Defunct Record Label Socks
Description: India Navigation was an American record company and independent record label that specialized in avant-garde jazz in the 1970s and 1980s. It was founded by Bob Cummins, a corporate lawyer who helped jazz musicians with legal matters. Its catalogue included Arthur Blythe, Pharoah Sanders, Hamiet Bluiett, Chico Freeman, Cecil McBee, and the Revolutionary Ensemble. In addition to this, some recordings of minimal music, such as Arnold Dreyblatt, Phill Niblock and Joseph Celli, or Tom Johnson, also appeared.
Description: Freedom Records was a jazz record label headed by Shel Safran and founded by Alan Bates as a division of Black Lion Records. Individual recordings were distributed via Polydor Records and Transatlantic Records during the early 1970s before the company was bought by Arista Records with the imprint dubbed Arista/Freedom in 1975.
Description: Modern Records (Modern Music Records before 1947) was an American record company and label formed in 1945 in Los Angeles by the Bihari brothers. Modern's artists included Etta James, Joe Houston, Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turner and John Lee Hooker. The label released some of the most influential blues and R&B records of the 1940s and 1950s.
Description: Downey Records was an American record label owned by Bill Wetzel (July 26, 1912 – November 20, 1999) in Downey, California, and distributed at times by Dot Records. Wetzel worked as a sound engineer for MGM studios and in 1958, opened Wetzel's Music Town in Downey, California. In 1959, he began the Jack Bee label which he eventually turned into the Downey label with a studio in the back of the record store.
Description: Happy Tiger Records was an independent American record label that was owned by the Flying Tiger Line air freight company. Happy Tiger operated from 1969 to 1971. During this time the label produced more than two dozen albums by Count Basie, Mason Proffit, Red Rhodes, Priscilla Paris, Paul Kelly, and the Anita Kerr Singers. They released two albums by the post-Van Morrison Them band.
Description: American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres formed a records division, incorporating the Am-Par Record Corporation on June 14, 1955 with Samuel H. Clark as its first president. By August 1955, the unit was organized with AMPCO (ASCAP) and PAMCO (BMI) as subsidiary publishing units. Though the record label was established as Am-Par, no records were released until after the division's name was changed to ABC-Paramount in September 1955.
Description: Trustkill Records was an American independent record label that started as a hardcore punk fanzine in April 1993. It started releasing hardcore, metal and rock records and merchandise in 1994. In 2010, the president of Trustkill, Josh Grabelle, formed a new label called Bullet Tooth Records.
Description: Period Records was an American record label that was founded in 1949. Period Records was the label of Period Music Company. Period had a large catalog of classical and operetta recordings, as well as jazz and popular music. In 1956, Period sold its jazz LP catalog (10 disks) to Bethlehem Records. Production of all its jazz recordings were supervised by Leonard Feather. Several of the Period recordings had been previously released by Jazztone for mail-order club release.
Description: Federal Records was an American record label founded in 1950 as a subsidiary of Syd Nathan's King Records and based in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was run by famed record producer Ralph Bass and was mainly devoted to Rhythm & Blues releases. The company also released hillbilly and rockabilly recordings from 1951 onward, e.g., "Rockin' and Rollin" by Ramblin' Tommy Scott on Federal 10003. Singles were published on both 45 and 78 rpm speed formats.
Description: Jumbo Records was a record label set up in Britain in 1908 as a subsidiary of the Italian company Fonotipia. The 10-inch 78 rpm records were initially manufactured in Frankfurt for marketing in the UK, and then in Tonbridge, Kent, but in 1913 manufacturing moved to a new factory at Hertford. The label released popular recordings by military bands, orchestras, solo singers, and many music hall performers of the time, including George Formby Sr., Ella Retford, Billy Williams, and Vesta Tilley.
Description: Alston Records was an American record label founded by Henry Stone and Steve Alaimo in 1964 that went bankrupt in 1981. Artists previously on its roster include Bill Pursell, Betty Wright, The Beginning of the End ("Funky Nassau"), Jimmy "Bo" Horne, Clarence Reid, Timmy Thomas and Sam & Dave.
Description: The United States version of Tiger Lily Records was a record label that was run by Roulette Records founder Morris Levy. Purportedly it was a tax scam created by Levy and was never intended to make a profit. Tiger Lily's primary modus operandi was to acquire demo tapes from artists or studios and then release them without the artists consent and sometimes without even the artist's knowledge. Other albums released by Tiger Lily have been identified as bootlegs of albums released in the early 1970s by Artie Ripp's Family Productions and two cases of performers who were actually signed to Tiger Lily Records have been identified.
Description: Peacock Records was an American record label, founded in 1949 by Don Robey in Houston, Texas, United States. "Hound Dog" by Big Mama Thornton was a hit for Peacock in 1953. Other significant rhythm and blues artists on Peacock were Marie Adams, James Booker, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Little Richard, Memphis Slim, and former gospel singer Jackie Verdell. The label also dabbled in jazz, releasing albums by vocalist Betty Carter and saxophonist Sonny Criss.
Description: Spark Records was a record label started by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller around 1954 in Los Angeles, California. Artists released on Spark Records included Willy & Ruth, The Sly Fox, Ervin "Big Boy" Groves, and The Robins. Leiber and Stoller eventually decided that while they wanted to write songs and make records, but did not want to deal with the mechanics of publishing records, so they sold the label to Atlantic Records.
Description: Lucky Four Records was a Chicago-based record company, located at 5411 W. Diversey Avenue, that existed from 1960 to 1963. The label was founded and owned by Lenny LaCour, who was also a singer, songwriter, and record producer. Lucky Four Records appears to have released only 45 rpm singles; some by LaCour himself, others by such artists as The Swinging Hearts, The Belvederes, and Eddy Bell. All Lucky Four releases are considered collectible, with #1012, "The Great Great Pumpkin", a Halloween novelty song by Eddy Bell particularly sought after.
Description: Laff Records was a small American independent record label specializing in mainly African-American comedy and party records founded in 1967 in Los Angeles. Kliph Nesteroff, author of the book The Comedians, wrote that "no other company cranked out as many comedy LPs during the 1970s. While much of its content was undeniably amateurish, it documented a subculture most comedy fans were unaware existed." It is most well known for releasing a series of Richard Pryor albums, mostly without Pryor's participation or approval, which earned the label several Grammy nominations and one win.
Description: New Alliance Records was an independent record label founded by American musicians D. Boon and Mike Watt (of The Minutemen) and longtime friend and associate Martin Tamburovich. They were inspired by the example of their friends in southern California band Black Flag who had earlier formed SST Records. The existence of SST led Watt to understand, according to a 1987 interview he gave to Musician magazine, how easy it was to get a record made: "All you had to do was pay the record plant man."
Description: Era Records was an independent American record label in Hollywood, California. It was founded by Herb Newman and Lou Bedell in 1955 as a pop, country and western, and jazz label. In 1959 Bedell sold his interest in the label to Newman. Era had a No. 1 hit in 1956 with Gogi Grant's "The Wayward Wind" written by Newman. Musicians with hits on Era include Ketty Lester ("Love Letters"), Larry Verne ("Mr. Custer"), Donnie Brooks ("Mission Bell"), Dorsey Burnette ("Tall Oak Tree"), Art & Dotty Todd ("Chanson D' Amour"), and The Castells ("So This Is Love").
Description: Gold Star Recording Company originated as a recording studio in Houston, Texas, and was founded in October 1941 by Bill Quinn under the name Quinn Recording Company. In 1950, Quinn changed the name of the studio to Gold Star Studios and, as such, remains the oldest registered recording studio in the Southeastern United States.
Description: Revue Records was an American subsidiary record label of MCA. Revue was operated by the same management team that ran Universal City (UNI) Records. Revue was created in 1967 to exclusively cater to the R&B market. The label primarily released singles, but from 1968 until its dissolution, albums were released. In 1971, MCA merged Uni Records and other subsidiaries to become MCA Records.
Description: Cavalier Records was an American record label founded by Tom Spinosa in San Francisco, California, in the early 1950s. Notables who recorded on Cavalier include guitarist Nick Lucas (backed by San Francisco's Jimmy Diamond Orchestra), folk singer-songwriter Stan Wilson, Ronny Draper (younger brother of country singer Rusty Draper), San Francisco "hum-along" pianist Burt Bales, local Western Music performers and entrepreneurs Black Jack Wayne and Chuck Wayne,[2] and singer Gianfranco Giotta, who collaborated with composer John Verducci.
Description: Refuge Records was a contemporary Christian music record label founded in 1980 by Greg Nelson, Jack Hafer and Ray Nenow. One imprint of Refuge was Pure Metal Records, although Star Song Communications bought out that branch in 1990. The label had Doug Mann, future founder of R.E.X. Records, as an employee.
Description: Xanadu Records was a jazz record label founded in 1975 by Don Schlitten. It was most active during the 1970s and 1980s and stopped recording in the 1990s. The catalogue was bought by emusic in 1999, but no new music was produced. In 2007, the catalogue was bought by The Orchard, which entered an agreement in 2015 with Elemental Music to reissue some of the catalog as the Xanadu Master Edition Series. The partnership planned to include albums by Kenny Barron, Bob Berg, Al Cohn, Sonny Criss, Joe Farrell, Barry Harris, Dexter Gordon, Albert Heath, Jimmy Heath, Duke Jordan, Charles McPherson, and Cecil Payne.
Description: MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. MCA Inc., a talent agency and television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 with the purchase of the New York–based US Decca Records, including Coral Records and Brunswick Records. MCA was forced to exit the talent agency business in order to complete the merger. As American Decca owned Universal Pictures, MCA assumed full ownership of Universal and made it into a top film studio, producing several hits.
Description: Cruz Records was an offshoot record label of SST Records, owned by the Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn. The label was founded in 1987. Its roster consisted mainly of pop punk and grunge bands, along with Ginn's solo records. The label has remained inactive since the mid-1990s although the pieces of its back catalog that are still in print are still available through SST Records.
Description: Bertelsmann Music Group was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America. Although it was established in 1987, the music company was formed as RCA/Ariola International in 1985 as a joint venture to combine the music label activities of RCA's RCA Records division and Bertelsmann's Ariola Records and its associated labels which include Arista Records. It consisted of the BMG Music Publishing company, the world's third largest music publisher and the world's largest independent music publisher and the 50% share of the joint venture with Sony Music, which established the German American Sony BMG from 2004 to 2008.
Description: Relativity Records was an American record label founded by Barry Kobrin at the site of his vinyl record shop, Important Record Distributors (IRD) in metropolitan New York City. The IRD distribution name was later known as RED Distribution and again as RED Music. Relativity released music that covered a wide variety of musical genres. When it entered into a deal with Sony Music Entertainment, it became more known for its heavy metal and hip hop releases.
Description: Colossus Records was an American record label founded in 1969 by Jerry Ross, who had also founded Heritage Records the year before. Like Heritage, Colossus was distributed by MGM Records. In the autumn of 1969, Jerry Ross was in Europe looking for European hits for release in the United States, and he came across "Ma Belle Amie" by Tee-Set, whom he then signed. He was also offered Venus by Shocking Blue and "Little Green Bag" by George Baker Selection. "Venus" was released first and it reached No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100 in 1970.
