ABKCO Records facts for kids
 |
|
| Predecessor | Allen Klein & Co. |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1961 |
| Founder | Allen Klein |
| Headquarters |
,
United States
|
| Revenue | $26,000,000 |
|
Number of employees
|
43 |
| Footnotes / references distributed by Universal Music Group |
|
ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. is an American company that works with music and films. Its full name, Allen & Betty Klein Company, comes from its founder, Allen Klein, and his wife. ABKCO is like a big library that owns and manages the rights to many famous songs and movies. This means they help decide how and when these songs are used, for example, in movies or TV shows.
ABKCO owns the rights to music by legendary artists like Sam Cooke, the Rolling Stones, the Animals, and the Kinks. They also manage songs from the Cameo-Parkway Records label, which includes hits by Chubby Checker and Bobby Rydell. For many years, ABKCO also managed music from Philles Records, which had hits by groups like the Righteous Brothers and the Ronettes.
Today, ABKCO Records works with Universal Music Distribution to share its music. Universal Music also helps distribute the Rolling Stones' music that was made after their time with ABKCO.
Besides music, ABKCO also controls the rights to some early films by director Alejandro Jodorowsky, such as Fando y Lis, El Topo, and The Holy Mountain. The company also helped produce the 2020 film One Night in Miami, which features Sam Cooke as a main character.
ABKCO has released soundtracks for many popular films and TV shows. These include movies like Joy, Fast Five, and several films by director Wes Anderson, starting with The Darjeeling Limited. They have also released soundtracks for TV shows such as Big Little Lies and Boardwalk Empire.
Company History
ABKCO started in 1961 as Allen Klein & Co. Its founder, Allen Klein (1931–2009), was a business manager who worked with music stars like Bobby Darin and Sam Cooke. Later, he also managed famous bands such as the Rolling Stones and the Beatles.
In 1968, the company became ABKCO Industries. It was a larger company that handled music management, publishing, and film and TV production. The name ABKCO stood for "Allen & Betty Klein and COmpany." In the same year, ABKCO bought the entire music collection of Cameo-Parkway Records. They also got a factory that they used to make records for their artists, including the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
For a long time, many fans were upset because ABKCO kept the Cameo-Parkway music from being widely available. This meant that original versions of songs were not released on many music collections. Some artists, like Chubby Checker, even had to re-record their famous songs, such as "The Twist," for new albums.
Today, ABKCO is very active in releasing new collections and updated versions of its music. They also help place their songs and recordings in films and commercials. Jody Klein, who is the president of ABKCO, has been important in finally releasing the Cameo-Parkway recordings. She has also overseen the careful updating of many classic recordings from the 1960s by artists like the Rolling Stones, the Animals, Herman’s Hermits, and Sam Cooke. Allen Klein passed away in 2009.
