| RCA Inspiration | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Parent company | Sony Music |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Distributor(s) | Sony (mainstream) Provident-Integrity (Christian) |
| Genre | Gospel |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Location | New York, NY |
| Official website | www |
RCA Inspiration (formerly Verity Gospel Music Group) is a gospel music group operating under Sony Music.
In late 2002, BMG completed the purchase of the Zomba Group for US$2.74 billion and as a part of that deal, acquired the gospel label Verity Records. In 2004, BMG purchased GospoCentric Records and its sublabel B'Rite Music, which already had ties with Zomba since before the purchase. [1] [2] When BMG restructured the Zomba labels into the Zomba Label Group, those labels were initially moved there, however, in 2005, Zomba amalgamated its gospel interests in the new Zomba Gospel and operated it under the Zomba Label Group. The new group consisted of Verity Records, GospoCentric Records and four artist owned imprints: Quiet Water Entertainment (Donald Lawrence), Fo Yo Soul Entertainment (Kirk Franklin), New Life Records (John P. Kee) and F. Hammond Music (Fred Hammond). [3] When BMG and Sony formed Sony BMG, Zomba Gospel (as a part of the Zomba Label Group) was shifted under the BMG Label Group as an amalgamation of BMG's interests in the merger.
In August 2008, Sony purchased Bertelsmann's half of their Sony BMG merger. [4] Since Bertelsmann kept the BMG name, Sony renamed the BMG Label Group to RCA/Jive Label Group in early 2009 [5] and began the process of rebranding Zomba as the Jive Label Group. [6] [7] In another move to eschew the Zomba name, Zomba Gospel was rebranded as Verity Gospel Music Group, taking its name from their flagship label. [8]
In May 2009, Verity Gospel made gospel music history being the first gospel label to hold the top four song positions on the R&R Gospel charts. [9] The songs were:
Per source [10]
RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America.
Arista Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously a division of BMG Entertainment, the North American division of German conglomerate Bertelsmann. Founded in November 1974 by Clive Davis and deactivated in 2011, Arista was re-stablished in 2018. Along with Epic Records, RCA Records, and Columbia Records, it is one of Sony Music's four flagship record labels.
Jive Records is a British-American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary of the Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chicago. Jive was best known for its successes with hip hop, R&B, and dance acts in the 1980s and 1990s, along with teen pop and boy bands during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
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.
Volcano Entertainment was an American all-round music record label founded in 1996 which released albums by Tool, 311, Size 14, Survivor and "Weird Al" Yankovic. The Volcano Records catalog is owned by RCA Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment.
Verity Records is an American gospel music-focused record label, founded in 1994. The Gospel group operated by Provident Label Group, which in turn is owned by Sony Music Entertainment.
The Zomba Group of Companies was a music group and division owned by and operated under Sony Music Entertainment. The division was renamed to Jive Label Group in 2009 and was placed under the RCA/Jive Label Group umbrella. In 2011, the RCA/Jive Label Group was split in half. Multiple Jive Label Group artists were moved to Epic Records while others stayed with Jive as it moved under the RCA Music Group. In October 2011 Jive Records was shut down and their artists were moved to RCA Records.
Clive Ian Calder is a South African-born British billionaire record executive and businessman primarily known for co-founding the Zomba Group with Ralph Simon, and its subsidiary Jive Records. As of October 2021, Calder has an estimated net worth of US$5.5 billion.
RCA/Jive Label Group was a short-lived American record label group, owned by Sony Music Entertainment and representing the merger of the RCA Music Group and JIVE Label Group. The umbrella group was formed in 2007 under the name BMG Label Group, was rebranded as RCA/Jive Label Group in 2009. In July 2011 it was finally dissolved into two separate labels: the RCA Music Group and Epic Records which took Jive subsidiaries until October 2011 when it retired Jive Records along with Arista Records and J Records. The artists on those three labels were moved to RCA Records.
GospoCentric Records was an Inglewood, California based Gospel music record label, started as an independent label by Vicki Mack Lataillade and Claude Lataillade in 1993. The label rose to prominence in the 1990s, largely on the runaway success of gospel artist Kirk Franklin. The label has grown to become one of the most prominent major gospel labels. GospoCentric later spawned the imprint B-Rite Music, which was used to launch artists like Trin-i-tee 5:7 and God's Property who found considerable mainstream success. GospoCentric was purchased by Zomba Music Group in the mid 2000s, which also owned the major gospel label Verity Records. GospoCentric has since been defunct, and the purchase now led to the record label RCA Inspiration which is owned by Sony Music Entertainment.
Donald Lawrence is an American gospel music songwriter, record producer and artist. He is best known for his Grammy Award-nominated songs "The Blessing of Abraham" and "Encourage Yourself".
Provident Entertainment is a division of Sony Music headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee and focused primarily on Christian music. The group handles its own physical distribution through its Provident-Integrity service.
Kurt Carr is an American gospel music composer and performer. While living in the city of Hartford, Connecticut, he served as Minister of Music at The First Baptist Church of Hartford located at the time on Greenfield Street. He is currently the Praise and Worship leader at The Fountain Of Praise in Houston, TX.
Barry Weiss is an American music executive. He co-founded of the record label RECORDS in 2015, a joint-venture with Sony Music Entertainment that specializes in young artists.
RCA Music Group was an umbrella group of labels distributed by Sony Music Entertainment that existed between March 2004 and 2009, and for a short period of time between July 2011 and October 2011 as all RCA Music Group labels were merged with RCA Records.
Bishop Hezekiah Walker is a popular American gospel music singer and artist and pastor of prominent Brooklyn New York Pentecostal megachurch, Love Fellowship Tabernacle. Walker has released several albums on Benson Records and Verity Records as Hezekiah Walker & The Love Fellowship Crusade Choir.
LaFace Records was an American record label based in Atlanta, Georgia, that operated as a unit of Sony Music Entertainment from 2008 to 2011 and was historically a part of Bertelsmann Music Group from 1989 to 2004. It was most active and achieved its greatest commercial success during the 1990s, dealing largely in the field of urban music. It was originally distributed by its co-creator Arista Records from 1989 through 2001, after which it was shuttered and absorbed into Arista. In 2004, the label was rebooted, and it began operating through Jive Records until both were absorbed into RCA Records in 2011. Today, the label's back catalog and reissues are managed by Legacy Recordings.
Dina Ruth Andrews is an American music executive, and entrepreneur. She is President and General Manager of Dina Andrews Management.
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