RECORD COMPANY INFORMATION

 

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Recording Business

 

The object of recording companies is to get their share of 20,000 new titles each year on the shelves of retailers and in the hands of the public.

 

The music shelves are already very full with over 100,000 back-listed titles. So that the (local band) Intraverse are not only competing with Eminem for space, they are also fighting with five decades of predecessors from Chuck Berry and the Beatles through to Metallica and Aerosmith.

 

It costs several million dollars to record and launch any major new pop album these days. And audience tastes are unpredictable, hence many launches are doomed. Music companies must rely on the occasional big hit among the many flops.  Winning shelf space is harder than it’s ever been with digital distribution via the Internet, where fans have been sharing recordings and avoiding buying recordings off the shelves.

 

Music then is in transition. It’s going from a tangible that you buy off the shelves to an intangible, something that’s on the Net and available to anyone who can in turn record them on tape or CD. This new situation has the big five companies worried with good reason as they adapt to remain competitive. NK

 

 

 

I hope this information helps

 

 

 

It is sometimes very difficult to trace who owns rights to recordings where companies no longer operate, hence this is just a general guide. The list below gives some indication of who owns who although this is by no means comprehensive and is subject to frequent change as labels fold, new ones are created and mergers take place.

 

 

 

Universal Music Group

 

Label

Associated labels

A&M

Chess

Ace of Clubs, Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Hearts, Argo, Belart, Beltona, Brunswick, Cambrian, Coral, Cube, Deram, Durium, Eclipse, Electric, Emerald, Envoy, Felsted, Good Time Jazz, Greenwich, Gull, Jubilee, M&M, Monument, Nova, L'Oiseau Lyre, Qualiton, Rex, Telefunken, Threshold, Turnabout, UK, Vocalion, Vox, West African

King, Murder Inc, Roc-A-Fella, Violator

Fiction

Gee St

DreamWorks, E Pluribus Unum, Outpost, Zombie A-Go-Go

Island (US)

Island (UK)

Antilles, Blunted Vinyl, Fourth & Broadway, Mango, Tuff Gong, TVT

Almo Sounds, Coolsville, Flip, Jake, Nothing

Karussell

Curb, Jersey, Radioactive, Twisted

Mercury UK

Artificial, L'Attitude, Rocket, Talkin' Loud, Vertigo, Fontana, Capricorn, Dink, Go!Discs

 

Philips Music Group

Imaginary Road, Mercury Living Presence, Philips, Point Music

Phonogram

Point Blank

Polydor UK

Generic, Exile, Paradox, Perspective, Tabu, Wild Card

Decca Broadway, Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, Philips Music Group

Biv 10, Cash Money, Celtic Heartbeat, Cherry Entertainment, Mojo, Pallas, Republic, ZTT

Blue Thumb, Commodore, Decca Jazz, GRP, Impulse, Priceless Jazz, Swingsation, Verve, Vintage Vault

 

 

EMI

Label

Associated labels

Additive

Apple

Blue Note

Classics for Pleasure

Columbia (not Sony)

Cooltempo

EMI

Positiva, Heavenly 100

EMI Gold

Encore

Gramophone

Grand Royal

Harvest

Hemisphere

HMV

Hostile

IRS

Liberty UK

Major Minor

Manhattan

Music for Pleasure

NovaMute, Blast First, Thirteenth Hour

Obscure

Odeon

One Up

Food, Credence, Regal, Blue Note, Capitol Jazz, Pacific Jazz, Roulette Jazz

RAK

Regal Zonophone

Roulette

SBK

Starline

Studio Two

Talisman

Top Rank

Total Vegas

United Artists

Higher Octave, Immortal, Luaka Bop, Rap-A-Lot, Virgin Nashville, Virgin Records Urban

Astralwerks, Caroline, Circa, EG, Elevator, Kuff, Melankolic, Pointblank, Real World, Scamp, Science, Source, VC Recordings, Venture, Veritas, Vernon Yard

Waverley

Zonophone

 

 

Sony/BMG Entertainment

 

 

Label

Associated labels

Anxious

Ariola

Arista UK

Bistro, D:Disco, Filth, Music Man, Rowdy, Tresor, Tripoli Trax, Urgent

Arista/Profile, Bad Boy, La Face, Melisma, Time Bomb

Beyond

Bluebird

Arte Nova, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Melodiya, RCA Red Seal, RCA Victor, Wicklow

Conifer

Deconstruction

DGC

Full Works

Imago

Melo

Neon

One to One

RCA

Delerious, Giant, House of Blues, Loud, Parousia, Revolution

 

 

Warner Music Group

 

 

Label

Associated labels

Atco

Blanco y Negro

East West

Korova

London - see London-Sire

American London, Coliseum, Hi, London, Palomar, Parrot, Press, Tribe, Seville, Spark, Richmond

Oval

Paisley Park

Sire - see London-Sire

Erato, Finlandia, Nonesuch, Teldec

Warner Music UK

FutureFlex

WEA

Black Culture, Kinetic, Qwest

 

 

 

Sony Music

 

 

Label

Associated labels

CBS

American, Aware, C2, DV8, Loud, Murmur, Portrait, So So Def, Trackmasters, Xtravaganza

Gloworm, Hidden Beach, Ruthless

Kitchenware

Sony Jazz

Higher Ground, INC-redible, Sony Soho Square (S2)

 

 

 

Other labels

 

 

Label

Associated labels

Ace, Beat Goes Public, Big Beat, Bioplicity, Blue Horizon, Cascade, Chiswick, Fantasy, Globestyle, Kent, Kicking Mule, Prestige, Riverside, Southbound, Stax, Takoma, Vanguard, Westbound

American, Beggars Banquet, 4AD, Mantra, Matador, Mo 'Wax, Nation, Placebo, Too Pure, Wiiija, XL Recordings

Chandos, Chaconne, Chandos Brass, Collect, Enchant, Opera in English, Flyback

Anagram, Analog Baroque, British Steel, Cherry Red, El, rpm., Zebra

Rabid Badger, Livid Meerkat

Gut

NCM Group

48K, Infectious, Mushroom, Perfecto, Ultimate Dilemma

Clean Up, Elemental, One Little Indian, Rough Trade

Flapper, Pearl, Opal, Topaz

ASV, Bearsville, Black Box, Brodsky, Bronze, Castle Music, Castle Pie, Castle Select, Cinephile, Curtom, Deepbeats, Discover, Essential, Gaudeamus, HTD, Immediate, Indigo, Living Era, Mecca, Metal-Is, Neat, Nixa, Noise, Pulse, Pye, Quicksilva, Raw Power, Resonance, Sanctuary, Select, Sequel, Solar, Sugarhill, T&T, Transacord, Transatlantic, Trojan, When!, White Line

Telstar Entertainment

Multiply, Telstar, Wildstar

V2

Zomba

Jive, Music for Nations, Reunion, Silvertone, Verity

 

 

 

 

Label guides

 

Popular music

 

Album discographies by Mike Callahan, David Edwards and Patrice Eyries contains details of album releases by dozens of record companies.
allrecordlabels.com worldwide links.
Discogs electronic music database searchable by label.
Jazz record label listings maintained by Michael Fitzgerald.
Record company addresses and links for folk and world music labels from the publishers of Dirty Linen.
Record labels searchable by name, location or genre at the Ultimate Band List site.
Record labels on the web 4800+ links to pop and rock record label web pages with more being added continually.
Soul Index contains the record history of some of the finest UK/USA 60's Soul record labels.

 

Classical music

 

Classical music labels from Classical Net.
Early music record labels

 

 

 

Reference works

 

Music Week Directory - an annual UK directory containing up-to-date record company addresses/telephone numbers.
Showcase International Music Book - annual directory listing labels in UK and overseas.
RED Labels and Distributors Directory - various editions published.
Gramophone Classical Catalogue - annual publication listing classical labels and distributors.
International Record Review - monthly classical music journal listing record company websites.

 

 

For further information please contact:

 

The British Library
Sound Archive
96 Euston Road
London NW1 2DB
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7676
Fax: +44 (0)20 7412 7441
EMail: sound-archive@bl.uk

 

 

 

 

 

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