DreamWorks Records facts for kids
Quick facts for kids DreamWorks Records |
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| Parent company | Interscope Geffen A&M (Universal Music Group) |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Founder | |
| Defunct | January 9, 2004 |
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| Genre | Various |
| Country of origin | United States |
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DreamWorks Records was an American record label that made music. It was started in 1996 by three famous people: David Geffen, Steven Spielberg, and Jeffrey Katzenberg. It was part of their bigger company, DreamWorks Pictures.
The record label worked until 2003. Then, it was sold to another big music company called Universal Music Group. DreamWorks Records also had a special part in Nashville, Tennessee, just for country music. This part was called DreamWorks Nashville and it closed in 2006. The cool logo for the record label was designed by an artist named Roy Lichtenstein. It was one of the last things he created before he passed away in 1997.
History of DreamWorks Records
In October 1994, David Geffen joined up with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg. They formed a new company called DreamWorks SKG. The letters SKG stood for the first letter of each of their last names: Spielberg, Katzenberg, and Geffen.
These three partners then started their own record label. They called it DreamWorks Records in early 1996. The very first artist to sign with this new label was Rufus Wainwright.
The special logo for the label was the last project done by the artist Roy Lichtenstein. It had a unique design with a musical note inside a "dream balloon." This logo first appeared on the album Beautiful Freak by the band Eels. This was the second album released by the company. The first album released by DreamWorks Records was George Michael's Older. That album used the same logo as DreamWorks Pictures, which showed a boy fishing on a moon.
Many other artists also joined the label. Some of them included Nelly Furtado, George Michael, Randy Newman, Elliott Smith, Eels, and Papa Roach. The label was led by Lenny Waronker and Mo Ostin. They had worked at another big music company before this. Mo Ostin said that DreamWorks Records was different because it focused more on creativity than just business.
At first, Geffen Records helped distribute (or sell) DreamWorks Records' music. But in 1999, Interscope Records took over this job. Later, on November 11, 2003, it was announced that Universal Music Group would buy DreamWorks Records. This cost about $100 million. This happened when the music business was changing a lot. It was trying to deal with fewer sales and the rise of online music.
Mo Ostin said that Universal was getting a "wonderful asset" and that the sale would help the artists have a strong future. After the sale was final on January 9, 2004, DreamWorks Records became part of Interscope Geffen A&M Records. Many employees were laid off, but the people who found new artists (called A&R staff) stayed on.
DreamWorks Nashville
From 1997 to 2005, DreamWorks also had a special part of its company in Nashville, Tennessee. This part focused only on country music artists. Some of the artists who signed with DreamWorks Nashville included Jessica Andrews, Emerson Drive, Toby Keith, and Randy Travis.
DreamWorks Nashville kept going until September 1, 2005. It closed after Toby Keith, who was one of its biggest stars, left the label. After DreamWorks Records closed, a former executive named Scott Borchetta started a new company called Big Machine Records in late 2005. He signed several country music artists to his new label, including Taylor Swift.
See also
- DreamWorks Records discography
- List of DreamWorks Records artists
- List of record labels
