Matador Records facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Matador Records
Parent company	Beggars Group
Founded	1989 (1989)
Founder	Chris Lombardi
Distributor(s)	Matador Direct via Redeye (USA) Beggars Group via PIAS (Europe) Beggars Group Digital (global digital)
Genre	Rock, indie rock, experimental, electronic
Country of origin	USA
Location	New York City; London

Matador Records is a famous independent record label. This means it's not owned by one of the giant music corporations. It's known for signing artists who play indie rock, punk rock, alternative rock, and electronic music.

History of Matador Records

How It All Started

Matador Records was started in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his apartment in New York City. The very first music released by the label was from a band called H.P. Zinker.

Soon, Lombardi began signing more bands, like the Dustdevils and Superchunk. In 1990, Gerard Cosloy, who had experience running another record label, joined him. Together, they built Matador into a well-known name in music. In 1994, Patrick Amory joined the team and later became the label's president and a partner.

Growing Bigger

Matador started getting a lot of attention with albums from bands like Teenage Fanclub. But two releases really put them on the map:

• Pavement's first album, Slanted and Enchanted in 1992.
• Liz Phair's debut album, Exile in Guyville in 1993.

These albums were very popular and helped the label grow. Because of this success, Matador partnered with a major label, Atlantic Records, for a few years. Later, in 1996, another big company, Capitol Records, bought a large part of Matador. However, Lombardi and Cosloy bought it back in 1999 to keep the label independent.

In 2002, Matador made a deal with the Beggars Group, another group of independent labels. This partnership helped Matador market its music all over the world. The label now has offices in both New York and London.

Celebrating Success

Over the years, Matador has helped many artists become famous worldwide, including Yo La Tengo, Cat Power, and Interpol. Some of their albums have even been certified Gold, meaning they sold over 500,000 copies.

In October 2010, Matador held a huge party in Las Vegas to celebrate its 21st anniversary. Many of the label's most famous bands performed, including Pavement, Yo La Tengo, Spoon, Belle & Sebastian, and Cat Power. It was a big celebration of the label's history and its amazing artists.

Today, Matador continues to sign new and exciting bands from different genres, such as Car Seat Headrest and Snail Mail.

Current Artists

As of 2024, here are some of the artists signed to Matador Records:

Past Artists

Matador has worked with many great artists over the years, including:

See also

In Spanish: Matador Records para niños

• List of record labels