Universal Music Group Nashville is
Universal Music GroupUniversal Music Group is the largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry. It is the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
's
country musicCountry music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains...
subsidiary. Some of the labels in this group include MCA Nashville Records Mercury Nashville Records, and
Lost Highway RecordsLost Highway Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. Formed by Luke Lewis in 2000, Lost Highway Records operates as a country music label, based out of Nashville, but the label also issues music by alternative rock and alternative country artists such as Morrissey and Ryan Adams. ...
. UMG Nashville not only handles these imprints, but also manages the country music catalogues of record labels Universal Music and predecessor companies acquired over the years including
ABC RecordsABC Records was an American record label, founded in New York City in 1955 as ABC-Paramount Records. It originated as the main popular music label operated the Am-Par Record Corporation, the music subsidiary of the American Broadcasting Company...
,
Decca RecordsDecca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; later the link with the British company was broken for several decades...
,
Dot RecordsDot Records was an American record label and company that was active between 1950 and 1977. It was founded by Randy Wood. In Gallatin, Tennessee, Wood had earlier started a mail order record shop, known for its radio ads on WLAC in Nashville and its R&B air personality Bill "Hoss" Allen...
,
DreamWorks RecordsDreamWorks Records was an American record label. Founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg as a subsidiary of DreamWorks SKG, the label operated until 2005 when it was shut down...
,
Kapp RecordsKapp Records was a record label started in 1954 by David Kapp, brother of Jack Kapp . Kapp licensed its records to London Records for release in the UK....
,
MGM RecordsMGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films...
and
Polydor RecordsPolydor Records is a record label currently headquartered in the UK, and is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used, as an export label, in 1924, the British and German branches...
.
MCA Nashville
| MCA Nashville Records |
| |
| Parent company |
Universal Music GroupUniversal Music Group is the largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry. It is the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
|
| Founded |
1945 (as Decca country music div.)
1973 (as MCA Nashville) |
| Founder(s) |
Paul Cohen Paul Cohen was an American country music producer.Cohen first entered the record business with Columbia in the late 1920s, but in 1934 joined Decca’s newly formed American operation, organized by two brothers, Jack and Dave Kapp—old Chicago friends of his...
|
| Distributing label |
Universal Music Nashville (USThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) |
| Genre(s) |
Country musicCountry music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains...
|
| Country |
USA |
| Web address |
http://www.umgnashville.com/ |
MCA Nashville started out as the country music division of Decca Records in 1945, founded by
Paul CohenPaul Cohen was an American country music producer.Cohen first entered the record business with Columbia in the late 1920s, but in 1934 joined Decca’s newly formed American operation, organized by two brothers, Jack and Dave Kapp—old Chicago friends of his...
in New York. In 1947, Cohen hired
Owen BradleyOwen Bradley was an American record producer, who, along with Chet Atkins and Bob Ferguson, was one of the chief architects of the 1950s and 1960s Nashville sound in country music and rockabilly.-Before the fame:...
as his assistant working in Nashville. The country music division moved to Nashville in 1955 as much of the country music recording business was locating there. Bradley succeeded Cohen as head of Decca's Nashville division in 1958 and developed Decca into a country music powerhouse. Decca Nashville was renamed MCA Nashville in
1973-January–April:*January 9 - Mick Jagger's request for a Japanese visa is rejected on account of a 1969 drug bust, putting an abrupt end to The Rolling Stones' plans to perform in Japan during their forthcoming tour of Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand....
.
In 1979, MCA Nashville absorbed the country music roster (including
Roy ClarkRoy Linwood Clark is a versatile and well-known country music musician and performer. He is best known for hosting Hee Haw, one of the first nationally televised country variety shows in the United States, from 1969–1992.Clark has been an iconic figure in country music, both as a musician and as...
,
Barbara MandrellBarbara Ann Mandrell is an American country music singer. She is best-known for a 1970s–1980s series of Top 10 hits and TV shows that helped her become one of country music's most successful female vocalists of the 1970s and 1980s.She was the first performer and is currently the only female...
and
The Oak Ridge BoysThe Oak Ridge Boys is a country and gospel group that is based in the United States. The group was founded in 1945 as the Oak Ridge Quartet. They became popular during the 1950s. Their name was changed to the Oak Ridge Boys in the early 1960s, and they remained a gospel-oriented group until the mid...
) and back catalogue of ABC Records including the Dot Records catalogue. In the early 1980s, MCA Nashville signed
Reba McEntireReba Nell McEntire is a Grammy award-winning American country music artist. She began her career in the music industry singing with her siblings on local radio shows and rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma City, which caught the attention of country artist Red...
(who departed the label in late 2008) and
George StraitGeorge Harvey Strait is a Grammy Award-winning American country music singer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend...
, two of the greatest selling artists of all time and the mega stars on the record label.
In the 1990s MCA Nashville briefly revived the Decca label for country music releases, but it was shut down after Universal Music absorbed
PolyGramPolyGram was the name from 1972 of the major label recording company started by Philips as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999, it was sold to Seagram and merged with MCA Music Entertainment, to form Universal Music Group....
and chose to reserve the Decca name for
classical musicClassical music is the mainstream music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times...
releases. While Decca resumed issuing country music in February 2008, the current Decca country music department has no connection with UMG Nashville.
With the absorption of
MCA RecordsMCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part...
into
Geffen RecordsGeffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
in 2003, MCA Nashville is now, along with UMG's unit in the Philippines, the only units of Universal Music to still use the MCA name.
Mercury Nashville
The still active
Mercury RecordsMercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Music Group in the US, and are both subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal Music...
was founded in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
in 1945 issuing recordings in a variety of genres including country music. The Nashville office of Mercury began as a joint venture between Mercury and
"Pappy" Daily'sHarold W. Daily , better known as "Pappy" Daily, was an American country music record producer and entrepreneur who cofounded the Texas-based record label Starday Records...
established country music record label Starday Records in January 1957. On July 1958, the Mercury/Starday joint venture was dissolved and Starday record producer
Shelby SingletonShelby Singleton was an American record producer and record label owner.-Career:...
stayed on with Mercury in Nashville, becoming head of Mercury's Nashville office by 1961. Singleton left Mercury in 1966 to form
his own companyPlantation Records was a record label started by Shelby Singleton. The label is best-known for the Jeannie C. Riley 45rpm single, "Harper Valley P.T.A."...
which bought
Sun RecordsSun Records is a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27 1952.
Founded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records was known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Buddy McNeil,...
in 1969.
When Mercury owner
PolyGramPolyGram was the name from 1972 of the major label recording company started by Philips as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999, it was sold to Seagram and merged with MCA Music Entertainment, to form Universal Music Group....
was purchased by Universal Music Group in 1998, the resulting record label consolidations left Mercury under the
The Island Def Jam Music GroupThe Island Def Jam Music Group is a record label group formed in 1999, when Universal Music Group merged together two of its daughter companies, Island Records and Def Jam Recordings, to create a super label. Island Def Jam is the largest label in the world with 400 artists on the label...
umbrella making Mercury in the USA dormant until recently, but still active internationally. The consolidations in Nashville which created UMG Nashville kept the Mercury Nashville imprint active. Reissues of country music recordings first issued on the MGM and
PolydorPolydor Records is a record label currently headquartered in the UK, and is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used, as an export label, in 1924, the British and German branches...
labels bear the Mercury Nashville imprint.