Hollywood Records facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Hollywood Records, Inc. |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Parent company | Disney Music Group |
| Founded | December 1989 |
| Distributor(s) | Universal Music Group |
| Genre | Various |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Location | 500 S. Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California |
Hollywood Records is a music company that belongs to the Disney Music Group. It releases music from many different artists. This label focuses on popular music styles like pop, rock, alternative, hip hop, and country. It also releases music for older audiences, which is different from the Walt Disney Records label.
Hollywood Records started in December 1989. Today, it works with artists such as New Hope Club, Sofia Carson, Tini, Area21, Queen, and Andy Grammer. The label also releases music from movies and TV shows. This includes soundtracks from Marvel Studios, 20th Century Studios, ABC, and Hulu.
Contents
The Story of Hollywood Records
How Hollywood Records Started (1989–1995)
Hollywood Records was created in December 1989 by Michael Eisner. He was the CEO of The Walt Disney Company at the time. Disney wanted to grow its music business. They aimed to find and support many different artists. Before this, Disney mainly released soundtracks from its own movies.
The first music group to sign with Hollywood Records was The Party. This group was formed from young performers on The Mickey Mouse Club. Peter Paterno was the first president of the label. He left in 1993 because the label was not selling enough music.
In 1990, Hollywood Records made a big move. It bought the rights to sell all of Queen's music in North America. This deal cost $10 million. The first Queen album released by Hollywood was Innuendo in 1991. This deal helped Disney earn a lot of money from 1991 to 1995.
Growing and Changing (1995–1998)
Bob Pfeifer became the president of Hollywood Records in March 1995. But the label still faced problems. Pfeifer left in 1997. In 1997, Disney bought another music label called Mammoth Records. Disney hoped Mammoth would help Hollywood Records succeed. However, Mammoth Records was later closed and joined with Hollywood Records in 2003.
In 1998, Disney decided to organize its music companies better. They created Buena Vista Music Group. This group now includes Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records. Bob Cavallo became the head of this new music group. This change helped Disney's music operations work together more smoothly.
Finding Big Success (1998–2012)
Hollywood Records started to have major success in 1998. The band Fastball released their album All the Pain Money Can Buy. Their hit song "The Way" made the label very popular.
In 2002, Hilary Duff released her first studio album, Metamorphosis. It sold over three million copies in the United States. Hilary Duff's success showed a new way for the label to work. They used Disney's other businesses, like Disney Channel and Radio Disney. This helped promote her music.
Many other Disney Channel stars also became successful artists with Hollywood Records. These included Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, and the Jonas Brothers. Their music sold millions of copies. At the same time, the label also supported other artists like Grace Potter & the Nocturnals and Breaking Benjamin. Hollywood Records also kept releasing soundtracks for movies and TV shows. This included music from Marvel Studios productions.
In 2010, Hollywood Records took over the country music label Lyric Street Records. Hollywood Records now manages the music from that old label. Also in 2010, the band Queen moved to a new record label. But Hollywood Records still sells Queen's music in North America.
New Leadership and Growth (2012–Present)
In January 2012, Bob Cavallo retired. Ken Bunt took over as the new president of the Disney Music Group. Under his leadership, many changes happened. New people joined the team to find and develop artists.
In 2013, Disney Music Group and Universal Music Group decided to work together more closely. This agreement allows Hollywood Records artists to work with producers and songwriters from Universal Music. Since 2013, Hollywood Records also uses the name DMG Nashville for country music. This part of the label helps with music for country artists.
Starting in 2020, Hollywood Records has released EPs called "Music for the Movement." These EPs feature songs about social justice and protest.
Hollywood Basic
Hollywood BASIC was a special part of Hollywood Records. It focused on hip-hop music. It existed from 1990 to 1995. Dave Funkenklein ran this label.
Hollywood Basic was one of the first labels to record DJ Shadow. It released his song "Lesson 4" in 1991. It also released music by Lifers Group, a hip-hop group made of prisoners. Another important release was planned to be BASIC Queen Bootlegs. This album would have had hip-hop remixes of songs by the band Queen. It was supposed to come out in 1992, but it was never officially released.
Other well-known artists on Hollywood Basic included Organized Konfusion. Their album Stress: The Extinction Agenda (1994) was highly praised. The label also worked with Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf. However, after Charizma passed away in 1993, their music was not released by the label. This led Peanut Butter Wolf to start his own label, Stones Throw Records.
Artists
Hollywood Records has worked with many talented artists over the years. Some of them became very famous.
How Hollywood Records Distributes Music
When Hollywood Records first started in 1989, its music was sold by Elektra Records in the United States and Canada. Elektra Records was owned by Time Warner, a company that was a rival to Disney.
In 1995, Hollywood Records changed its distributor to PolyGram. Later, Universal Music Group bought PolyGram. Today, Universal Music Group helps Hollywood Records sell its music all over the world.
Many Hollywood artists, like Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez & the Scene, Miley Cyrus, and Jonas Brothers, also signed directly with Universal Music UK's Fascination Records. In 2013, Disney Music Group and Universal Music Group expanded their partnership. This new agreement allows artists from Hollywood Records to work with many producers and songwriters from Universal Music.
See also
- CDVU+
- Fox Music
- List of record labels
- Marvel Music
