Defunct Record Label Pillows

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.

Magic Bullet Records was an American independent record label specialising in punk rock, heavy metal and experimental music. Magic Bullet records was founded in 1996 by Brent Eyestone, in order to release an album by Boysetsfire, entitled This Crying, This Screaming, My Voice Is Being Born. The label subsequently released over 140 recordings, including albums by Charles Manson, The All-American Rejects and This Will Destroy You. The label shut down at the end of 2017.

Argo Records was a record label in Chicago that was established in 1955 as a division of Chess Records. Originally the label was called Marterry, but bandleader Ralph Marterie objected, and within a couple of months the imprint was renamed Argo. Although Chess was a blues label, the Argo division began to record jazz in 1955 and over decades attracted some big names: Gene Ammons, Kenny Burrell, Barry Harris, Illinois Jacquet, Ahmad Jamal, Ramsey Lewis, James Moody, Max Roach, Red Rodney, and Ira Sullivan.

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.

Grand Records played a pivotal role in the development of the Philadelphia doo-wop sound. Their groups usually performed sad ballads with high tenor leads.

Nashville, United States, which was started in 1946 by Jim Bulleit and C.V. Hitchcock. Bulleit was an early partner in Sun Records. Its only national hits were by orchestra leader Francis Craig. The pop hit "Near You" made in early 1947 was a monster, topping the charts for seventeen weeks and having a chart run of twenty-five weeks. Craig also made the charts at #3 with "Beg Your Pardon", but no further hits were forthcoming. Despite these hits, the label was known for country music artists such as Boots Woodall's Radio Wranglers, who also recorded for Capitol Records, and Southern Gospel artists such as the Rangers Quartet and Speer Family.

IRS RECORDS // 70s/80s Defunct Music Label

Buddah Records (later known as Buddha Records) was an American record label founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's founding. Buddah handled a variety of music genres, including bubblegum pop (the Ohio Express and the 1910 Fruitgum Company), folk rock (Melanie), experimental music (Captain Beefheart), and soul (Gladys Knight & the Pips).

Dunwich Records was an independent American record label started by Bill Traut, Eddie Higgins and George Badonsky in Chicago in 1965. Dunwich was also a production company which licensed recordings to other labels, including Atlantic, Atco, Columbia, Mercury and SGC. The label was primarily known for the release of singles from the emerging Chicago rock scene in the 1960s. Only two artists, the Shadows of Knight and Amanda Ambrose, released albums on the label.

One-derful Records was an independent R&B and soul label based in Chicago. Founded by George Leaner (June 1, 1917 – September 18, 1983) in 1962, One-derful was one of the few black-owned labels in Chicago until its demise in 1968. The label is most known for the release of "Shake a Tail Feather" by the Five Du-Tones in 1963. Other artist on the label included the Sharpees, McKinley Mitchell, Alvin Cash, and Harold Burrage. A few subsidiary labels were launched: Mar-V-Lus, M-Pac, Halo, and Midas Records.

MUSE Records was a subsidiary of the Cameo Records, launched in 1922 and lasting until 1924. A cheap line of records, being sold through Kress dime stores.

Gone Records was a record label founded in 1957 by George Goldner, along with music publishing arm Real Gone Music,that was active in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Among the artists that recorded for the label were Bill Haley & His Comets, Ral Donner, Jo-Ann Campbell, Eddie Platt, Johnny Rivers, and The Four Seasons. It was acquired by Morris Levy and incorporated into Roulette Records in 1962.

Childrens' record label established in the early 1950s by Riverside Records co-founder Bill Grauer. After Grauer's sudden death and the bankruptcy of Riverside in 1963, A.A. Records bought the label.

Aladdin Records was a record company and label founded in Los Angeles in 1945 by brothers Eddie and Leo Mesner. It was originally called Philo Records before changing its name in 1946. Aladdin was known for jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock music. Some of these were issued on the company's short-lived Jazz: West imprint. Aladdin Records launched several subsidiary labels such as Score (1948), Intro (1950), 7-11 (1952), Ultra (1955), Jazz: West (1955), and Lamp (1956). In addition to Los Angeles, many Aladdin recordings were produced by Cosimo Matassa in New Orleans.

Uncle Jam Records was a record label formed by Parliament-Funkadelic leader George Clinton and his personal manager Archie Ivy. The label was distributed nationally by CBS Records. Uncle Jam Records debuted in 1980 with the release of Sweat Band, the self-titled debut of that band, and Wynne Jammin' by Philippé Wynne, the former lead singer for The Spinners. Other acts that were signed to the label included singer Jessica Cleaves, Trey Lewd (Clinton's son Tracey Lewis), Sterling Silver Starship, and Gary Fabulous and the Black Slack.

Kent Records was a Los Angeles–based record label, launched in 1958 by the Bihari brothers. It was subsidiary of Crown Records Corporation. Kent was a follow-up to Modern Records, which ceased operations in 1958. The label reissued Modern's singles, including recordings by B.B. King. By 1964, Kent had signed acts such as Ike & Tina Turner and released new material. Other acts signed to the label included Z.Z. Hill, Johnny Otis, and Lowell Fulsom. Modern Records was revived in 1964 with successful singles from the Ikettes.

Avco Records was a record label started by music producers/composers Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore together with film and TV producer Joseph E. Levine in 1968 as Avco Embassy Records.

A&M RECORDS // 80s Defunct Music Label

Chelsea Records was an American-based record company founded by musician, songwriter, and record producer Wes Farrell in 1972. Within the company's first four months, it released its first gold single, Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast by Wayne Newton. In addition to Newton, Chelsea featured a number of new and established artists like Tommy Boyce, Jim Gilstrap, Lulu, Jigsaw, New York City, and Rick Springfield.

Blue Goose Records was an American independent record label set up in the early 1970s by Nick Perls. While on Blue Goose's sister label, Yazoo Records, Perls compiled rare 78 rpm recordings from the 1920s by Charley Patton, Blind Willie McTell, Memphis Jug Band, Blind Blake, and Blind Lemon Jefferson. On Blue Goose Records he recorded not only 'rediscovered' black blues artists like Sam Chatmon, Son House, Yank Rachell, Shirley Griffith and Thomas Shaw, but also younger blues and jazz performers, including Larry Johnson, Jo Ann Kelly, Woody Mann, John Lewis, Roy Book Binder, R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders, Rory Block, Roger Hubbard, Alan Seidler, and Brett Marvin and the Thunderbolts' member Graham Hine.

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.

Nothing Records was an American record label specializing in industrial rock and electronic music, founded by John Malm Jr. and Trent Reznor in 1992. It is considered an example of a vanity label, where an artist is able to run a label with some small degree of independence within a larger parent company, in this case the larger company being Interscope Records.

De Luxe Records (later DeLuxe Records) was a record company and label formed in 1944 by brothers David Braun (1908–1985) and Julius "Jules" Braun (1911–2002), the sons of Hungarian Jewish immigrants, in Linden, New Jersey. The label flourished in the 1940s and 1950s, notably for its rhythm and blues (R&B) and early rock and roll recordings.

The third record label to use the name Bell Records was based in Honolulu, Hawaii, in the 1950s and 1960s. The label specialized in Hawaiian music. Recordings were made by Bill Fredlund.

A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distributing releases from Polydor Ltd. from the UK. Throughout its operations, A&M housed well-known acts such as Alpert himself, Squeeze, Gin Blossoms, Dishwalla, Joe Cocker, Procol Harum, Captain & Tennille, Sting, Sergio Mendes, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Supertramp, Bryan Adams, Burt Bacharach, Liza Minnelli, The Carpenters, Paul Williams, Quincy Jones, Janet Jackson, Cat Stevens, Peter Frampton, Elkie Brooks, Carole King, Styx, Dennis DeYoung, Extreme, Amy Grant, Joan Baez, The Police, Jann Arden,

The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments from Germany for resale in the United States. Wurlitzer enjoyed initial success, largely due to defense contracts to provide musical instruments to the U.S. military. In 1880, the company began manufacturing pianos and eventually relocated to North Tonawanda, New York. It quickly expanded to make band organs, orchestrions, player pianos and pipe or theatre organs popular in theatres during the days of silent movies.

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."

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").

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.

Contemporary Records was a jazz record company and label founded by Lester Koenig in Los Angeles in 1951. Contemporary produced music from a variety of jazz styles and players. Contemporary became identified with a style of jazz called West Coast jazz as exemplified by Art Pepper, Chet Baker, Shelly Manne, and André Previn.

Keynote Records was a record label founded by record store owner Eric Bernay in 1940. The label's initial releases were folk and protest songs from the Soviet Union and the Spanish Civil War, and several anti-war releases from American musicians followed. From 1943, the label released recordings in the jazz idiom produced by Harry Lim. The music critic John S. Wilson in 1965 described the company's jazz output as "an unusually valid reflection of the jazz spirits of the times." An unwise investment in a factory to manufacture records in 1947 led to the company becoming bankrupt in 1948, and came under the control of Mercury Records.

Flying Fish Records was a record label founded in Chicago in 1974 that specialized in folk, blues, and country music. In the 1990s the label was sold to Rounder Records. Bruce Kaplan, the label's founder, was a native of Chicago and the son of a president of Zenith Electronics. He studied anthropology at the University of Chicago and became president of the school's folklore society. He began Flying Fish in 1974 to concentrate on traditional and contemporary folk music, though the catalog grew to include blues, bluegrass, country, jazz, reggae, dancefloor and rock.

UK reggae label.

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.

George Paxton and Marvin Cane formed Coed Records, Inc. in New York City in 1958, and had offices at 1619 Broadway in the Brill Building. George Paxton produced many of the songs on this label, most of which were of the East Coast Doo-wop group style, and some of these became hit songs of the day. Between 1958 and 1965, Coed's biggest acts included the Crests, the Rivieras, the Duprees, the Harptones, Trade Martin and Adam Wade, among others.

ROULETTE RECORDS // Defunct Music Label