PolyGram is a company that, at the time of its disbandment, was part of the “Big Six” record labels (now, without PolyGram and after the merger of Sony and BMG, “Big Four”) [2] .
| Polygram | |
|---|---|
 | |
| basic information | |
| Owner | Philips |
| Based | 1972 |
| Founder | |
| Abolished | |
| Status | sold to Seagram / Universal and merged / transformed into Universal Music Group |
| Distributor | PolyGram Group Distribution Independent label sales |
| A country | |
| Location | USA (PolyGram Holding, Inc.) [1] Netherlands (PolyGram NV) [1] |
History
PolyGram was created by Philips in 1972 by merging Polydor with Phonogram International . The company constantly grew until the 1990s, during which Philips bought labels such as Island Records , Motown , A&M Records , Def Jam [3] . The music business of PolyGram, where all these labels belonged, had the collective name “PolyGram Music Group” [1] .
In 1998, Philips sold PolyGram for $ 10.4 billion to the then owner of Universal Music Group , the Seagram alcohol company [4] [5] [6] , which merged it and several other labels into the Universal Music Group the following year [7 ] .
By the time it was sold in 1998, the PolyGram business, which included both music and cinema, was valued at $ 5 billion [8] , but the company was going through hard times. When in July 1997, Island Records announced the dismissal of 12 employees in an attempt to improve their financial situation, the Los Angeles Times reported that Mercury Records did fine with PolyGram sublabels, while others didn’t grow or fall [9] .
The company was included in the so-called “Big Six” record labels, which after its disappearance became the “Big Five”, and in 2004, after the merger of Sony and BMG, the “Big Four” [2] .
Selected List of Sublabels
- A&M Records
- Decca records
- Def Jam Recordings
- Fontana records
- Island records
- London records
- Mercury records
- Philips records
- Polydor records
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 PolyGram Holding, Inc., et al. - Complaint . Federal Trade Commission (July 2001).
- ↑ 1 2 Patrick Burkart, Tom McCourt. Digital Music Wars: Ownership and Control of the Celestial Jukebox .
- ↑ Geoffrey P. Hull, Thomas William Hutchison, Richard Strasser. The Music Business and Recording Industry: Delivering Music in the 21st Century . - 2011.
- ↑ Hank Bordowitz. Dirty Little Secrets of the Record Business: Why So Much Music You Hear Sucks .
- ↑ Louis Bafle. Where Have All the Good Times Gone? .
- ↑ Ronald V. Bettig, Jeanne Lynn Hall. Big Media, Big Money: Cultural Texts and Political Economics .
- ↑ John Shepherd, David Horn, Peter Wicke. Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World: Volume 1. Media, Industry and Society . - 2003.
- ↑ Billboard July 4, 1998.
- ↑ Island Records Fires at Least 12 Workers - Los Angeles Times , Los Angeles Times (July 12, 1997).