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V2 Records
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- V2 redirects here. For the rocket, see V-2 rocket. For other meanings, see V2 (disambiguation).
V2 Records (or V2 Music) is a record label that is owned by Universal Music Group as of October 2007. The label was founded in 1996 by Richard Branson, five years after he sold Virgin Records to EMI.
Ultimately, the label was owned 95% by Morgan Stanley and 5% by Branson because Morgan Stanley was the chief financier of the company.
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Encyclopedia
- V2 redirects here. For the rocket, see V-2 rocket. For other meanings, see V2 (disambiguation).
V2 Records (or V2 Music) is a record label that is owned by Universal Music Group as of October 2007. The label was founded in 1996 by Richard Branson, five years after he sold Virgin Records to EMI.
Ultimately, the label was owned 95% by Morgan Stanley and 5% by Branson because Morgan Stanley was the chief financier of the company. Over the years V2 acquired Gee Street Records, Junior Boy's Own, Blue Dog Records, and Big Cat Records. The label also distributed many labels, such as Wichita, Luaka Bop, City Slang, and Modular.
V2 now operates in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States. It was distributed in the US by BMG; however it left for WEA shortly after the formation of Sony BMG. Its headquarters were located at 12 East 4th Street in Manhattan, the former US home of Island Records, which was in the same building as the former Greenwich Village branch of Tower Records.
In April 2005, Cooperative Music was set up as by the V2 Music Group as a transnational marketing and distribution operation which licenses independent labels, as opposed to individual artist companies which is the standard industry practice, for release in Europe, Australia and Japan. This in-house licensing division has an exclusive international marketing team with representation in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Australia and Japan.
In 2006 Branson sold V2 Records North America to Sheridan Square Entertainment for $15 million. They then merged V2 North America with its label Artemis Records. The new label was effectively divested from the Virgin group.
In May 2006, much of V2's catalogue, including multiplatinum artists Moby and The White Stripes, was added to eMusic, making the label one of the most high-profile featured on the online music site, which mostly sells DRM-free independent music at a cost considerably lower than many of its competitors.
On 12 January, 2007, V2's United States and Canada branches announced that they were undergoing restructuring to focus on its back catalogue and digital distribution. As a result, their employees were let go and their roster of artists left as free agents.
In August 2007, the company was sold for £7 million to Universal Music Group. Subsequently in October 2007, UMG partnered the US operations of its independent distribution arm Fontana Distribution, known as Fontana International, with London-based Cooperative Music of V2 Music. The intent was to enhance expansion through international agreements, and so independent labels from Europe under Coop would gain access to the independent American marketplace through Fontana International's diverse connections in independent marketing, promotion and distribution support.
Current & past artists
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