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Curated category

Pop record labels

  • Capitol RecordsOn the 2nd of February 1942, songwriter Johnny Mercer met with Glenn Wallichs at a restaurant in Hollywood to discuss an investment from Paramount Pictures.
  • Interscope RecordsJimmy Iovine stood in a Westwood office building on 10900 Wilshire Boulevard in late 1990 and declared that music was about to change.
  • Sire RecordsSire Records began in 1966 as Sire Productions. Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer each invested ten thousand dollars to launch the company.
  • ParlophoneCarl Lindström Company founded Parlophon in Germany during 1896. The name appeared on gramophones before the firm began pressing records of its own.
  • Columbia RecordsOn the 15th of January 1889, a stenographer named Edward D. Easton founded the Columbia Phonograph Company in Washington, D.C.
  • Polydor RecordsOn the 2nd of April 1913, German Polyphon-Musikwerke AG founded Polydor Records in Leipzig. The label began as a mechanical music box manufacturer called…
  • King Records (Japan)January 1931 marked the birth of King Records as a division within the Japanese publisher Kodansha. The label operated under this parent company for nearly…
  • Capitol Music GroupCapitol Music Group emerged in February 2007 as a merger of Capitol Records and Virgin Records America. EMI orchestrated this union to restructure operations…
  • Apple RecordsThe Beatles returned from India in 1968 and officially founded Apple Records as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. This British record label emerged after the…
  • MGM RecordsIn 1946, the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio launched MGM Records to release soundtrack recordings from their musical films.
  • United Artists RecordsMax E. Youngstein founded United Artists Records in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks for the film studio of the same name.
  • Swan RecordsSwan Records opened its doors in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during 1957. Bob Crewe and Frank Slay built the company as staff producers and writers.