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By the time Ahmet Ertegun had cemented his position within the new Warner Bros set up, one of the biggest bands in rock music history had been signed up to Atlantic Records.  Led Zeppelin were the new kids on the block and the new stars on the horizon and other new British band Yes followed shortly afterward.  Home grown rock was also making an indent at Atlantic though; Crosby, Stills and Nash (and eventually Neil Young) were signed in 1968, their self-titled debut album being a massive seller.

Led Zeppelin were the contemporary superstars though and made vast amounts of money for Atlantic until 1973 when their contract ended and they started their own label,  Swan Song Records, although Atlantic still organised their distribution.  Yes were the third big money maker of the early 1970s and stayed with Atlantic even after Led Zeppelin had left.  In fact Yes continued their success well into the 1980s and still tour and record today.

A fire in one of Atlantic Records’ warehouses in New Jersey in 1978 destroyed a huge amount of early recordings, dating from 1948 and 1969.  Up to 6000 tape reels were destroyed, including some of Atlantic’s original stereo recordings, a technology which they pioneered.  Ultimately many originals were located at various locations around the country, for example those that had been ‘borrowed’ and not returned and the archives were restocked to a a certain level.

The 1980s continued in the same successful vein as previously and featured the likes of Genesis, Foreigner, AC DC and Mike and the Mechanics.  It also preceded Warner Communications merger with Time Inc. in 1990 to become Time Warner.  Atlantic Records remained a largely independent entity although it was forced to sell off its share of the gangsta rap label Interscope Records in 1995.

Atlantic has remained a relevant and successful label to this day, surviving the split between Time Inc and Warner in 2004. The label celebrated its 60th birthday in 2007 and currently has hundreds of successful artists on its roster.  It has also been forward looking enough (for a record label at least) to embrace digital technology; in 2007 50% of its sales were from downloads.

At the end of Part One we briefly mentioned that Ahmet Ertegun has signed The Drifters to Atlantic Records.  This was done almost before hearing them perform – this was because the lead singer Clyde McPhatter had recently become available after being fired from Billy Ward and his Dominoes.  Ertegun knew of McPhatter’s talent and wasted no time in tracking him down.  A couple of The drifters early tracks – Such A Night and Money Honey – were also notable for being banned in various states for suggestive and unwholesome lyrics.  The banning had no effect on sales of course, both tracks reached number one on the U.S. Billboard charts.

Rhythm and Blues was a term coined by Atlantic employee Jerry Wexler in the early 1950s and Atlantic Records was the main driver behind the success of this genre at this time.  At first it was only popular amongst the black population but by 1953/4 records were crossing over to all sections of the listening audience and becoming million+ sellers.  At the time, Atlantic Records had the best R & B artists and the highest quality recording equipment, marking it out as the leader in this field.

Atlantic Records expanded into the U.K. in 1955 to take advantage of that lucrative market and took on extra premises to be able to employ extra staff.  In the early 1960s it began to use it’s considerable trading network to distribute releases from smaller regional labels.  Notable artists active during this period include Ben E. King, The Coasters and Billy Storm.

Ray Charles had left the label in 1959 along with Bobby Darin and this threatened to be a enormous financial blow for Atlantic; fortunately an association with Stax Records, the small Memphis based independent label, provided both parties with 8 years worth of lucrative partnership.  Stax got access to Atlantic’s massive distribution and marketing machine and in return Atlantic got it’s hands on Stax’ list of quality artists including Booker T. and the MGs, Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding.

The 1960s was also the decade when Soul became popular when Solomon Burke and Doris Troy signed for Atlantic.  It was also the years of the British invasion. Atlantic took advantage of this by ending their distribution deal with British label, Decca (who had their own U.S. subsidiary, London  Records) and arranging a new one with Polydor Records.  Cream were one of the licensing success stories and notable for their being the first rock band signed by Atlantic.

In 1967, the constantly shifting sands of the record industry led Jerry Wexler to recommend the sale of Atlantic to a bigger company.   The Ahmet brothers (Nesuhi had returned to Atlantic by this time) eventually agreed to the sale and in October of the same year accepted $17.5 million from Warner Bros, something of an undervaluation.  Jerry Wexler left shortly afterwards, unhappy with the direction he felt Atlantic was now headed (veering towards ‘white’ rock acts) but Ertegun was allowed to run the label unhindered by Warner.  This changed when Warner Bros. became Warner Communications in 1969 and an attempt was made to bring all Warner’s music companies under one umbrella.  Ertegun fought this and won, cementing Atlantic’s autonomy and his own power within the new structure.

Part Three follows….

Atlantic Records History

Atlantic Records is one of those companies with slightly more interesting origins than some.  The Ertegun family were

Atlantic Records logo

Turkish residents in the United States and following the death of their ambassador father, Munir, the remaining members of the family were faced with the choice whether to stay or head back to Turkey.

Two brothers, Nesuhi and Ahmet, decided to stay while their mother and sister returned to Turkey.  During their stay in the United States, Nesuhi and Ahmet had become jazz and blues fans, accruing thousands of 78rpm records.  It was Ahmet who conceived the idea of a records label, persuading some wealthy friends to invest in his new venture and in October 1947 Atlantic Records came into existence.

The company was originally headquartered at The Ritz Hotel in Manhattan until the rent proved prohibitive and a cheaper venue was found.  It was no one-man business right from the beginning and Ertegun, Herb Abramson and Francine Wakschal all contributed to the stability of Atlantic Records in the early days.  Wakshcal in particular gained a reputation for ruthless treatment of artists when it came to advances and the like.  She would remain with the company for the next 49 years.

Ahmet Ertegun (right)

It wasn’t until 1948 that Atlantic released it’s first recordings, two of which were Joe Morris’ ‘The Spider’ and Tiny Grimes ‘That Old Black Magic’; jazz productions that would characterise the first of Atlantic.  Atlantic’s formation also coincided with the American Federation of Musicians announcing a ban on union members undertaking recording.  Atlantic Records responded by recording and stockpiling enough vinyl to last for a year.

A. Nugetre – songwriter

Atlantic Records fist big breakthrough came in 1949 with the re-release of Stick McGhee’s ‘ Drinking Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee’ after McGhee’s original label had gone under.  At the same time however, Ergetun began writing songs under the anagrammatic pseudonym A Nugetre.  He would record them in one of the public recording booths in Times Square before handing them over to the artist or arranger to perfect.

Atlantic Records signing of Ruth Brown was another market on their road to success; the story is an interesting one – on her way from Washington to New York to audition for Ertegun and Abramson, she was injured in a car crash from which she took nine months to recover.  Faith in her ability was so great however that Atlantic Records supported her financially during this period, eventually signing her when the time was right.  She repaid them by becoming arguable the most prolific recording artist on Atlantic’s books during the 1950s, earning the label the name ‘The House That Ruth Built’.  Releases such as ‘So Long’, ‘(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean’ and Teardrops From My Eyes’.  The latter was Atlantic’s first million selling release.

In 1951, Atlantic Records began to press 45 rpm records of which the first release was ‘Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere’ by Joe Morris, one of the labels earliest signings.  1952 brought Ray Charles to the label who provided Atlantic with a string of hits; he was followed by another notable artists such as The Drifters and The Clovers.

Part Two follows…..

During the decade following Columbia’s decision to begin using the ‘double-sided’ disk and to dispense with the traditional vertical cylinders, fortunes began to decline for the Washington company.  In 1923, they finally went into receivership and in 1925 were purchased by their English subsidiary, the Columbia Graphophone Company.

This coincided with Western Electric’s patented electric recording process and Columbia purchased a license to use the system.

Viva-tonal label

The sound quality and clarity of the new ‘Viva-tonal’ 78 rpm records was unparalleled and it helped revive Columbia’s fortunes to the extent that it felt confident in acquiring Okeh Records in 1926.  This brought into Columbia’s stable, jazz and blues artists such as Louis Armstrong and Mamie Smith.

During the remainder of the 1920s, Columbia expanded into the early country music market (known as hillbilly at the time) and interestingly continued to produce non Viva-tonal records for what they regarded as the budget market.  These were still records using the prior acoustic method.  It had three subsidiary labels, Harmony, Velvet Tone and Diva for this purpose.  In 1929, Edison Records finally went bankrupt, meaning Columbia was now the oldest record label.

More acquisitions were in the pipeline as the world moved into the 1930s;  the British Graphophone Company merged with the Gramaphone Company and consequently became Electrical & Musical Industries Ltd, better known now as EMI.  By this time, the British Graphophone Company had bought its former parent company American Columbia in 1929.  American Columbia was split off once more as part of U.S. anti-trust law but was short lived as the company that acquired it, the Grigsby-Grunow Company, had themselves closed down within a couple of years.

Columbia’s relatively brief but eventful early history means that recordings from the era are now sought after items.  In particular, following the formation of EMI, the company’s Royal Blue Record – a laminated blue production – which was produced from 1932 – 1935 is a very desirable product.  Check out casino spielen for another desirable product.

Please see our EMI history for the continuation of the Columbia story.

While many record labels may consider themselves old, perhaps dating back 100 years or so, there are one or two that are really old.  Columbia Records is one such company and can date itself as far back as 1891.  Based in the District of Columbia from where it takes its name, the first company was called the Columbia Phonograph Company and was started by Edward Easton.

Easton originally distributed Edison Phonographs in the local areas and also produced a number of cylinder recordings of its

Columbia Phonograph

own. The manufacturer of the phonographs supplied to Columbia, the North American Phonograph Company, collapsed in 1894 and subsequently Columbia began to manufacture and sell its own product.  This included phonographs and records and Columbia began to sell ‘brown wax’ and then the harder ‘black wax’ which was introduced at around the turn of the century.

At this point, Coumbia was one of the top three manufacturers of phonographs and records, rivalled only by Edison’s Phonograph Company and the Victor Talking Machine Company.  From around the beginning of the 20th century, Columbia began to contract well-known singers of the day (in fact Opera stars), to produce a range of recordings.  It was relatively successful but Columbia’s rivals were still ahead in terms of quality.  It was also shortly after this period that Columbia did devise and introduce a revolutionary idea – the record with the B-side, or as it was known at the time, Double-Faced disks.

Prior to this, recordings had been made on vertical wax cylinders and this practise continued at Columbia until 1908 when the company finally ceased their production.  They did however continue to use celluloid cylinder records after entering into an agreement with the Indestructible Record Company of Albany, New York.  The cylinders used were known as ‘Columbia Indestructible Records’.  Columbia finally stopped manufacturing vertical cylinders in 1912.

Part Two follows…..

In the previous article we intimated that Berry Gordy Jr’s days with Motown were numbered and indeed, that is exactly what happened.  Despite successes with artists such as DeBarge and Lionel Richie, Motown began to lose money in the mid 1980s.  In 1988 Gordy decided he had had enough and accepted a $61 million offer from MCA Records and Boston Ventures for his stake.  The following year he also sold his interest in the film and television production company Motown Productions to fellow Motown executive Suzanne de Passe.  Thus ended Berry Gordy Jr’s involvement with the label he created.

Although signing successful artists such as Boyz II Men, MCA also struggled to turn Motown’s fortunes around and in 1991, unhappy with

Danny Goldberg

MCA’s involvement, Motown sued to end its distribution deal with MCA.  Polygram took over and consequently purchased Motown in 1994.  After a succession of CEOs, Polygram eventually appointed one of its own senior executives, Danny Goldberg, to run Motown.

During the period of record label consolidation in the late 1990s, Polygram was acquired by Seagram (Universal was its entertainment arm) and this actually brought them together once more with MCA Records, who had also been bought out.  This activity did then precede a period of relative success, introducing artists such as Erykah Badu, Indie Arie and Michael McDonald, as well as keeping hold of some of the original performers such as Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross (today, Stevie Wonder is the only ‘veteran’ remaining at the label).

In 2005, there was more reorganisation when Motown was merged into Universal Records, becoming Universal Motown Records.  While some may mourn the passing of the original, independent Motown Records, it seems unlikely that the label would have survived without outside help.  Unlike some other labels, it has at least retained its name and its sound.  It still remains the one label that successfully introduced black music to a wider audience so we should be thankful for Seagram’s decision not to close it down when it looked as though to do so would have been a good move.

Welcome back to our brief Motown history.  Although Motown’s influence in the field of popular music up until the 1970s had been duly recognised, it was its contribution to racial integration which was most important.  It introduced a style of music to a proportion of the American (and global) population which previously had been unable to access it.  It’s effect was most deeply felt in the Deep South and this is what Smokey Robinson had to say when reflecting on the subject:

Into the ’60s, I was still not of a frame of mind that we were not only making music, we were making history. But I did recognize the impact because acts were going all over the world at that time. I recognized the bridges that we crossed, the racial problems and the barriers that we broke down with music. I recognized that because I lived it. I would come to the South in the early days of Motown and the audiences would be segregated. Then they started to get the Motown music and we would go back and the audiences were integrated and the kids were dancing together and holding hands.

In 1972 Berry Gordy Jr. started Motown Productions, which was a television production company largely dedicated to programmes about

Smokey Robinson

Motown artists.  It featured among others, The Jackson Five and Diana Ross in what could be described as some of the first reality television.  Motown Productions also began to produce movies and this led to a wholesale move to Los Angeles in the early 1970s.  The ties to Gordy’s Detroit home town had now effectively been cut – music and movies were now based in Los Angeles and a small music production facility was based in New York.

The 1970s and the early 1980s saw a continuation of the label’s success.  It showed no sign of suffering from it’s move away from it’s heartland and artists recording during this period included Lionel Richie, De Barge and The Commodores.  Berry Gordy Jr. however, was about to part company.

Part Three Follows….

For a record label with such a distinguished history as Motown, it maybe something of a surprise that it was only formed in 1960 but that is the case.  Berry Gordy Jr, was the man who started up Motown Records.  He was the seventh of eight Gordy children, all of whom became successful in their chosen fields.  Berry was the one who dropped out of high school to pursue firstly a boxing career, then a stint in Korea with the U.S. Army before returning to Detroit where he opened a Jazz record store called the 3D Record Mart.

The record store did not succeed but Berry was also a songwriter who came into contact with several influential artists of his day.  One of these, Jackie Wilson, recorded one of Berry’s songs – Reet Petite - in 1957 and the records respectable global sales allowed Berry to invest the profits in production.  He established Tamla Records in 1959 and the Motown name in 1960.  Motown is a combination of the words Motor Town – a reference to the motor city of Detroit.

Motown’s first major success also came in 1960 and it was Shop Around by The Miracles.  It was their first million selling release and reached number two in the Billboard charts.  Within a couple of years, Motown had established itself as a major force in the U.S. music industry – its philosophy of marketing black soul and R & B music to a wider white audience proving immensely successful.  Major releases during this period included The Marvelette’s Please Mr. Postman and songs from Diana Ross, The Jackson Five and The Four Tops.

The rest of the 1960s only added to the success of Motown.  They managed 110 top ten hits in the period up to 1970 and this did not include release

Berry Gordy Jr.

from Tamla Records artists such as Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye.  Three more spin-off labels, Gordy, V.I.P. and Soul also signed up a range of what are now household names – The Temptations, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and Jimmy Ruffin and these artists only helped to cement the Motown group as a major U.S. label.

At the end of Part One we described how Rick Rubin had parted company with Def Jam Recordings in 1988 after an internal power struggle, leaving Lyor Cohen as president.  Cohen oversaw a period of creative genius but the company still struggled financially.  In the years that followed the beginning of his presidency, Def Jam released material from EPMD, LL Cool J and more stuff from Public Enemy – all big sellers – but by 1994 the company was on the verge of collapse.

At this point Polygram stepped in, buying Sony’s 50% stake in the company.  Having therefore been saved from bankruptcy, Def Jam was given the distribution deal for Warren G’s massive selling Regulate…G Funk Era, further strengthening its finances.  In this manner Def Jam continued to operate on a firm financial footing, releasing more platinum-selling records by LL Cool J and Foxy Brown until in 1998 Polygram itself was purchased by Seagrams, an enormous Canadian corporation looking to branch out into the entertainment industry.  Polygram was merged into Seagrams new purchase – Universal Music Group and the other original co-founder Russell Simmons was persuaded to sell his remaining stake in the company for a reported $100 million.

The remainder of the 1990s saw an expansion of Def Jam into new styles – for example Def Soul Records was spun off from another of Universal’s labels, Island Records, as an R & B label, featuring artists such as Dru Hill and Patti LaBelle.  This period also saw the immensely successful signing of DMX, an artist who somewhat revived hardcore hip hop.  In 2000 Def Jam South was formed to focus on rappers from the American South and in 2003 Def Jam Germany opened up to force it’s way into the German market.  Similarly Def Jam Japan opened its doors soon after.

Despite being owned by a giant corporation, Def Jam still seems to experience peaks and troughs although its finances now are much more secure.  It’s still an innovator but it’s unlikely we will see the like of Public Enemy or EPMD again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaRyITQULV0

EPMD’s Strictly Business

For people of a certain age, and I’m referring to those of us who were teenagers in the mid-late 1980s, Def Jam was a mold-breaking record label.  For us it was one of the driving forces behind Hip Hop and when it got on board with Public Enemy, it reached new levels of fame.

However Def Jam did not start out particularly as a Hip Hop label.  Now legendary producer Rick Rubin started the label from his university dormitory in New York in 1984 along with a colleague, Russell Simmons.  The first single released was by a punk band called Hose but this was soon followed by Hip Hop releases from The Beastie Boys, LL Cool J and a collaboration between T La Rock and Jazzy Jay.  Rubin still championed his rock roots however and Slayer were signed in 1986.  During this period the Hip Hop release were distributed by CBS Records while the Rock releases – in the shape of Slayer – were distributed by Geffen.

Towards the end of the 1980s and as the global appetite for Hip Hop and Rap increased, Def Jam signed Public Enemy, a Hip Hop band now famous for their controversial lyrics and social commentary.  In fact they supported The Beastie Boys  in their early days. One could argue that Public Enemy formed the financial backbone of Def Jam for the entire period of their association with the label and that it was the entire movement which surrounded the band which added to their popularity.

Unfortunately Rick Rubin’s involvement with Def Jam was destined to come to a premature end towards the end of the decade.  Lyor Cohen became the new president in 1988, ejecting Rubin from that position in the process.  Rubin decided to leave and formed Def American Recordings, in the process taking Slayer with him.

For the next few years, Def Jam consistently released high selling singles but financial problems were just around the corner.

Part Two follows….