Hollywood Records

Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records
	File:Hollywod records logo.PNG
Parent company	Disney Music Group
Founded	1989
Founder	Michael Eisner
Distributor(s)	Universal Music Distribution
Genre	Various
Country of origin	United States
Location	Burbank, California
Official website	Hollywood Records

Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by Disney Music Group, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company.

History

Hollywood Records was founded in 1989 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.

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.^[5] 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.^[6] Other notable releases came from Organized Konfusion; its challenging second album, Stress: The Extinction Agenda (1994), was widely acclaimed.^[7] 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.^[8] Acts on Hollywood BASIC's roster included Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf, Lifers' Group, Organized Konfusion, Raw Fusion, and Zimbabwe Legit.

Hollywood METAL

Hollywood METAL was a short-lived label within Hollywood Records that was to be focused on rock and metal music. Other than promotional appearances by Hollywood Records artists, there were no releases.^[9]

Distribution

Upon its 1989 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.