Polydor Records

Last updated

Polydor Limited
Polydor Logo 1963 001.svg
Parent company Universal Music Group
Founded2 April 1913;110 years ago (1913-04-02)
Distributor(s)
GenreVarious
Country of originGermany
United Kingdom
LocationLondon, England
Official website polydor.co.uk

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.

Contents

Notable current and past artists signed to the label include the Cure, James Brown, Ray, Goodman & Brown, Atlanta Rhythm Section, John Mayall, [1] Deep Purple, Cream, the Moody Blues, the Who, Jimi Hendrix, Bee Gees, Lana Del Rey, the Jam, Style Council, the Shadows, James Last, Eric Clapton, Gloria Gaynor, Level 42, Sam Fender, S Club, Billie Eilish, Ellie Goulding and Isis Gaston (also known as Ice Spice). [2]

Label history

Beginnings

Polydor Records was founded on 2 April 1913 by German Polyphon-Musikwerke AG in Leipzig and registered on 25 July 1914 (Nr. 316613). The label was founded as Firma Brachhausen & Riesener in 1887 by Gustav Adolf Brachhausen and Ernst Paul Riessner, for manufacturing their new mechanical disc-playing music box Polyphon, invented in 1870. [3] During World War I on 24 April 1917, Polyphon-Musikwerke AG acquired the German Deutsche Grammophon-Aktiengesellschaft record plant and company from the German government. The German state had taken over British-held Grammophon as enemy property during World War I. [4]

Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Polyphon-Grammophon-Konzern group. It was used as an export label from 1924. After the British and German branches of the Gramophone Company were separated during World War I, Deutsche Grammophon claimed the rights to the Nipper-dog and gramophone trademark for Germany, where HMV recordings were to be released under the Electrola trademark replacing the company lost during the war.

1920s vintage Polydor export label with its double-horn gramophone logo Polydorearly78.JPG
1920s vintage Polydor export label with its double-horn gramophone logo

In turn, Deutsche Grammophon records exported from Germany were released on the Polyphon Musik and Polydor labels. [5] New foreign branches were founded, for example in Austria, Denmark, Sweden and France.

In 1941, Deutsche Grammophon (including Polydor) was purchased by Siemens & Halske. Polydor became a popular music label in 1946, while the new Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft label became a classical music label in 1949. [4] The previously used label, Grammophon, was disbanded. DGG gave, by an agreement dated 5 July 1949, an exclusive license from 1 July 1951 to use the Nipper-dog with gramophone to the original owner's company Electrola, the German branch of EMI. (In Germany, it was impossible to sell the trademark without selling the company.) [6] Polydor remained Deutsche Grammophon's export label, including classical music, in France and the Spanish-speaking world for the remainder of the long-playing era, as a result of language and cultural concerns. DGG established a subsidiary in London called Polydor Records Ltd. in 1954.

In the early 1960s, orchestra leader Bert Kaempfert signed unknowns Tony Sheridan and The Beatles, credited as The Beat Brothers, to Polydor. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] Popular International entertainers such as James Last, Bert Kaempfert, Kurt Edelhagen, Caterina Valente and the Kessler Twins appeared on the Polydor label, as well as many French, Spanish and Latin-American figures.

Siemens entered into a joint venture with Philips in 1962 creating the Grammophon-Philips Group, of which Polydor became a subsidiary label. Late 1960s, Polydor released albums of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Cream, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Bee Gees and Eric Clapton.

Polydor opened a US branch in 1969 (in years prior, they licensed their catalogue to Atlantic Records), [12] but did not become a real presence in the US record industry until its purchase of the recording contract and back catalogue of R&B performer James Brown in 1971, and the absorption of the MGM Records label by its parent company PolyGram in 1972.

In 1970, Polydor acquired the Hong Kong–based Diamond Records, which had been owned and founded by the local Portuguese merchant Ren da Silva in the late 1950s.

PolyGram

In 1954 Polydor Records introduced their distinctive orange label. Polydor orange II.JPG
In 1954 Polydor Records introduced their distinctive orange label.

In 1972, The Grammophon-Philips Group (GPG) reorganised to create PolyGram, from Polydor and PhonoGram. The Polydor label continued to run as a subsidiary label under the new company. Throughout the 1970s, Polydor Incorporated became a major rock label, also releasing records by hit makers such as the Bee Gees, [13] Gloria Gaynor, Atlanta Rhythm Section and Ray, Goodman & Brown. [14]

Into the 1980s, Polydor continued to do respectable business, in spite of becoming increasingly overshadowed by its PolyGram sister label Mercury Records. Polydor took over management of British Decca's pop catalogue. A&R manager Frank Neilson was able to score a major top ten hit in March 1981 for the label with "Do the Hucklebuck" by Coast to Coast as well as signing Ian Dury and Billy Fury to the company. In 1984, the company name was parodied in the rockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap (whose soundtrack album was distributed by Polydor), where "Polymer Records" was the band's record company.

By the early 1990s, Polydor had begun to underperform. PolyGram subsequently trimmed most of Polydor's staff and roster, and shifted it to operate under the umbrella of PolyGram Label Group (PLG), a newly constructed "super label" specifically designed to oversee the operations of PolyGram's lesser performing imprints, which included Island Records, London Records, Atlas Records and Verve Records at the time.

In 1994, as Island Records recovered from its sales slump, PolyGram dissolved most of PLG into it. Meanwhile, Polydor Records and Atlas Records merged, briefly called "Polydor/Atlas", and began operating through A&M Records, another PolyGram subsidiary. In 1995, Polydor/Atlas became simply Polydor Records again.

Twilight years in the United States

Over the next few years, Polydor tried to keep itself afloat with new artist signings, new releases, and reissues, while still becoming more and more dormant. In 1998, PolyGram was purchased by Seagram and absorbed into its Universal Music Group. During the consolidation of these two music giants, Polydor's United States operations were folded into Interscope-Geffen-A&M and Universal Records, while its overseas branch remained intact, with its records continuing to be distributed domestically through Interscope and A&M.

Today, in North America, the Polydor Records name and logo is mostly used on reissues of older material from its 1960s and 1970s heyday. Island Records handles the US distribution of most pre-1998 Polydor releases, including the reissues from the British Decca pop/rock collections, while Republic Records handles reissues from James Brown and the MGM Records and Verve Records pop catalog. However, starting in the 2010s, Interscope Records has been signing acts such as Azealia Banks and Lana Del Rey jointly to Polydor and its logo has been seen on both releases.

Polydor Nashville

Record producer Harold Shedd founded Polydor's Nashville, Tennessee, division in 1994, which specialised in country music. Among the acts signed to Polydor Nashville were Shane Sutton, Tasha Harris, 4 Runner, the Moffatts, Chely Wright, Mark Luna, Clinton Gregory, Amie Comeaux, [15] along with Toby Keith and Davis Daniel, who transferred from Mercury Nashville in 1994. [16] The Nashville division was renamed A&M Nashville in March 1996 and closed in September of the same year, as PolyGram consolidated all its Nashville operations under the Mercury name. Today, Polydor, along with EMI Records in the UK and Australia and UMG itself in Canada distribute Lost Highway Records' albums in the Commonwealth realms.

Polydor UK

In 1972 the British Polydor Records Ltd. was renamed to Polydor Ltd. In the early 1970s, the main source of income for the label was the successful UK band Slade as well as The New Seekers and The Who. At the time, between the 1970s and 1980s, the Polydor/PolyGram Senior VP (who was originally the first head of their new at the time rock department) was Jerry Jaffe, who also signed acts such as Motörhead, Dexys Midnight Runners, and The Jam. He also interacted with many famous and successful artists while in that position, including Nick Lowe and John Lennon, as well as going on to work with groups such as The Jesus and Mary Chain and Saint Etienne the late 1980s and 1990s. Later, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the label was also home to The Who and The Jam (as well as its successor act The Style Council).

Although Polydor's American branch is nearly inactive, in the United Kingdom Polydor remains one of the most prominent labels in the country—with artists such as Take That, Cheryl, Duffy, Girls Aloud, S Club, The Saturdays, Kaiser Chiefs, Ellie Goulding, Mabel and Lawson. Polydor also has a strong indie roster through the Fiction imprint with acts such as Ian Brown, Bright Eyes, Elbow, White Lies, The Maccabees, Kate Nash, Snow Patrol, Filthy Dukes, and Crystal Castles. Polydor has also survived in Canada, becoming the home label for Drake. It also acts as the UK label for American-based acts under Interscope-Geffen-A&M such as Madonna, Eminem, the All-American Rejects, the Black Eyed Peas, Camila Cabello, Gwen Stefani, Dr. Dre, Lana Del Rey, Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez, Sting and JoJo.[ citation needed ]

In 2006, Polydor launched Fascination Records, a music label dedicated to pop music. Both Girls Aloud and Sophie Ellis-Bextor transferred to the new label and created groups such as The Saturdays and Girls Can't Catch. Several pop acts from US label Hollywood Records, such as Demi Lovato, Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, and Selena Gomez & the Scene were also signed to Fascination.

In 2008, A&M Records UK was founded as an imprint of Polydor UK. The same year Polydor obtained distribution of The Rolling Stones' back catalogue as well as new releases. [17] With the establishment of A&M Records UK, A&M Records' Canadian division became a separate entity for the first time since the formation of Universal Music Group. Polydor, meanwhile, continued to distribute Interscope, Geffen and selected Lost Highway releases in Canada through Universal Music Canada, as it does to this day.

Polydor UK rejected British singer-songwriter Raye’s album My 21st Century Blues and one of its lead singles Escapism for release under the label, leading her to release the former independently. [18] At the 2024 Brit Awards, Raye received 6 awards, all for works released with labels other than Polydor, breaking the record for the most nominations received by a single artist in a year. [19]

Polydor Japan

In December 2022, Universal Music Japan reorganized Universal J, which previously was known as Universal Polydor until 2002. [20] The label was split into two record labels, UJ and Polydor Records. [21] The changes took place on 1 January 2023. [21]

Polydor's Japanese division has three sub-labels which are Perfume Records, Asse!! Records (HY's exclusive label), and Utahime Records (Akina Nakamori's exclusive label). It also has distribution rights for NHK Records.

The first release under Polydor in Japan was Kobayashi Touya  [ ja ]'s debut studio album, Hiiragi. [22]

See also

Related Research Articles

Geffen Records is an American record label, founded in 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the now-defunct Geffen Pictures, it is owned by the Interscope Geffen A&M faction of Universal Music Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Decca Records</span> British record label

Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its US label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president too. In 1937, anticipating Nazi aggression leading to World War II, Lewis sold American Decca, and the link between the UK and US Decca label was broken for several decades. The British label was renowned for its development of recording methods, while the American company developed the concept of cast albums in the musical genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MCA Records</span> American record label

MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deutsche Grammophon</span> German classical music record label

Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of labels in 1999. Deutsche Grammophon is the world's oldest surviving established record company. Presidents of the company are Frank Briegmann, Chairman and CEO Central Europe of Universal Music Group and Clemens Trautmann.

Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Music Group and Interscope Communications, it differed from most record labels by letting A&R staff control decisions and allowing artists and producers full creative control. Interscope's first hit records arrived in under a year, and it achieved profitability in 1993. Chair and CEO until May 2014, Iovine was succeeded by John Janick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mercury Records</span> American record label

Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released rock, funk, R&B, doo wop, soul music, blues, pop, rock and roll, and jazz records. In the United States, it is operated through Republic Records; in the United Kingdom and Japan, it is distributed by EMI Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Recordings</span> Record label headquartered in the UK

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MGM Records</span> Defunct American record label

MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the 1970s. The company also released soundtrack albums of the music for some of their non-musical films as well, and on rare occasions, cast albums of off-Broadway musicals such as The Fantasticks and the 1954 revival of The Threepenny Opera. In one instance, MGM Records released the highly successful soundtrack album of a film made by another studio, Columbia Pictures's Born Free (1966).

PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a holding for their record companies, and was renamed "PolyGram" in 1972. The name was chosen to reflect the Siemens interest Polydor Records and the Philips interest Phonogram Records. The company traced its origins through Deutsche Grammophon back to the inventor of the flat disc gramophone, Emil Berliner.

RSO Records was a record label formed by rock and roll and musical theatre impresario Robert Stigwood and record executive Al Coury in 1973. The letters "RSO" stood for the Robert Stigwood Organisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DGC Records</span> American record label

DGC Records was an American record label that operated as a division of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, which is owned by Universal Music Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DreamWorks Records</span> American record label

DreamWorks Records was an American record label founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg as a subsidiary of DreamWorks Pictures. The label operated until 2003 when it was sold to Universal Music Group. The label itself also featured a Nashville, Tennessee-based subsidiary, DreamWorks Nashville, which specialized in country music and was shut down in 2006 then moved to MCA Nashville. The company's logo was designed by Roy Lichtenstein and was his last commission before his death in 1997.

Philips Records is a record label founded by the Dutch electronics company Philips and the Dutch-American largest record label company Universal Music Group. It was founded as Philips Phonographische Industrie in 1950. In 1946, Philips acquired the company which pressed records for British Decca's Dutch outlet in Amsterdam.

Phonogram Incorporated was started in 1970 as a successor to Philips Phonographic Industries, a unit of the Grammophon-Philips Group (GPG), a joint venture of Philips N.V. of the Netherlands and Siemens A.G. of Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Universal Music Group Nashville</span> US record company; Universal Music Groups country music subsidiary

Universal Music Group Nashville is Universal Music Group's country music subsidiary. It was officially opened on New Year's Day 1945 as MCA Nashville and Mercury Nashville which on New Year's Day 1950 as Capitol Nashville. Some of the labels in this group include MCA Nashville Records, Mercury Nashville Records, Lost Highway Records, Capitol Records Nashville and EMI Records Nashville. UMG Nashville not only handles these imprints, but also manages the country music catalogues of record labels Universal Music and predecessor companies acquired over the years including ABC Records, Decca Records, Dot Records, DreamWorks Records, Kapp Records, MGM Records and Polydor Records.

<i>Greatest Hits 1976–1986</i> 1992 greatest hits album by Elton John

Greatest Hits 1976–1986 is a collection of hits by Elton John released in the United States only by MCA Records in 1992. It replaced an earlier compilation, Geffen's 1987 release Elton John's Greatest Hits Vol. 3. This was necessitated because of a shift in the control of copyrights and a resulting reshuffling of compilation albums.

Interscope Geffen A&M Records (IGA) is an American umbrella label owned by Universal Music Group. It currently consists of record labels Interscope Records and Geffen Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A&M Records</span> American record label

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polyphon</span> Disc-playing music box

A Polyphon is a disc-playing music box. The machine was invented in 1870; it was first manufactured by the Polyphon Musikwerke, in Leipzig, Germany, full-scale production having started about 1897 and continuing into the early 20th century. Polyphons were exported all over the world; music was supplied for the English, French, German markets, as well as further afield, with pieces cataloged for the Russian, Polish, and Balkan regions. Polyphon is also a record label as registered by German Polyphon Musikwerke AG in 1908. Polyphon traded under the Polydor label since 1913 with their trademarks Polyphon Musik and Polyphon Record.

References

  1. Jon Mayall Polydor albums, Bluesmagazine.nl, Retrieved 13 March 2023
  2. Biliie Eilish Live, Musicweek.com, Retrieved 6 March 2023
  3. "Schellackplatten Label - Polyphon - Grammophon und Schellackplatten Portal 78rpm". grammophon-platten.de. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  4. 1 2 Studios, Emil Berliner. "EMIL BERLINER STUDIOS - About us - Chronicle". emil-berliner-studios.com. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  5. Hoffmann, Frank (12 November 2004). Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound. Routledge. ISBN   9781135949501.
  6. Dg-111.com Archived 5 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  7. "The Beatles with Tony Sheridan". Friktech.com. Archived from the original on 7 July 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  8. Infosite, Beatlesource.com; accessed 19 April 2015.
  9. Coleman, Miriam (17 February 2013). "Beatles collaborator Tony Sheridan dead at 72". Rolling Stone . Retrieved 23 February 2013.
  10. "One-time Beatles frontman Tony Sheridan dies". Nme.com. 18 February 2013. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
  11. Lewisohn, Mark: All These Years Volume 1:The Beatles Tune In, Little Brown, London 2013, ISBN   978-0-316-72960-4
  12. "College Music Contest Opens Talent Hunt". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 15 March 1969. p. 64.
  13. "Bee Gees - Album Discography - AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  14. Ray, Goodman & Brown, AllMusic , Retrieved 5 May 2023
  15. Evans Price, Deborah; Flippo, Chet (21 September 1996). "A&M Nashville a Victim of Country Label Growth". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media Inc. p. 6.
  16. Morris, Edward (14 May 1994). "Mercury Focuses on Tighter Roster". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media Inc. p. 40.
  17. "Stones ditching EMI for Universal". BBC News. 25 July 2008.
  18. Cragg, Michael (25 September 2021). "'I'm angry, I'm raging': how Raye took on her record label – and won". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  19. "Raye: Singer-songwriter makes history winning six Brit Awards". BBC News. 3 March 2024. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  20. "ありがとうスピッツ、20年ぶりに復活したPolydor Recordsが感謝の新聞広告" [Thank You Spitz, Polydor Records Revived After 20 Years Newspaper Ad]. Music Natalie (in Japanese). Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  21. 1 2 "ユニバーサル ミュージック、1/1付の役員人事および組織変更と人事異動を発表 | Musicman" [Universal Music Announces Executive Appointments, Organizational Changes, and Personnel Changes on 1/1]. Musicman (in Japanese). Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  22. "Hiiragi by Kobayashi Touya". 15 February 2023. Retrieved 28 February 2023 via Apple Music.