Mercury Record Label

Mercury Records

• Founded in: 1945 by Irving Green, Berle Adams and Arthur Talmadge• Company status: Independent-part of the The Island Def Jam Music Group in the US.• Parental company: Universal Music Group

• Producing status: Active • Genre : Various • Artists: Bon Jovi, Maverick Sabre, Justin Bieber, Jake Bugg and David Bowie to name a few.

• Interesting Facts: • Mercury initially relied to jukeboxes to promote their music.• Mercury Records was relaunched in 2007 as a label under the Island Def Jam Music Group,

appointing record executive David Massey as the President and CEO of the new venture.• In March 2011, the label announced it was stopping the production of CD and vinyl singles and

would only release them physically as "rare exceptions.• Recent signings on Mercury include Pixie Lott, Wonderland, Arcade Fire, Amy Macdonald, Noah

and the Whale, Chase & Status and Jake Bugg.In 2011 the company announced that they had sold 10 million records by Rihanna in the UK.

Island Records

Island Records

• Founded in :1959 by Chris Blackwell and Graeme Goodall in Jamaica.• Company status: Standalone record label like Mercury Records.• Parental company: Universal Music Group

• Producing status: Active• Genre: various but mainly focus on pop and rock • Artists: Devlin, Taio Cruz, Frank Ocean, Jessie J, James Morrison and Alex Clare.

• Interesting facts: • Partially financed by Stanley Borden from RKO• Taking its name from the 1955 Alec Waugh novel, subsequent film and Harry Belafonte hit song

"Island in the Sun’’.• Island was the largest indie record label in history.• Island operated its own record pressing plant, but had sometimes problems with quality control;

many records were defective and had to be returned.

Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records

• Founded in:1947 by Ahmet Ertegün and Herb Abramson• Company status:Independent American • Parental company: Universal Music Group

• Producing status: Active• Genre: Various• Artists: James Blunt, Tracey Chapman, Craig David, The Chipmunks and that’s to name a few.

• Interesting facts: • Over its first 20 years of operation Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most important

American independent recording labels, specializing in jazz, R&B and soul recordings by African-American artists, a position greatly enhanced by its distribution deal with Stax Records.

• Atlantic faced a serious challenge - in late 1947 James Petrillo, head of the American Federation of Musicians, announced an indefinite ban on all recording activities by union musicians, and this came into force on 1 January 1948