United Artists Records

• 1. Introduction

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  United Artists Records began in 1957 with a single, practical purpose: get movie music onto shelves. Max E. Youngstein of United Artists founded the label to issue film soundtracks, at a time when Hollywood studios were realizing that a well-placed record could extend a film's reach far beyond the cinema. What happened next was something far less tidy. Within a few years, the label had signed jazz legends, folk singers, early Motown acts, and rock and roll hitmakers, and its catalog would eventually brush up against the Beatles twice in ways that made copyright lawyers earn their fees for decades. How did a movie studio's record division become one of the more eclectic labels of the twentieth century? And how did it end up sold for three million dollars and a mountain of debt?

• 2. Soundtracks and Scope

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  Jerome Moross received an Academy Award nomination for his score to The Big Country, and in 1958 United Artists released the album. That nomination signaled early on that the label was not simply pressing novelty tie-in records. The following year, the label released Forest of the Amazons, a cantata by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. Villa-Lobos had adapted his own music from MGM's Green Mansions, and he conducted the Symphony of the Air on the recording. Brazilian soprano Bidu Sayão was the featured soloist, and the release came out on both LP and reel-to-reel tape.

  The James Bond franchise became one of the label's recurring properties, with soundtracks and cover versions tied to multiple films in the series. The run of major titles kept growing: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in 1963, A Hard Day's Night with the Beatles in 1964, The Greatest Story Ever Told in 1965, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in 1966, Fiddler on the Roof in 1971, and Man of La Mancha in 1972. Two films that United Artists produced created complications. The West Side Story soundtrack went to Columbia Records, which had also released the Broadway cast album. The American version of Help! landed on Capitol Records.

  Henry Mancini was signed to RCA Victor, so that label handled most of the United Artists films he scored, most notably The Pink Panther. Exceptions included Gaily, Gaily, The Hawaiians, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, and Revenge of the Pink Panther. Many of those soundtracks later passed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, whose MGM Music unit licensed them to Rykodisc, then Universal Music and EMI for reissue.

• 3. Jazz, Folk, and the Roster

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  Alan Douglas arrived in 1960 to run the jazz division, and under his watch and those of producers George Wein, Jack Lewis, and Tom Wilson, the label assembled a roster that reads like a serious collector's shortlist. Albums came from Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Art Blakey, Gerry Mulligan, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Mose Allison, Betty Carter, and Billy Strayhorn, among many others. Many of the album covers were designed by Frank Gauna. In 1966, the Solid State division was established, recording several albums by The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra.

  From 1959 the label was also releasing rock and roll and R&B hits. The Clovers, Marv Johnson, the Falcons, the Exciters, Patty Duke, Bobby Goldsboro, Jay and the Americans, Manfred Mann, and the Easybeats all appeared on United Artists during those years. Berry Gordy placed a number of early Motown acts with the label, including Marv Johnson and Eddie Holland. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were brought in to produce The Exciters, Bobby Goldsboro, Jay and the Americans, the Clovers, and Mike Clifford.

  Folk music entered the picture when Gordon Lightfoot joined the roster, and easy listening arrived with the addition of the piano duo Ferrante and Teicher. Throughout the 1960s, the label also produced a series of children's records under the name Tale Spinners for Children, presenting classic fairy tales and stories as album-length audio dramas.

• 4. Subsidiary Labels and Side Ventures

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  Unart was created in 1958 specifically for singles by vocal groups, then ceased operations in 1959. It was revived in 1967 for budget album releases. Other subsidiary labels included Ascot, United Artists Jazz, Musicor (which United Artists half-owned from 1960 until selling its stake in 1965), Ultra Audio for audiophile releases, UA Latino for Spanish-language music, and Veep.

  In 1966 United Artists acquired the masters of Sue Records, an R&B and soul label based in New York City that had produced recordings by Ike and Tina Turner, Baby Washington, and Jimmy McGriff. Some of that material was later reissued on Unart.

  The Special Projects division produced budget records tied to products and films. One example was The Incredible World of James Bond, sold by Pepsi Cola and Frito Lay, which combined cover versions of Bond themes with original soundtrack music from the first three films in the series. Another was Music from Marlboro Country, which paired cover versions of The Magnificent Seven theme with original music from Elmer Bernstein's Return of the Seven, sold by Philip Morris as a Marlboro brand tie-in.

• 5. The Liberty Merger and UK Expansion

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  In 1969, United Artists merged with co-owned Liberty Records and Liberty's subsidiary Imperial Records. By 1971, the Liberty name was dropped in favor of United Artists. The expanded label signed mainstream pop acts including Traffic, the Spencer Davis Group, Peter Sarstedt, Shirley Bassey, and War. After UA bought Mediarts Records, the roster grew further to include Don McLean, Merrilee Rush, Paul Anka, Chris Rea, Bobby Womack, Dusty Springfield, Bill Conti, Johnny Rivers, Ike and Tina Turner, Gerry Rafferty, and Crystal Gayle. A distribution deal with Jet Records brought Electric Light Orchestra into the fold. UA also handled distribution for Grateful Dead Records in the early-to-mid 1970s.

  In England, Andrew Lauder had been head of A&R at the UK branch of Liberty Records. When Liberty shut down in 1971 he transferred to UA and brought with him an adventurous taste. His signings included the Groundhogs, Hawkwind, Brinsley Schwarz, Dr. Feelgood, the Buzzcocks, the Stranglers, and 999. He also licensed UK releases for several influential German bands in the early 1970s, among them Can, Neu!, and Amon Duul II. Lauder left UA in late 1977 to help found Radar Records.

  Kenny Rogers signed to the label in the mid-1970s and became its most commercially successful artist, producing a long run of hit singles and albums. By the mid-to-late 1970s, the company was known as United Artists Music and Records Group, or UAMARG.

• 6. Sale, Collapse, and Aftermath

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  In 1978, UA executives Artie Mogull and Jerry Rubinstein bought the record company from Transamerica using a loan from EMI, which took over distribution. The official name became Liberty/United Records, though the United Artists Records name continued under license. The transition immediately caused problems. The change of ownership allowed Jet Records to end its deal with UA and move to CBS Records, taking the Jet back catalog with it. UA responded by dumping many ELO albums into the cutout market, a move CBS could not legally prevent, though CBS reissues of early ELO albums through Out of the Blue carried copyright notices for United Artists Music and Records Group.

  The label could not generate enough income to repay the EMI loan. Liberty/United Records was sold to EMI in 1979 for three million dollars, with EMI also assuming thirty-two million dollars in liabilities. EMI dropped the United Artists name in 1980 and revived the Liberty label for former UA artists. That version of Liberty operated until around 1986, when it was deactivated and its artists transferred to other EMI labels.

  Two Beatles albums presented a separate complication during the catalog transition. A Hard Day's Night and Let It Be had not been under EMI's control in the United States. Let It Be was released by Apple Records in both the UK and the US, but because the film had been distributed by United Artists Pictures, the album had been distributed in America by United Artists rather than EMI. Both albums were reissued on the Capitol label, which already held the rest of the Beatles' American catalog.

• 7. The Catalog Today

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  In 1986, producer Jerry Weintraub was hired to revive the United Artists movie studio and attempted to bring the record label back with it. Only one album came out: the soundtrack for The Karate Kid Part II, a film Weintraub had produced for Columbia Pictures before joining UA. A single from that soundtrack, Mancrab's Fish for Life, was also released on United Artists Records.

  Today the United Artists catalog sits with Capitol Records, now part of Universal Music Group, which also owns the non-soundtrack catalog of MGM Records. Capitol holds the rights to the soundtrack albums UA Records released under license from MGM Music. The catalog of most British acts who signed to the UK branch of UA Records passed to the Parlophone unit of Warner Music Group, with North American distribution through Rhino Entertainment. One exception is the Vapors, whose rights to their UA and Liberty recordings were acquired from Warner Music Group by RT Industries in 2018; Warner's services division Alternative Distribution Alliance handles distribution for RT.