2. 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.
4. 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.
6. 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
