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Vocapedia > Arts > Music > Music industry

 

Record labels, producers, sound engineers, studios

 

 

 

 

Dean didn’t specialise only in album covers

– he was the in-house artist of the UK progressive movement,

supplying the original Virgin Records logo in 1973

 

The weird worlds of Roger Dean,

prog rock's artist in residence – in pictures

The Guardian

Wed 21 Oct 2015    16.14 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/music/gallery/2015/oct/21/
roger-dean-somewhere-near-here-prog-rock-album-covers-in-pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

record label        UK / USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/
arts/music/sun-records-sells-catalog-primary-wave.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/20/
arts/music/phil-chess-dead.html

 

http://www.npr.org/2015/11/23/
457083328/the-man-and-the-mistakes-that-invented-rock-n-roll

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/sep/04/
def-jam-hip-hop-music 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/28/
morrissey-without-record-deal 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/13/
suge-knight-death-row-records

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

label

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

major labels

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

music business

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

music industry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

recording industry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

record companies

 

 

 

 

mainstream music industry

 

 

 

 

music industry majors

 

 

 

 

entertainment business

 

 

 

 

Featured Artists Coalition        UK

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/sep/21/
musicindustry-internetipos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

indie album / label / music        UK

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/gallery/2011/may/01/
ten-best-british-indie-labels-in-pictures

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jul/01/jarvis-cocker-backs-independent-music

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jun/07/dave-longstreth

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/mar/01/dm-stith-new-york-music

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/jun/04/popandrock.news

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1991 > USA > Death Row Records

 

Suge Knight takes gangsta rap literally

and founds Death Row Records

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/13/
suge-knight-death-row-records

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1960s-1980s > A&M Records        USA

 

Jerry Moss (...)

with the trumpeter Herb Alpert

founded A&M Records,

which at its peak from the 1960s to the ’80s

was an independent powerhouse

behind hits by the Carpenters, the Police,

Janet Jackson, Peter Frampton

and Mr. Alpert’s group, the Tijuana Brass,

among many others

(...)

 

Over their more than 30 years with A&M,

Mr. Moss and Mr. Alpert

developed an eclectic roster

— Cat Stevens, Carole King, Supertramp

and the grunge band Soundgarden

all released music there —

and established the label’s reputation

for being supportive of artists

and treating them fairly.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/17/
arts/music/jerry-moss-dead.html

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
A&M_Records

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/17/
arts/music/jerry-moss-dead.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jimmy Gray, one of the label’s founders,

was a D.J. on WHUR-FM, Howard University’s citywide radio station,

where he identified himself simply as Black Fire.

 

Photograph: Plunky Branch

 

The Small, Black-Owned Record Label That Made a Big Impact in 1970s D.C.

A new compilation of music released on Black Fire Records

is a vital link between jazz and go-go, the city’s official genre.

NYT

August 12, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/12/
arts/music/black-fire-records.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black Fire Records        USA

 

Small, black-owned record label

that made a big impact in 1970s D.C.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/12/
arts/music/black-fire-records.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blue Note

 

http://www.bluenote.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

indie jazz and blues label Delmark Records > Bob Koester    1932-2021

 

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/15/
997105714/remembering-delmark-records-founder-bob-koester

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deram / Decca        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2019/apr/13/
cover-versions-decca-records-at-90-in-pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ECM Records        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/12/
arts/music/jan-erik-kongshaug-dead.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Verve

 

http://www.vervelabelgroup.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USA > Vee-Jay Records        USA

 

In 1953,

Vivian and James Bracken from Gary, Ind.,

borrowed $500 from a pawnbroker

to start a record company.

 

Thirteen years later,

Vee-Jay Records became

the country's biggest independent,

black-owned record label,

and for a time, it was bigger than Motown.

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/
story.php?storyId=13774728

 

https://concord.com/labels/vee-jay-records/

 

 

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/
story.php?storyId=18112344  - January 15, 2008

 

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/
story.php?storyId=13774728 - August 21, 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USA > Atlantic Records        UK / USA

 

https://www.atlanticrecords.com/

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/12/
arts/music/earl-mcgrath-rolling-stones.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/31/
business/miriam-bienstock-co-founder-of-atlantic-records-dies-at-92.html

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/nov/01/
acid-jazz-25

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert John "Mutt" Lange

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Robert_John_"Mutt"_Lange

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartbeat_City

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rick Hall > FAME - publishing company and studio        USA

 

https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2018/01/02/
575157623/rick-hall-producer-and-songwriter-who-put-muscle-shoals-on-the-map-
dead-at-85

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USA > 1970s Philadelphia sound >

Philadelphia International Records        UK / USA

 

Black-owned label > soul

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/mar/20/
philly-soul-philadelphia-international-records-women

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/25/
arts/music/gamble-huff-philadelphia-international-records.html

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/26/
arts/music/billy-paulsinger-of-the-hit-me-and-mrs-jones-dies-at-81.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earl McGrath    1931-2016        USA

American record executive and gallerist

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/12/
arts/music/earl-mcgrath-rolling-stones.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Henry David Epstein    1921-2014        USA

 

Henry Stone (...)

produced early recordings

by Ray Charles

and James Brown

(...)

(his) Hialeah, Fla., company,

TK Records,

was a fountain of disco

in the 1970s

and the source of what came

to be called the Miami sound

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/13/
business/media/henry-stone-93-dies-produced-the-miami-sound.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sub Pop: 25 years of underground rock        USA        2013

 

From the era-defining grunge of Nirvana

to the dreamy modern Americana of the Shins,

the Seattle label has become

a cornerstone of US alternative music.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/jul/04/
sub-pop-25-years-underground-rock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

25 years of Def Jam:

how the sound of New York's streets

rose up to rule the world

USA        2011

 

From humble beginnings in student digs,

the record label Def Jam is credited

with bringing New York's

street culture and music to the masses

– and even helping to elect a president

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/sep/04/
def-jam-hip-hop-music

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dot Records > Randolph Clay Wood    USA    1917-2011

 

Randy Wood started out stocking records

in a nook of his electrical appliance store

before going on to found Dot Records,

a label that found success in the 1950s

recording white artists like Pat Boone

singing black artists’ rhythm-and-blues songs

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/
business/media/15wood.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Solar Records

- acronym for Sound of Los Angeles Records        USA

 

Richard Gilbert Griffey    1938-2010

bringing a funky, laid back, California sound

to soul, R&B and disco in the ’70s and ’80s

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/04/
arts/music/04griffey.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USA > Motown records        UK / USA

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/
motown

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/09/
arts/music/lamont-dozier-dead.html

 

http://www.npr.org/2017/01/24/
511452021/a-club-performance-from-1960s-detroit-holds-one-key-to-motowns-success

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/05/
arts/music/bobby-rogers-dies-at-73-sang-in-smokey-robinsons-miracles.html

 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/
story.php?storyId=99214566 - January 10, 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UK > Virgin Records

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/gallery/2015/oct/21/
roger-dean-somewhere-near-here-prog-rock-album-covers-in-pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UK > Charisma Records

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Charisma_Records

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USA > Elektra Records

 

https://www.npr.org/templates/
story/story.php?storyId=6353305 - October 20, 2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UK > Fantasy Records        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jan/12/
label-love-fantasy-records 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Factory Records        UK

 

Anthony Howard Wilson,

record label boss, broadcaster and impresario        1950-2007

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2007/aug/13/
guardianobituaries.media

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sun Records

 

Samuel Cornelius Phillips / Sam Phillips    1923-2003        USA

http://www.npr.org/2015/11/23/
457083328/the-man-and-the-mistakes-that-invented-rock-n-roll

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/
arts/music/sun-records-sells-catalog-primary-wave.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chess Records        USA

 

the iconic Chicago blues

and rock 'n' roll label

Chess Records

 

https://www.npr.org/2018/02/17/
586167759/elise-legrows-playing-chess-honors-blues-and-r-b-greats

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/20/
arts/music/phil-chess-dead.html

 

http://www.npr.org/2016/10/19/
498579284/phil-chess-co-founder-of-chess-records-dies-at-95

 

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/30/
arts/willie-dixon-musician-76-dies-singer-and-writer-of-classic-blues.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blues / Rock'n Roll

USA > record producer and executive Marshall Chess

Chess Records        UK / USA

 

Leonard and Phil Chess's

legendary Chicago label

 

https://www.clashmusic.com/features/marshall-chess 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/20/
phil-chess-records-chicago-south-side-blues

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/20/
arts/music/phil-chess-dead.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/26/
movies/born-in-chicago-tells-of-titans-who-taught-young-proteges.html

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/nov/06/
leonard-phil-marshall-chess-records

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cobra Records        USA

 

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/30/
arts/willie-dixon-musician-76-dies-singer-and-writer-of-classic-blues.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

early R&B > Jules, Saul and Joe Bihari

USA > Modern Music Records        founded 1945

 

Using the same manufacturing space

and distribution network

that they used

to service and deliver jukeboxes,

the brothers built Modern Records

(to which the name

was shortened in 1948)

into a force among labels

that recorded black music.

 

Along with Chess, Specialty

and other relatively small labels,

Modern recorded,

pressed and distributed

some of the most influential blues

and rhythm and blues records

of the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/12/
arts/music/joe-bihari-who-put-early-rb-on-record-dies-at-88.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/12/
arts/music/joe-bihari-who-put-early-rb-on-record-dies-at-88.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 independent label > Specialty Records        USA

 

innovative independent label

based in Los Angeles

that brought rhythm and blues

into the mainstream

and helped set the tabl

 for the rock ’n’ roll era

with singers like Little Richard

and Lloyd Price,

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/16/
arts/music/art-rupe-dead.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USA > Stax Records        UK / USA

 

the legendary

Memphis label Stax Records,

(...), through the 1960s,

ran Detroit's Motown Records

a close second as hitmaker and discoverer

of black American musical talent.

 

Otis Redding,

Booker T & the MGs, Isaac Hayes,

the Staple Singers and Johnnie Taylor

were among the many Stax discoveries,

and so good were

its house musicians and songwriters

that the Atlantic label took

Wilson Pickett and Sam & Dave

to record with them.

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/feb/28/
guardianobituaries.artsobituaries

 

https://www.npr.org/2022/12/06/
1140926122/stax-records-jim-stewart-co-founder-dies-92-memphis-sound

 

http://www.npr.org/2013/11/16/
245398700/the-soulful-swinging-sounds-of-stax-a-look-back

 

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/aug/01/
elvis-presley-at-stax-review

 

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/dec/19/
urban

 

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/feb/28/
guardianobituaries.artsobituaries

 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/
story.php?storyId=1260725 - May 12, 2003

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hollywood > Capitol Studios        USA

 

https://www.npr.org/2020/06/12/
875690697/explore-decades-of-hits-inside-capitol-studios

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Capitol Records        UK

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/apr/20/
george-martin-beatles-1963

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parlophone        UK

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/apr/20/
george-martin-beatles-1963

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rick Hall,

a songwriter and record producer

known as the "Father of Muscle Shoals Music"        USA

 

https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2018/01/02/
575157623/rick-hall-producer-and-songwriter-who-put-muscle-shoals-on-the-map-
dead-at-85

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

producer > Steve Lillywhite        USA

 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?
storyId=94719171 - September 17, 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

engineer > Eddie Kramer (born SA)        USA

 

 (in) 1967 (...)

he was assigned to work

with a young guitarist

that everyone in London

was talking about

- Jimi Hendrix

 

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/09/
591919737/eddie-kramer-completes-posthumous-jimi-hendrix-trilogy-
with-both-sides-of-the-sk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jan Erik Kongshaug        NORW        1944-2019

 

recording engineer

who helped sculpt

the rich and quietly splendorous

sound of ECM Records,

an influential label that has produced

timeless jazz and contemporary

classical recordings

(...)

But his most lasting contributions

came with ECM,

where he engineered

or mastered hundreds of albums

from 1970 until the end of his life.

 

Though he played

a more inconspicuous role

than Manfred Eicher,

the label’s renowned

founder and main producer,

Mr. Kongshaug

was arguably just as crucial

to defining the famous “ECM sound,”

which relied on precision and fidelity

and used heavy helpings of reverb

to create a feeling

of both magnitude and intimacy.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/12/
arts/music/jan-erik-kongshaug-dead.html


 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/12/
arts/music/jan-erik-kongshaug-dead.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USA > Phil Ramone    1934-2013        USA

 

prolific record producer and engineer

who worked with some of the biggest

music stars of the last 50 years,

including Ray Charles,

Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon,

Billy Joel and Barbra Streisand

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/
arts/music/phil-ramone-record-producer-and-winner-of-14-grammys-dies-at-79.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USA > James Luther Dickinson

musician and record producer    1941-2009        UK

 

Memphis musician

and record producer

who worked

with the Rolling Stones,

Bob Dylan

and Primal Scream

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/aug/17/
jim-dickinson-obituary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

studio        USA

 

https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2018/01/02/
575157623/rick-hall-producer-and-songwriter-who-put-muscle-shoals-on-the-map-
dead-at-85

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Orleans, USA

J & M Recording Studio / Cosimo Vincent Matassa (1926-2014)        USA

 

studio

hat helped jump-start rock ’n’ roll

by recording early hits

by the likes of Fats Domino

and Little Richard

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/14/
arts/music/cosimo-matassa-whose-studio-birthed-a-rock-n-roll-sound-
dies-at-88.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UK > London > Abbey Road studios        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jan/03/
if-these-walls-could-sing-review-mystery-tour-of-abbey-road-studios

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UK > London >

Eighty years of Abbey Road - in pictures        UK        8 June 2012

 

Musicians including Edward Elgar,

Ella Fitzgerald, Kate Bush

and, of course, The Beatles

are photographed working

at the world's

most famous recording studio.

 

Abbey Road:

The Best Studio in the World

is published by Bloomsbury

on 19 July, priced £50.

 

A numbered edition

signed by Sir George Martin

will be available at select stores

and bloomsbury.com at £250

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/gallery/2012/jun/09/
abbey-road-beatles - broken link

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

re'cord        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/17/
metallica-lou-reed-joint-album 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/apr/09/
blur-new-material 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

recording

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

unedited master copy        USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/12/
arts/music/earl-mcgrath-rolling-stones.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

phonograph records

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

sound engineer        USA

 

http://www.npr.org/2016/09/04/
492433224/meet-the-woman-whos-been-pearl-jams-sound-engineer-for-24-years

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

studio engineer        USA

 

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/10/
618284484/remembering-the-engineer-who-created-rocks-unmistakable-fuzz

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/25/
obituaries/glenn-snoddy-96-accidental-inventor-of-the-fuzz-tone-dies.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

fuzz tone        USA

 

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/10/
618284484/remembering-the-engineer-who-created-rocks-unmistakable-fuzz

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/25/
obituaries/glenn-snoddy-96-accidental-inventor-of-the-fuzz-tone-dies.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glenn Thomas Snoddy    USA    1922-2018

 

studio engineer

who was at the controls

for the historic Nashville recording session

that inadvertently produced the sound

that became known as the fuzz tone

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/25/
obituaries/glenn-snoddy-96-accidental-inventor-of-the-fuzz-tone-dies.html

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/10/
618284484/remembering-the-engineer-who-created-rocks-unmistakable-fuzz

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/25/
obituaries/glenn-snoddy-96-accidental-inventor-of-the-fuzz-tone-dies.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rudolph Van Gelder    USA    1924-2016

 

audio engineer

whose work with Miles Davis,

John Coltrane

and numerous other musicians

helped define the sound of jazz

on record

 

(...)

 

The many albums he engineered

for Blue Note, Prestige, Impulse

and other labels in the 1950s and ’60s

included acknowledged classics

like Coltrane’s

“A Love Supreme,”

Davis’s “Walkin’,”

Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage,”

Sonny Rollins’s “Saxophone Colossus”

and Horace Silver’s “Song for My Father.”

 

In the 1970s

he worked primarily for CTI Records,

the most commercially successful

jazz label of the period,

where his discography included hit albums

like Esther Phillips’s

“What a Diff’rence a Day Makes”

and Grover Washington Jr.’s

“Mister Magic.”

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/26/
arts/music/rudy-van-gelder-audio-engineer-
who-helped-define-sound-of-jazz-on-record-dies-at-91.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Norman Charles Pickering    1916-2015        USA

 

engineer, inventor and musician

whose pursuit of audio clarity and beauty

helped make phonograph records

and musical instruments sound better

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/
business/norman-c-pickering-refined-the-record-player-dies-at-99.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roger Scott Nichols    1944-2011        USA

 

recording engineer

whose meticulous studio work

with Steely Dan and others

earned him seven Grammy Awards

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/18/
arts/music/roger-nichols-artist-among-sound-engineers-dies-at-66.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ray M. Dolby    1933-2013        USA

 

sound pioneer

who founded

Dolby Laboratories,

(he) revolutionized

the recording industry

with the invention

of the Dolby noise-reduction system,

and transformed cinema

and home entertainment

with the development

of Dolby digital surround sound

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/13/
business/ray-dolby-who-put-moviegoers-in-the-middle-is-dead-at-80.html

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/13/
audio-pioneer-dolby-dies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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