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| Infectious Music | |
|---|---|
| Parent company | BMG Rights Management |
| Founder | Korda Marshall |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Location | London |
| Official website | infectiousmusicuk |
Infectious Music is an independent record label owned by BMG, [1] whose bands have included Alt-J, Ash and the Subways.
Infectious Music was established in 1993 as Infectious Records by former Zerra One drummer Korda Marshall after leaving Bertelsmann (BMG-Ariola, the original major label BMG company), where he was the A&R manager of RCA Records and was involved with the running of Dave Stewart's AnXious label. [2] Marshall left BMG as one of the acts he had co-signed, Take That, were not getting enough of a return on BMG's investment in the early 1990s (this being the time before they had released "Pray)" with Marshall going on to launch Infectious on 27 April 1993. [2] [3] [4] [5] The first band signed to Infectious was PWEI, who had followed Marshall from RCA Records/BMG (BMG-Ariola) where they had released a number of albums such as This Is the Day, This Is the Hour, This Is This! and The Pop Will Eat Itself Cure for Sanity .
Infectious Records became part of Michael Gudinski's Mushroom Records (now A&E Records) operation in the mid-1990s, when the Australian businessman wanted to expand his record company internationally and decided to buy half of Infectious. Marshall became the Managing Director of Mushroom Records (UK) Ltd, with his Infectious Records label being merged into the new British operation. Whilst at Mushroom Records UK, Marshall was responsible for signing Muse and Paul Oakenfold (with Perfecto Records) to the company.
In 1998, Infectious Records came under the full control of News Corporation, when Gudinski sold the rest of the company's shares to James Murdoch. After a planned management buyout failed, a deal was made with Roger Ames at Warner Music (WMG) to buy Mushroom Records UK, with the UK company becoming A&E Records and the Australian label becoming Festival Mushroom Records (also now owned by Warner Music). With the sell-off of Mushroom Records' UK operations to the Warner Music Group, the role of Infectious within the A&E operations was decreased, with most acts being labelled under Warner's main brands such as Atlantic Records, where Marshall had become Managing Director. Even so, the record label was used again by the multinational group for newly signed "developing" indie acts such as The Subways, who feature under a joint City Pavement/Infectious brand name.
After leaving WMG, it was announced that Korda Marshall would be relaunching Infectious Records in January 2009 as Infectious Music Ltd. with financial support coming from theatre and sports entrepreneur Michael Watt. Marshall also brought the Mushroom Group's Michael Gudinski onto the board of directors of the company. Hiring former Infectious Records executives Pat Carr of Remote Control Records and Mirelle Davis of Wind Up Bird as consultants to oversee General Management and International Marketing respectively for the new company, he has engaged Robert Horsfall and Mike Skeet's teams at Sound Advice to handle the company's legal and financial affairs.[1]
The first signing to the newly relaunched label was Melbourne band the Temper Trap (also signed to Gudinski's new Australian label Liberation), with alt-J, Drenge and Vance Joy being some of the acts subsequently signed to the label. Infectious Music was acquired by BMG Rights Management (the new 'indie' BMG) in September 2014, with Marshall going on to work with other BMG acts like the Charlatans, Jack Savoretti and Bryan Ferry. [6]
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.
A record label, or record company, or simply records, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing, promotion, and enforcement of copyright for sound recordings and music videos, while also conducting talent scouting and development of new artists, and maintaining contracts with recording artists and their managers. The term "record label" derives from the circular label in the center of a vinyl record which prominently displays the manufacturer's name, along with other information.
Mushroom Records was an Australian flagship record label, founded in 1972 in Melbourne. It published and distributed many successful Australian artists and expanded internationally, until it was merged with Festival Records in 1998. Festival Mushroom Records was later acquired by Warner Bros. Records, which operated the label from 2005 to 2010 until it folded to Warner. Founder Michael Gudinski went on to become the leader of the Mushroom Group, the largest independent music and entertainment company in Australia, with divisions such as Frontier Touring.
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Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008. Although it was established in 1987, the music company was formed as RCA/Ariola International in 1985 as a joint venture to combine the music label activities of RCA's RCA Records division and Bertelsmann's Ariola Records and its associated labels which include Arista Records. It consisted of the BMG Music Publishing company, the world's third largest music publisher and the world's largest independent music publisher and the 50% share of the joint venture with Sony Music, which established the German American Sony BMG from 2004 to 2008.
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Mushroom Group is the largest independent music and entertainment company in Australia. It comprises more than two dozen companies. It has offices in Melbourne, Sydney, and Auckland with over 200 employees.
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Michael Heseltine Watt is a New Zealand entrepreneur, philanthropist, and investor. He was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the community in the 2005 New Year Honours.
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