 | This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia.(October 2019) |
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| Warner Music Australia | |
|---|---|
 Logo used since 2020. | |
| Parent company | Warner Music Group |
| Founded | 1969 |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Location | Sydney, New South Wales |
| Official website | www |
Warner Music Australia (WMA) is an Australian division of the Warner Music Group. Warner Music Australia also distributes in New Zealand.
In 1969, Warner Bros. Records split and WEA was formed. It was first established in Canada and followed by Australia. The Australian operation began in July 1970, by Paul Turner with five staff members. The official launch was held at the Menzies Hotel in Sydney on 1 October 1970. The company was then based in Riley Street, Darlinghurst, and had three major labels: Warner Bros. Records, Elektra Records, and Atlantic Records
A year later Warner Bros. Records worldwide (including Australia) changed its name to Kinney Music. The monopoly laws in America at the time did not allow the three labels to trade as one, so the umbrella name of Kinney Music was chosen. For the first two years, the Australian Record Company (ARC), now known as Sony Music, handled the Australian distribution.
Turner's income for the first year was 1 million dollars. That was achieved in seven months, with the first years sales being just under $2 million. By 1 October 1972, U.S. monopoly laws had changed and WEA, using the first initial of each of the three main labels for its name, was born. From that time, WEA Australia had its own sales and distribution arm.
WEA became a major player in the Australian recording industry, through international successes of artists such as Fleetwood Mac, Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin and The Doors.
The company was renamed Warner Music Australia in 1990 and split into two divisions – WEA and East-West Records. With more focus being placed on domestic signings, phenomenal success was achieved with acts such as INXS, Cold Chisel, 1927 and Jenny Morris.
In the mid-to-late 1990s, Warner Music also invested in Brisbane bands, Regurgitator and Pretty Violet Stain. Regurgitator became Warner Music's first direct signing and remained with the company until 2004. In 2005, Sire Records invested in Brisbane band The Veronicas, who went straight to number two with their debut single "4 Ever" and their album "The Secret Life of the Veronicas". Later that year, Warner Music Australia bought out Festival-Mushroom Records for $12 million and closed the label, while retaining the use of the Mushroom label for a couple of acts such as Eskimo Joe and Gabriella Cilmi.
As of 2010 [update] , the company has continued with artists such as Kerser, Lisa Mitchell, Kylie Minogue, the New Zealand band, Evermore, as well as the newly signed Brisbane act, Dead Letter Circus. Warner Music also invested heavily in producers such as ShockOne and Matt Lange.
Warner Vision Australia, a company of Warner Music Australasia, released a series of VHS and DVD on the History of the Olympic Games :
Warner Music Vision Australia released a series of DVDs as a joint-venue with the Nine Network:
Michael Kelland John Hutchence was an Australian singer, songwriter, and actor. He was the co-founder, lead singer, and lyricist of the rock band INXS from 1977 until his death in 1997. The band sold over 50 million records worldwide, making them one of Australia's highest selling music acts of all time. They were also inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2001.
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.
INXS were an Australian rock band, formed as the Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney. The founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboardist Andrew Farriss, drummer Jon Farriss, guitarist Tim Farriss, lead singer and main lyricist Michael Hutchence, and guitarist and saxophonist Kirk Pengilly. For 20 years, INXS was fronted by Hutchence, whose magnetic stage presence made him the focal point of the band. Initially known for their new wave/pop style, the band later developed a harder pub rock style that included funk and dance elements.
The Goo Goo Dolls are an American rock band formed in 1986 in Buffalo, New York, currently consisting of guitarist/vocalist John Rzeznik and bassist/vocalist Robby Takac.
Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company founded in 1978. It is currently the catalog division for Warner Music Group. Its current CEO is Mark Pinkus.
Regurgitator are an Australian alternative rock band from Brisbane, Queensland, formed in late 1993 by Quan Yeomans on lead vocals, guitar and keyboards; Ben Ely on bass guitar, keyboards and vocals; and Martin Lee on drums. Their debut studio album, Tu-Plang was released in May 1996; it was followed by Unit in November 1997 which was certified triple platinum. Unit won five categories at the ARIA Music Awards of 1998: Album of the Year, Best Alternative Album, Producer of the Year, Engineer of the Year (Magoo) and Best Cover Art. Their third album, ...Art was released in August 1999.
Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the global music industry, after Universal Music Group (UMG) and Sony Music Entertainment (SME). Formerly part of Time Warner, WMG was publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange from 2005 until 2011, when it announced its privatization and sale to Access Industries. It later had its second IPO on Nasdaq in 2020, once again becoming a public company. With a multibillion-dollar annual turnover, WMG employs more than 4,500 people and has operations in more than 50 countries throughout the world.
John Joseph Theodore Rzeznik is an American singer-songwriter, best known as the founder, guitarist and frontman of the American rock band Goo Goo Dolls, with whom he has recorded 14 studio albums.
Warner Records Inc. is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the American film studio Warner Bros.
Shabooh Shoobah is the third studio album by Australian rock band INXS. It was released on 13 October 1982. It peaked at No. 5 on the ARIA Albums Chart and remained on the chart for 94 weeks. It was the band's first album to be released worldwide and appeared on the United States Billboard 200 and on the Hot Pop Albums Chart. The album spawned four singles, "The One Thing", "Don't Change", "To Look at You" and "Black and White". It was produced by Mark Opitz for WEA Australia with most tracks written by band members Andrew Farriss and Michael Hutchence.
A&E Records is a United Kingdom-based record label imprint, owned by Warner Music Group (WMG). It operates under the WEA International group of labels at WMG.
"Suicide Blonde" is the lead single from Australian rock band INXS's seventh studio album, X (1990). It was released on 22 August 1990 in the United States and on 3 September 1990 in the United Kingdom. The song reached number two in Australia, number nine in the United States, and number 11 in the United Kingdom. In Canada and New Zealand, the single peaked at number one for two and three weeks, respectively. At the APRA Music Awards of 1991, "Suicide Blonde" won the award Most Performed Australian Work Overseas.
Warner Music Vision was a music video company formed in 1990 by Warner Music International to make music videos from artists and bands on Warner Bros. Records, Maverick Records, Sire Records, Atlantic Records, Elektra Records and other Warner Music Group labels and to release them on video.
"Don't Change" is a song by Australian rock band INXS. It was released as a single from the album Shabooh Shoobah in October 1982. It has been described as the song that made the band internationally famous.
Brian Slagel is an American music executive. He is the founder and CEO of the independent record label Metal Blade Records. Slagel is known for having initiated the Metal Massacre series of compilation albums in 1982, the first of which included the first commercial recording by Metallica. Metal Blade has since released seminal albums by Slayer, Mercyful Fate, Cannibal Corpse, Fates Warning, Amon Amarth and the Black Dahlia Murder, among others.
Crawlspace are an Australian rock band from Perth which formed in 1998.
Mark Opitz is an Australian record producer and audio engineer. He started his career with Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in 1971. He has produced AC/DC, the Angels, Australian Crawl, Cold Chisel, Divinyls and INXS. He has won the ARIA Award for Producer of the Year in 1987 and 1988. He had previously won Best Australian Producer at the Countdown Awards for his work in 1980, 1982, 1985 and 1986. On 8 June 2020 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for "significant service to the performing arts, particularly to music production." In August of that year he was listed as one of The 7 Most Influential Music Producers of All Time by Mixdown Magazine's David Tomisch and Will Brewster.
Evermore is a self-titled greatest hits album by New Zealand rock band Evermore released on 14 October 2009 in the UK and 12 March 2010 in Australia and New Zealand. The album is a collection of songs from the band's entire history, as well as three new songs including the single "Underground". It was the band's first album to be released in Europe, following a recording contract with Warner Bros. The new songs were written while the band was a supporting act for Pink's Funhouse Tour in Europe. Band member Jon Hume described the album as "a crazy mishmash of all the music that [Evermore has] made over the last seven or eight years".
Warner Classics is the classical music arm of Warner Music Group. The label began issuing new recordings under the Warner Classics banner in 1991. The company also includes the Erato Records and Teldec Records labels. Based in France, Warner Classics also distributes the Elektra Nonesuch, Finlandia, Lontano, NVC Arts, Warner Apex, Warner Elatus and Warner Fonit labels.
