Hollywood Records

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For earlier labels using the name Hollywood Records, see Hollywood Records (disambiguation).
Hollywood Records
File:Hollywod records logo.PNG
Parent companyThe Walt Disney Company
Founded1990
FounderMichael Eisner
Distributor(s)Universal Music Distribution
Genrevarious
Country of originUnited States
LocationBurbank, California
Official websiteHollywood Records

Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by The Walt Disney Company.

History

Hollywood Records was founded in 1990 by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner with the idea of expanding the music operations of the company (then reduced to the release of the soundtracks of Disney, Touchstone, and Hollywood Pictures films) and to develop and promote the careers of a wide variety of artists in various genres.

However, the label struggled to launch a successful artist, and in 1991 the label had significant financial loss. The only major success was the agreement to be the catalog distributors of Queen, a fact affected by the death of vocalist Freddie Mercury.[1]

Label problems continued and even years after the acquisition of Mammoth Records in 1997 was seen as a sign of the search by Disney for a record label that would give success to the company. However, Mammoth Records was dissolved and integrated into the label in 2003, after little success.[2]

In 1998, the company decided to integrate the operations of Walt Disney with Hollywood, Lyric Street, and Mammoth, with Walt Disney Music Publishing, creating Buena Vista Music Group (now Disney Music Group) and appointing Bob Cavallo as chairman of the group, and president of Hollywood Records. [3]

It was not until 2003, with the launch of Hilary Duff's musical career that the label would be a real success. The album sold more than 5 million copies and was the beginning of a successful business model for the label, with a total synergy with Disney Channel and Radio Disney, which would bring its artists to have strong media exposure. Duff was the best artist of the successive record with 13 million copies sold. Artists such as the Cheetah Girls, Vanessa Hudgens, Raven-Symoné, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez & The Scene, and the Jonas Brothers replicate this model of marketing. [4] At the same time, the label continues to develop the careers of artists with a profile less commercial like Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. The label also releases soundtracks from Touchstone Pictures films. In 2010, Hollywood absorbed Disney's country music label, Lyric Street Records, subsequently inheriting its roster of acts.

In 2011, Queen's music was distributed by Universal worldwide, as outside the US, Queen left EMI for Universal-owned Island Records. In 2011, Hollywood Records opened a page on Facebook and explained why the singer Miley Cyrus no longer appears on the record label and that she is now recording for Universal Music.[5]

As of June 2011, Joe Jonas has the most played song from a Hollywood Records artist, with See No More getting 15,000 radio plays its first two weeks.[6]

Hollywood BASIC

File:Hollywood BASIC.jpg

Hollywood BASIC [sic] was Hollywood’s short-lived hip-hop subsidiary, run by Dave Funkenklein, which existed from 1990 to 1995. It did not survive the distribution transition its parent made to PolyGram Records, and all of its recordings were deleted, save for those by Organized Konfusion, which were repressed under the new deal. It was the first label to record DJ Shadow, releasing his "Lesson 4" (a reference to Double Dee and Steinski) as the B-side of a 1991 single by Lifers' Group, a hip hop group composed of convicts serving sentences at Rahway Prison in New Jersey. It also released Shadow's Legitimate Mix on the B-side of a single by the group Zimbabwe Legit in 1992.[7] Other notable releases came from Organized Konfusion; its challenging second album, Stress: The Extinction Agenda (1994), was widely acclaimed.[8] The label was also home of Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf, although, following the shooting death of Charizma in 1993, the music the duo recorded for the label was not released. This would later inspire Peanut Butter Wolf to found Stones Throw Records in order to make this music available.[9]

Acts on Hollywood BASIC's roster included Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf, Lifers' Group, Organized Konfusion, Raw Fusion, and Zimbabwe Legit.

Distribution

Upon its 1990 launch, Hollywood was distributed by Elektra Records in the US and Canada. Distribution in North America switched to PolyGram (now Universal Music Group) in 1995. Today, Universal Music Group markets and distributes Hollywood Records catalog in North America, Canada, Europe, Asia, South America, México and India; while Avex markets and distributes Hollywood Records catalog in Japan. Also, several Hollywood artists including Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez & The Scene, Connect 3 and Annel Cereceres are directly signed to Universal Music UK's Fascination Records.[10] In other territories EMI Music, Disney's partner in Africa and the Middle East, distributes the label.

Artists

Main article: List of current Hollywood Records artists
Main article: List of former Hollywood Records artists

See also

References

  1. ^ "THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Memo Cites Disney Records' Woes". The New York Times. 27 November 1991.
  2. ^ Gabriel, Trip (28 July 1997). "The Corporate Wooing and Winning of Mammoth Records". The New York Times.
  3. ^ "Regrouping, Disney Music Names Chairman". The New York Times. 12 January 1998.
  4. ^ Sisario, Ben (8 February 2006). "A Musical For Tweens Captures Its Audience". The New York Times.
  5. ^ http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hollywood-Records/101499493271444#!/permalink.php?story_fbid=101506269937433&id=101499493271444
  6. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_No_More_(Joe_Jonas_song)#Airplay
  7. ^ Peter Shapiro, Rough Guide to Hip-Hop, 2nd ed. London: Rough Guides/Penguin Books, 2000 (p. 102).
  8. ^ Peter Shapiro, Rough Guide to Hip-Hop, 2nd ed. London: Rough Guides/Penguin Books, 2000 (p. 291).
  9. ^ Peter Shapiro, Rough Guide to Hip-Hop, 2nd ed. London: Rough Guides/Penguin Books, 2000 (pp. 349–351).
  10. ^ "UNIVERSAL MUSIC, DISNEY MUSIC FORGE LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND: Forthcoming Releases Include Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana". Universal Music Group.

External links

Template:Hollywood Records

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