music UK and Ireland, and Chairman of the industry's trade association, the BPI.
Nigel Grainge was a British music executive, and the founder of Ensign Records in 1976.
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