Virgin Records facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Virgin Records Ltd |
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| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Virgin Records is a famous British record label that is now owned by Universal Music Group. It started as an independent music company in 1972. It was founded by Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman.
Over time, Virgin Records became very successful around the world. Many popular artists like Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson, Phil Collins, Culture Club, and the Sex Pistols released music with them. By the time it was sold, Virgin Records was seen as a major music company.
Virgin Records was sold to Thorn EMI in 1992. Later, in 2012, Universal Music Group (UMG) bought EMI. UMG then created a new division called Virgin EMI Records. The name Virgin Records is still used by UMG in some countries, like Germany and Japan.
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Virgin Records in America
Virgin Records America, Inc. was the company's branch in North America. It started in 1986 and was based in Hollywood, California. This part of the company is no longer active.
Since 2012, it has been part of the Capitol Music Group, which is also owned by UMG. A few artists, mostly from Europe, were still with Virgin Records America. These included Bastille and Corinne Bailey Rae.
Virgin Classics
Virgin Classics was a special part of Virgin Records that focused on classical music. It was founded in 1988. When UMG bought EMI in 2012, Virgin Classics was also included in the deal.
However, rules from the European Commission meant that UMG had to sell off its classical music labels. So, in 2013, Virgin Classics was sold to Warner Music Group. Warner Music Group then put the artists and music from Virgin Classics into its Erato Records division. The name "Virgin Classics" is no longer used.
The Story of Virgin Records
Richard Branson and Nik Powell first ran a small record shop in London. It was called Virgin Records and Tapes. They sold imported music and even had bean bags and free vegetarian food for customers. Their first proper store was above a shoe shop on Oxford Street.
After their shop became a hit, they decided to start a full record label. The name Virgin came from a colleague, Tessa Watts. She suggested it because they were all "new" to the business, like "virgins."
The first Virgin logo was designed by Roger Dean. It showed a young woman and a long-tailed lizard. A different version of this logo was used for their other label, Caroline Records.
First Big Hits
The very first album released by Virgin Records was Tubular Bells in 1973. It was made by Mike Oldfield, who played many instruments on it. This album brought a lot of praise to the new label.
Soon after, Virgin released other important albums. These included Phaedra by Tangerine Dream, which became a Top 20 hit. They also released The Faust Tapes by Faust. The Faust Tapes was sold for a very low price, which helped it sell over 60,000 copies and reach number 12 on the music charts.
The first single released by Virgin was "Marlene" by Kevin Coyne in August 1973. Kevin Coyne was the second artist to sign with the label after Mike Oldfield.
Changing Its Style
Virgin Records first focused on progressive rock music from England and Europe. But in 1977, they signed the Sex Pistols. This punk rock band had already been dropped by other labels. Signing them completely changed Virgin's image and brought the company into the mainstream.
The Sex Pistols helped Virgin become very successful. Soon after, a record shop in Nottingham was raided by police because of a window display of the Sex Pistols' album Never Mind the ..., Here's the Sex Pistols. After this, Virgin signed other new wave groups like Public Image Ltd, Culture Club, and The Human League. The Human League's song "Don't You Want Me" was Virgin's first single to reach number one in 1981.
The current Virgin logo, often called "the scrawl," was created in 1978. It was first used on Mike Oldfield's Incantations album. Over time, other parts of the Virgin Group started using this logo, including Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Mobile.
Sold to Thorn EMI
Richard Branson sold Virgin Records to Thorn EMI in June 1992 for about US$1 billion. Branson sold the record company to help fund his airline, Virgin Atlantic. At that time, British Airways was putting a lot of pressure on Virgin Atlantic.
After Thorn EMI bought Virgin, Virgin Records started new smaller labels. These included Realworld Records and Hut Recordings. They also continued to sign many new and well-known artists. Some of these artists were Korn, Tina Turner, The Rolling Stones, Spice Girls, The Smashing Pumpkins, Janet Jackson, and Daft Punk.
In 1996, Thorn EMI split into two separate companies. The music part became the EMI Group. In 1997, Virgin took over the rest of EMI USA. In 1998, Virgin Records started a country music division in Nashville, Tennessee. However, this country music label closed in 2001.
More Mergers
In 2007, Capitol Records and Virgin Records America joined together to form Capitol Music Group. This happened after a big change in the EMI Group.
Then, in 2012, Universal Music Group (UMG) bought EMI, which meant they also bought Virgin. UMG combined Virgin's UK operations to create Virgin EMI Records in March 2013.
On June 16, 2020, Universal changed the name of Virgin EMI Records to EMI Records. However, the Virgin brand still exists as a part of EMI Records.
In February 2021, Universal Music Group announced that it would rename Caroline Music Group to Virgin Music Label & Artist Services. This new name was inspired by the original Virgin Records. In September 2022, UMG combined several music companies into a new division called Virgin Music Group.
Virgin Music Publishers
Soon after Virgin Records started, they created a music publisher for their artists. This publisher helped artists who wrote their own songs. In the 1980s, Virgin Music also signed songwriters from other record labels.
After EMI bought Virgin, the publisher became part of EMI Music Publishing. In 2012, a group led by Sony/ATV Music Publishing bought EMI Music Publishing. However, the European Union said that Sony/ATV would then control too much music. So, Sony/ATV had to sell off Virgin Music and some other parts.
In December 2012, BMG Rights Management bought Virgin Music. Virgin Music was then renamed BMG VM Music. Many famous songwriters worked with Virgin Music, including Iggy Pop, Ozzy Osbourne, Nirvana, Lenny Kravitz, and Robbie Williams.
Subsidiary Labels
Virgin Records also owned or created several smaller record labels:
- In 1983, Virgin bought Charisma Records. They later closed it down and moved its artists, like Genesis and Monty Python, to Virgin.
- In 1987, Venture Records was created for new age and modern classical artists.
- 10 Records, Siren Records, and Circa Records were other labels that were part of Virgin in the 1980s. Circa Records became known for making TV-advertised music collections.
- Immortal Records was another label.
- Caroline Records was a budget label used from 1973 to 1977. Today, Caroline Records works as an independent label.
- Front Line Records was a label for Jamaican and English reggae music from 1978 to about 1987. Artists included Peter Tosh and Gregory Isaacs.
- Dindisc was a short-lived label that had bands like Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.
- Noo Trybe Records was a hip hop label that existed from 1994 to 1999.
- Delabel was a main label of EMI's French division. It signed artists like Daft Punk.
Virgin Music Around the World
Virgin Records had branches in many countries:
- EMI Records (formerly Virgin EMI Records) is Universal's main label in the United Kingdom.
- Virgin Schallplatten GmbH was the German branch. It is now part of Universal Music Germany.
- The Dutch branch of Virgin became independent in 1984. It later launched the Top Notch label, famous for Dutch hip hop.
- Virgin France started in 1980. It was the first international branch of Virgin Records. It later became part of Parlophone and was sold to Warner Music Group. Universal later brought back Virgin France as part of Mercury Records' French division in 2016.
- Virgin Japan has had three different versions. The most recent one, Virgin Music (JPN), was founded in 2014 as part of Universal Music Japan.
- The Brazilian branch of Virgin started in 1996 and existed until 2001.
See also
- List of record labels
- Virgin Group
- List of Virgin Records artists
