Domino Recording Company is a British independent record label based in London. There is also a wing of the label based in Brooklyn, New York that handles releases in the United States, as well as a German division called Domino Deutschland and a French division called Domino France. In addition, Stephen Pastel presides over the subsidiary label Geographic Music, which releases more 'unusual' music from Britain and outside of the Western world. In 2011, the company announced that it was beginning a book publishing division, The Domino Press.
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued as a collection on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium. Albums of recorded music were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78-rpm records collected in a bound book resembling a photograph album; this format evolved after 1948 into single vinyl LP records played at 33 1⁄3 rpm. Vinyl LPs are still issued, though album sales in the 21st-century have mostly focused on CD and MP3 formats. The audio cassette was a format widely used alongside vinyl from the 1970s into the first decade of the 2000s.
Now That's What I Call Music! is a series of various artists compilation albums released in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Sony Music and Universal Music which began in 1983. Spinoff series began for other countries the following year, starting with South Africa, and many other countries worldwide soon followed, expanding into Asia in 1995, then the United States in 1998.
Zunior.com is a Canadian online independent record label and music store founded in 2004 by Dave Ullrich, formerly of The Inbreds.
Demon Records is a British record label, founded in 1980 by former United Artists A&R executive Andrew Lauder and Jake Riviera, who had previously started Stiff Records. The pair had also founded Radar Records in 1978 and F-Beat in 1979.
Melon: Remixes for Propaganda is a compilation of remixes released by Irish rock band U2 exclusively to members of the band's magazine/fan club, Propaganda, in spring 1995. Some of the remixes were previously available on singles and some have been re-released on later singles and compilations, while some remain exclusive to this set. The title "Melon" is an anagram of "Lemon", which is a reference to U2's song of the same name that appears on two tracks of the album.
Hits is a compilation album series that ran in the United Kingdom for over twenty years from 1984 until 2006. It was compiled as a joint venture, variously between the compilation arms of the Sony BMG and Warner Music groups to rival the Now That's What I Call Music series that had launched a year earlier in 1983, compiled by rival companies EMI and Virgin. Initially, the Hits brand was arguably as popular as its main rival, with volume one through to volume eight all achieving at least a platinum BPI award, with several of the early albums going multi-platinum. The standard release rate of The Hits Album was two volumes per year compared with three volumes of the Now albums.
A promotional recording, or promo, or plug copy, is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as music radio and television stations, and to tastemakers, such as DJs and music journalists, in advance of the release of commercial editions, in the hope that airplay, reviews, and other forms of exposure will result and stimulate the public's interest in the commercial release.
ROIR, or Reachout International Records, is a New York City-based independent record label founded in 1979 by Neil Cooper.
!K7 Music is an independent record label and music company based in Berlin, Germany that focuses mostly on electronic music. The name is an abbreviation of the company's original Berlin address, Kaiserdamm 7. !K7 has since opened branch offices in New York City and London. The company now operates an artist management division, managing a roster of artists including the British musician Tricky. !K7 Music also runs a successful Label Services and Synch and Licensing department.
Cherry Red Records is a British independent record label founded by Iain McNay in 1978. The label has released recordings by Dead Kennedys, Everything But the Girl, The Monochrome Set, and Felt, among others, as well as the compilation album Pillows & Prayers. In addition to releasing new music, Cherry Red also acts as an umbrella for individual imprints and catalogue specialists.
Bear Family Records is a Germany-based independent record label that specializes in reissues of archival material ranging from country music to 1950s rock and roll to old German movie soundtracks.
Fearless Records is an independent record label that was founded in 1994. Fearless is based in Culver City, California, and are best known for their early pop punk moments captured in the Fearless Flush Sampler and Punk Bites releases, as well as additional releases by bands such as Bigwig and Dynamite Boy, and later Sugarcult, Plain White T's, The Aquabats, Amely and post-hardcore releases by At the Drive-In and Anatomy of a Ghost. However, the label has experimented with different styles in recent years. Acts like Blessthefall, The Word Alive, Ice Nine Kills, Mayday Parade, Pierce The Veil, and The Color Morale have showcased post-hardcore, metalcore and alternative rock bands that have emerged in recent years. Fearless Records' releases are currently distributed nationwide by RED Distribution, but after Concord Music Group take-over, they will be distributed by Universal Music Group.
Red House Records is an independent folk and Americana record label in St. Paul, Minnesota. The label was founded in 1983 by Bob Feldman after seeing a performance by Iowa folk singer Greg Brown.
Grenadine Records is an independent record label based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The music label was founded in 1997 by Eric Y. Lapointe and Alex Megelas who met at Bishop's University's radio station CJMQ-FM.
Castle Communications, also known as Castle Music, was a British independent record label and British home video distributor founded in 1983 by Terry Shand, Cliff Dane, and Jon Beecher. Its video imprint was called Castle Vision. The label's production ceased in 2007, and its remaining rights are now chiefly vested in BMG Rights Management. Castle also operated a subsidiary label, Essential Records.
Merry Christmas is a compilation album by Bing Crosby that was released in 1945 on Decca Records. It has remained in print through the vinyl, CD, and downloadable file eras, currently as the disc and digital album White Christmas on MCA Records, a part of the Universal Music Group, and currently on vinyl as Merry Christmas on Geffen Records. It includes Crosby's signature song "White Christmas", the best-selling single of all time with estimated sales of over 50 million copies worldwide. The album has sold over 15 million copies and is the second best-selling Christmas album of all-time behind Elvis' Christmas Album, which has sold more than 19 million copies worldwide. The original 1945 release and subsequent re-releases and re-packages spent a total of 36 weeks at no. 1 on the Billboard pop albums chart.
Lo Recordings is a label founded in 1995 by Jon Tye. They are noted for their strong visual style thanks to Non-Format, with whom they work very closely and won a D&AD award for several of their releases sleeves.
A compilation album comprises tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for release together as a single work, but may be collected together as a greatest hits album or box set. If from several performers, there may be a theme, topic, time period, or genre which links the tracks, or they may have been intended for release as a single work—such as a tribute album. When the tracks are by the same recording artist, the album may be referred to as a retrospective album or an anthology.
