The Offspring is an American punk rock band from Garden Grove, California, formed in 1984. Originally formed under the name Manic Subsidal, the band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Bryan "Dexter" Holland, lead guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman, bassist Todd Morse, multi-instrumentalist Jonah Nimoy and drummer Brandon Pertzborn. The Offspring is often credited for reviving mainstream interest in punk rock in the 1990s. During their 40-year career, the Offspring has eleven studio albums and sold more than 40 million records, making them one of the best-selling punk rock bands.
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, artist financing 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.
Epitaph Records is an American independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. A large portion of the record label, known as Hellcat Records, is owned by Tim Armstrong, frontman of the punk rock band Rancid. Several sister labels also exist, such as ANTI-, Burning Heart Records, Hellcat Records, and Heart & Skull Records that have signed other types of bands.
Clive Jay Davis is an American record producer, A&R executive, record executive, and lawyer. He has won five Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a non-performer, in 2000.
RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation.
Arista Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously a division of Bertelsmann Music Group, the North American division of German conglomerate Bertelsmann. Founded in November 1974 by Clive Davis and deactivated in 2011, Arista was re-established in 2018. Along with RCA Records, Columbia Records, and Epic Records, it is one of Sony Music's four flagship record labels.
Jive Records was 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.
Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Einstürzende Neubauten, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, Grinderman, Inspiral Carpets, Moby, New Order, Laibach, Nitzer Ebb, Yann Tiersen, Wire, Yeasayer, Fever Ray, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Yazoo, and M83.
Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. The band currently consists of Mike Ness, Jonny Wickersham, Brent Harding, David Hidalgo Jr. (drums), and David Kalish (keyboards).
Mommy's Little Monster is the debut studio album by American punk rock band Social Distortion, released in 1983 through the label 13th Floor Records. The album is notably different from the band's subsequent releases, featuring styles of traditional punk rock, both traditional hardcore and melodic hardcore, and pop-punk. This is Social Distortion's only studio album to feature bassist Brent Liles and drummer Derek O'Brien, both of whom were out of the band by early 1984 and would be replaced by John Maurer and Chris Reece respectively. The album received underground acclaim from punk rock fanzines, and it has been acknowledged as influential and inspirational to the then-burgeoning pop-punk and skate punk scenes.
J Records was an American record label owned and operated by Bertelsmann Music Group until it was transferred to Sony Music Entertainment when they acquired all of BMG's record labels in late 2008 at the end of their merger. It was distributed through the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 2000 by Clive Davis and was dissolved into RCA Records in 2011.
So So Def Recordings is an American record label based in Atlanta, Georgia, founded by producer Jermaine Dupri in 1993. Specializing in Southern hip hop, R&B, and bass music, the label has managed artists such as Bow Wow, Kris Kross, Xscape, TLC, Usher, Dem Franchize Boyz, Anthony Hamilton, Jagged Edge, and The Ghost Town DJs.
Antonio Marquis "L.A." Reid is an American record executive, A&R representative, and record producer who served as president and CEO of Arista Records from 2000 to 2004, as well as chairman and CEO of the Island Def Jam Music Group from 2004 to 2011 and Epic Records from 2011 to 2017. He co-founded the record label Hitco Entertainment in the latter year, which was sold to Concord in 2022.
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.
Keith Anderson is an American country music singer. Before signing to a record deal, Anderson was one of several co-writers on "Beer Run ", a duet by Garth Brooks and George Jones, released in late 2001. Anderson was signed as a recording artist to Arista Nashville in 2004. His debut single "Pickin' Wildflowers" was released that year, as the lead-off track from his debut album Three Chord Country and American Rock & Roll. Counting "Pickin' Wildflowers", the album produced a total of four hit singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, and was certified gold by the RIAA.
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act, where the act makes an audio recording for the label to sell and promote. Artists under contract are normally only allowed to record for that label exclusively; guest appearances on other artists' records will carry a notice "By courtesy of ", and that label in question may receive a percentage of sales through publishing.
Michael Gerard Knott was an American singer-songwriter and frontman for various bands, many of whom performed in the Christian rock genre. He released about 35 albums, including solo albums and albums with bands such as LSU and Cush. He has been credited for pioneering the "alternative Christian rock scene".
The End Records was a record label in Manhattan that specializes in rock, heavy metal, indie, and electronic music.
Anthony Ray Baeza, also known by his stage name Baeza, is an American rapper, singer, actor, hip hop producer, and songwriter from Fresno, California. By 2009 Baeza was releasing his own singles and music videos, and his first mixtape, Dough and Dro, came out in early 2013. He has toured throughout the United States as a headliner at venues such as the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in California Fresno, and after the late 2013 release of his Right on Time EP he was featured as an "artist on the way to the top" in The Fresno Bee. Currently signed to Empire Distribution, he has collaborated with hip hop artists such as Clyde Carson and Baby Bash, and in June 2015 he is due to release a full-length version of his The Man EP on EMPIRE Recordings. Baeza operates his own fashion line, Striktly Business, out of Fresno.
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).
