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Enigma Records was a popular rock
Rock music

Rock music is a loosely defined genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the mid 1950's. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues, country music and other influences....
 and alternative record label
Record label

In the music industry, a record label can be a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of recorded sound and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the Record producer, manufacturing, distribution , marketing and promotion, and enforcement of copyright protec...
 in the 1980s. It was initially a division of Greenworld Distribution, an independent music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
 importer/distributor, from which it split off in 1985 to become its own company.

Enigma was founded and run by brothers William and Wesley Hein. Jim Martone joined the company
Company

Generally, a company is a form of business organization. The precise definition varies.In the United States, a company is a corporation—or, less commonly, an association, partnership, or union—that carries on an industrial enterprise." Generally, a company may be a "corporation, partnership, association, joint-stock company, Inv...
 in 1984 and ultimately became a partner with the Heins. Enigma focused on punk rock
Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock....
, alternative, and heavy metal music
Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in England and the United States. With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified Distortion , extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall...
 though it also released techno
Techno

Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan, United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988....
, jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 and classical music through subsidiary labels.






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Enigma Records was a popular rock
Rock music

Rock music is a loosely defined genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the mid 1950's. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues, country music and other influences....
 and alternative record label
Record label

In the music industry, a record label can be a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of recorded sound and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the Record producer, manufacturing, distribution , marketing and promotion, and enforcement of copyright protec...
 in the 1980s. It was initially a division of Greenworld Distribution, an independent music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
 importer/distributor, from which it split off in 1985 to become its own company.

Enigma was founded and run by brothers William and Wesley Hein. Jim Martone joined the company
Company

Generally, a company is a form of business organization. The precise definition varies.In the United States, a company is a corporation—or, less commonly, an association, partnership, or union—that carries on an industrial enterprise." Generally, a company may be a "corporation, partnership, association, joint-stock company, Inv...
 in 1984 and ultimately became a partner with the Heins. Enigma focused on punk rock
Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock....
, alternative, and heavy metal music
Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in England and the United States. With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified Distortion , extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall...
 though it also released techno
Techno

Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan, United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988....
, jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 and classical music through subsidiary labels. The label was initially located in Torrance, California
Torrance, California

Torrance is a city located in the South Bay, Los Angeles region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city's population was 138,000 compared to 142,000 in 2005....
, then El Segundo, California
El Segundo, California

El Segundo is a city in Los Angeles County, California, California on the Santa Monica Bay, incorporated on January 18, 1917. The population was 16,033 at the 2000 census....
 and finally Culver City, California
Culver City, California

Culver City is a city in western Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 38,816. The community is mostly surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but also has a border with unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County....
.

Enigma Records was initially distributed through independent record importers/distributors such as JEM Records and Important, and beginning in 1986, arranged distribution through Capitol
Capitol Records

Capitol Records is a major United States-based record label owned by EMI and located in Hollywood, California and New York City as part of Capitol Music Group....
/EMI
EMI

The EMI Group is a United Kingdom music company comprising the major record label EMI Music ? which operates several labels and is based in Kensington in London, England, United Kingdom ? and EMI Music Publishing, based in New York City....
, a major record label. Capitol/EMI acquired Enigma from the Heins in 1989
1989 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1989....
 and soon merged its operations into Capitol, moving some of the artists to the various EMI labels. The Enigma Retro division focused on re-issues of material licensed from other labels such as Straight Records
Straight Records

Straight Records was a record label formed in 1969 in music to distribute productions and discoveries of Frank Zappa and his business partner/manager Herb Cohen....
, Bizarre Records
Bizarre Records

Bizarre Records was a record label formed for artists discovered by Frank Zappa and his business partner/manager Herb Cohen.Bizarre was originally formed as a production company....
, and DiscReet Records
DiscReet Records

DiscReet Records was a company founded by Frank Zappa and his then business partner/manager Herb Cohen. DiscReet was created in 1973 when their previous companies Bizarre Records and Straight Records were discontinued....
. Enigma Retro released CD's and cassette versions of albums by artists such as Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper is an American rock music singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades. With a stage show that features guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, and boa constrictors, Cooper has drawn equally from horror movies, vaudeville, heavy metal music, and garage rock to create a theatrical brand of rock musi...
, Tim Buckley
Tim Buckley

Timothy Charles Buckley III was an experimental vocalist and musician who incorporated jazz, psychedelia, funk, soul music, and avant-garde rock in a career spanning the late 1960s and early 1970s....
, Captain Beefheart
Captain Beefheart

Don Van Vliet is an United States musician and visual artist, best known by the pseudonym Captain Beefheart. His musical work was mainly conducted with a rotating assembly of musicians called The Magic Band, which was active from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s....
, The GTOs
The GTOs

The GTOs were a "groupie group" that consisted of Pamela Des Barres , Miss Sparky , Miss Lucy, Miss Christine , Miss Sandra , Miss Mercy and Miss Cynderella ....
 and Ted Nugent
Ted Nugent

Theodore Anthony "Ted" Nugent is an United States hard rock guitarist and vocalist from Detroit, Michigan. He originally gained fame as the lead guitarist of The Amboy Dukes....
 and The Amboy Dukes
The Amboy Dukes

The Amboy Dukes were an United States rock music band of the late 1960s and early 1970s from Detroit, Michigan, best remembered for their hit single "Journey to the Center of the Mind", and for launching the career of Ted Nugent....
.

Enigma Records had at one time or another the following bands on its roster: Poison
Poison (band)

Poison is an United States hard rock band that achieved great success and popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They have become icons of the 80s MTV era and have had widespread commercial success....
 (eventually became a joint venture with Capitol), 45 Grave
45 Grave

45 Grave, formed in 1979, is an American rock music rock band from Los Angeles, California, noted for their influential roles in the horror punk and deathrock genres and association with goth rock....
, Agent Orange
Agent Orange (band)

Agent Orange is an American rock music rock band formed in Orange County, California in 1979. The band is one of the first to mix punk rock with surf music....
, DEVO
Devo

Devo , often spelled DEVO or DEV-O, is an American Rock music group formed in Akron, Ohio in 1973. They are best known for their 1980 hit "Whip It", which made it to #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart....
, Don Dixon, Bill Nelson
Bill Nelson (musician)

Bill Nelson is a prolific guitarist, songwriter, Painting and Experimental music musician from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. He currently lives in Selby....
, Ben Vaughn
Ben Vaughn

Ben Vaughn is an United States musician, music producer and a longtime Rambler enthusiast.Born in Collingswood, New Jersey, Vaughn's interest in music began at age 6 when his uncle gave him a Duane Eddy record....
, Peter Hammill
Peter Hammill

Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill is a singer-songwriter, and a founding member of progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Most noted for his vocal abilities, his main instruments are guitar and piano....
, Al Stewart
Al Stewart

Al Stewart is a United Kingdom singer-songwriter and folk rock musician.He is best known for his 1976 single "Year of the Cat " and its 1978 follow-up "Time Passages " , although albums such as Past, Present and Future [1973] and Modern Times [1975] are seen as more representative of Stewart's talent as a historical wordsmith and Lyrical...
, Barren Cross
Barren Cross

Barren Cross is a Christian metal band that was formed in Los Angeles, CA, California in 1983 by high school pals Ray Parris and Steve Whitaker ....
, Berlin
Berlin (band)

Berlin is an United States New Wave music band featuring lead singer Terri Nunn....
, Channel 3
Channel 3 (band)

Channel 3, also known as CH3, is a punk rock band from Cerritos, California. Part of the Southern California punk scene of the early 1980s, the band had a sound that was more melodic than many of their hardcore punk contemporaries, and lyrics which ranged from thoughtful and satirical to bratty and self-indulgent....
, Lääz Rockit
Lääz Rockit

L??z Rockit are a thrash metal band formed in San Francisco, California in 1982. Although one of the lesser-known groups of the Bay Area thrash metal scene, each album in their history has received high critical marks....
, Chris Poland
Chris Poland

Chris Poland is a jazz - jazz fusion guitar player. He started playing in high school in Dunkirk, New York in the rock/jazz band called Welkin....
, XYZ
XYZ (metal band)

XYZ is a Hard rock band, formed in the late 80s. XYZ started off as the unofficial house band of "The Whiskey", a nightclub in Los Angeles. The original members were, Terry Ilous , Bobby Pieper , Patt Fontaine and Joey Pafumi ....
, The Dead Milkmen
Dead Milkmen

The Dead Milkmen are a satirical punk rock band formed in 1983 in music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The band initially consisted of Joe Genaro , Dave Schulthise , Dean Sabatino , and Rodney Linderman ....
, Death Angel
Death Angel

Death Angel is a Filipino-American thrash metal band from Concord, California, California. Initially active from 1982 to 1991, the band reformed at the Thrash of the Titans benefit concert for Chuck Billy in 2001....
, Obsession
Michael Vescera

Michael Vescera is a singer for various bands and projects like Loudness , Obsession , Yngwie Malmsteen , Dr. Sin , Roland Grapow or his own band MVP ....
, Stryper
Stryper

Stryper is a Grammy Award nominated Christian metal Musical ensemble from Orange County, California, United States. Formed in 1983, they are pioneers in the mainstream popularization of Christian metal music....
, Great White
Great White

Great White is an American hard rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1978. The band gained popularity during the 1980s and early 1990s. The band released several albums in the late 1980s and gained airplay on MTV with music videos for songs like "Once Bitten, Twice Shy"....
, Hurricane
Hurricane (band)

Hurricane was an 1980s Heavy metal music / glam metal rock band originally featuring Kelly Hansen , Robert Sarzo , Tony Cavazo , and Jay Schellen ....
, Green on Red
Green on Red

Green on Red were an American rock band, formed in the Tucson, Arizona punk scene, but based for most of its career in Los Angeles, California, where it was loosely associated with the Paisley Underground....
, Lizzy Borden
Lizzy Borden (band)

Lizzy Borden is an United States Heavy metal music band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1983. Lizzy Borden is also the name of the band's lead vocalist....
 (through a joint venture with Metal Blade Records
Metal Blade Records

Metal Blade Records is a record label which was founded in 1981 in music by Brian Slagel. It has offices in the USA, Germany, and Japan. The label is distributed in the U.S....
), Mojo Nixon
Mojo Nixon

Mojo Nixon is an United States musician, who was part of the psychobilly movement....
 & Skid Roper
Skid Roper

Skid Roper is an American musician active in the 1980s and early 1990s. He is best known for his work with Mojo Nixon between 1985 and 1989.With Nixon, Roper served mainly as an instrumentalist....
, Ratt
Ratt

Ratt is an United States heavy metal music band that formed in San Diego and enjoyed significant commercial success in the 1980s. The band is most notable for their songs "Round and Round ," "Wanted Man ," "Lay It Down ," "You're in Love " and "Back For More." Though the group lost popularity in the following decade, Ratt has been recognized...
, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers are a Grammy Award-winning American Rock music band formed in Los Angeles, California, California, in 1983. For most of the band's existence, the members are vocalist Anthony Kiedis, guitarist John Frusciante, bassist Flea , and drummer Chad Smith....
 (through a joint venture with EMI America), Slayer
Slayer

Slayer is an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981. The band was founded by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King....
 (through a joint venture with Metal Blade Records
Metal Blade Records

Metal Blade Records is a record label which was founded in 1981 in music by Brian Slagel. It has offices in the USA, Germany, and Japan. The label is distributed in the U.S....
), The Smithereens
The Smithereens

The Smithereens are a rock band from Carteret, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. The group, formed in 1980, has consisted of Pat DiNizio , Jim Babjak , Mike Mesaros , and Dennis Diken until 2006, when Mike left the band....
, Steve Kilbey
Steve Kilbey

Steven John Kilbey is the lead singer-songwriter and bass guitarist for The Church , an Australian rock band. He is also a music producer, poet, bus driver and painter....
, Guardian
Guardian (band)

Guardian is a Contemporary Christian Metal band that was originally formed in the 80's. The band released six studio albums, three additional albums in Spanish language?and toured extensively worldwide....
, TSOL
TSOL

TSOL are an American punk band which formed in 1979 in Long Beach, California. TSOL is short for True Sounds of Liberty although they are rarely referred to by their full name....
, The Untouchables
Untouchables (band)

The Untouchables are a soul music/mod revival band from the Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California area.They formed in 1981 as part of the embryonic L.A....
, Wednesday Week, Ike Willis
Ike Willis

Ike Willis is a singer and guitarist who was a regular sideman for Frank Zappa, first joining Zappa's band for the fall 1978 tour and remaining in the band for several years....
, Wire
Wire (band)

Wire are an English rock music band formed in London in October 1976, by Colin Newman , Graham Lewis , Bruce Gilbert , and Robert Gotobed .c) Despite little attention in the beginning, Wire's first three albums are among the most influential on the postpunk era, cited by Michael Stipe of R.E.M....
, The Leaving Trains
The Leaving Trains

The Leaving Trains were an American indie rock band from Los Angeles, California.The Leaving Trains were founded in 1980 by Falling James Moreland, who was at one point married to Courtney Love....
, Plasticland
Plasticland

Plasticland is an United States Psychedelic rock and Garage rock band, formed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1980 with two members of Arousing Polaris, Glenn Rehse and John Frankovic ....
 and many other rock and alternative acts. Enigma also released film soundtracks including The Terminator
The Terminator

The Terminator is a 1984 in film Science fiction film/action film directed and co-written by James Cameron. It features Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn....
 and River's Edge
River's Edge

River's Edge is a 1986 in film United States drama/dark comedy movie starring Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye, Daniel Roebuck, and Dennis Hopper....
. Enigma also released some Mute Records
Mute Records

Mute Records was an independent record label based in the UK. In 2002 the label was sold to EMI....
 titles in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth is an American rock music rock band formed in New York City in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Mark Ibold and Steve Shelley ....
's landmark 1988 album Daydream Nation
Daydream Nation

Daydream Nation is the fifth studio album by the American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was released in October 1988 by Enigma Records in the United States, and by Blast First in the United Kingdom....
 was originally released on Enigma Records, in association with Blast First Records

At the time of the Capitol distribution agreement in 1986, Enigma formed a subsidiary label, Restless Records
Restless Records

Restless Records was a Hollywood, California based independent record label which was started by Enigma Records. In the 1980s to mid-1990s, it released primarily alternative rock/ indie rock albums....
, to remain with the indepenent distributors to nurture acts not ready for major label distribution. A subdivision, Restless Retro, inherited Enigma's arrangement with Mute Records.

Enigma's Canadian
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
 division was closed in the early 1990s. Several staff members went on to form FRE Records
FRE Records

FRE Records was a Toronto, Ontario based indie rock record label in the 1990s. It was originally formed by former employees of Enigma Records after that label's Canadian operations folded....
.

When Enigma Records shut down its Canadian operations it also created one of the first full service independent marketing, publicity, promotion and management companies in the music industry DMD Entertainment.

See also

  • List of record labels
    List of record labels

    This is a list of notable record labels.Owing to the large number of entries, the list has been divided by the first letter of the label's name, with labels starting with a number added to this page:...