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| Infectious Music | |
|---|---|
| Parent company | BMG Rights Management |
| Founder | Korda Marshall |
| Distributor(s) | Universal Music Group (physical) BMG Rights Management (digital) |
| 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 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 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.
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Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherhood of Man (1975–1979). The label changed its name to PRT Records in 1980, before being briefly reactivated as Pye Records in 2006.
Anxious Records was a record label set up by David A. Stewart of Eurythmics, and overseen by Stewart with Infectious Music's Korda Marshall. Originally set up as a BMG label, the company went independent when Stewart left RCA Records, with his 1994 Eastwest album Greetings from the Gutter being licensed from Anxious. The label is best known for groups including Londonbeat, Curve and the Dutch band Soft Parade, as well as ex-Specials singer Terry Hall, who was also previously a member of Vegas with Stewart.
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Liberation Records, formerly Liberation Music, was an Australian record company and label, started in 1999 by Michael Gudinski and Warren Costello, based in Melbourne. Its stated business aim is to "find, nurture and then to develop new talent for a world market while remaining independent in the process".
Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA) is a music distribution company owned by Warner Music Group, which represents the rights to various independent record labels. ADA provides "independent artist and label partners with access to the resources, relationships and experience required to share their creative vision with a global audience."
BMG Rights Management GmbH is an international music company based in Berlin, Germany. It combines the activities of a music publisher and a record label.
Max Lousada is CEO of Recorded Music for Warner Music Group. He previously was the chairman and CEO of Warner Music UK where he found success working with artists such as Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa. Before moving over to Warner Music UK in 2013, Lousada was successively head of A&R, managing director, president, then chairman of Atlantic Records UK.
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.
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).
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.
Liberator Music was a record label owned by the Mushroom Group. It was founded in 2006 by Nick Dunshea and Michael Gudinski in Melbourne. The label was the international recording division of the company and is home to artists such as Childish Gambino, CHVRCHES, alt-J, Andy Grammer, FIDLAR, Steve Aoki, Garbage, AJR, We The Kings, Wolf Alice, Kylie Minogue, Gengahr, Faith No More, Day Wave, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Fontaines D.C., and IDLES.
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