Defunct Record Label Magnets

Pompeii Records was an American record label based in Dallas. It was formed in 1968 by Joe Perry, president, and Pat Morgan, chairman of the board. Distributed by Atco Records in the US and by London Records internationally, the company is noted for its Ike & Tina Turner releases in the late 1960s.

Freedom Records was a jazz record label headed by Shel Safran and founded by Alan Bates as a division of Black Lion Records. Individual recordings were distributed via Polydor Records and Transatlantic Records during the early 1970s before the company was bought by Arista Records with the imprint dubbed Arista/Freedom in 1975.

Castle Communications, also known as Castle Music, was a British independent record label and home video distributor founded in 1983 by Terry Shand, Cliff Dane, and Jon Beecher. Its video imprint was called Castle Vision. The label's production ceased in 2007, and its remaining rights are now chiefly vested in BMG Rights Management. Castle also operated a subsidiary label, Essential Records.

Derby Records was an independent record label founded by Larry Newton in 1949. The label's logo featured a Derby hat. First headquartered in New York City, it moved to Los Angeles shortly before going out of business in 1964. The label offered selections in various styles of pop music of the era, including jazz, rhythm and blues, and Western swing.

The earliest Bullet Records was a record label based in Nashville, United States, which was started in 1946 by Jim Bulleit and C.V. Hitchcock. Bulleit was an early partner in Sun Records. Its only national hits were by orchestra leader Francis Craig. The pop hit "Near You" made in early 1947 was a monster, topping the charts for seventeen weeks and having a chart run of twenty-five weeks. Craig also made the charts at #3 with "Beg Your Pardon", but no further hits were forthcoming. Despite these hits, the label was known for country music artists such as Boots Woodall's Radio Wranglers, who also recorded for Capitol Records, and Southern Gospel artists such as the Rangers Quartet and Speer Family.

Dixieland Jubilee Records was an American record label during the 1950s that released Dixieland jazz. The label's roster included Teddy Buckner, Kid Ory, and Wild Bill Davison. Dixieland Jubilee was owned by Frank Bull and Gene Norman and run by Norman, who owned GNP Crescendo.

Abbey Records was a record label active in the United States from roughly 1949 until 1953. Abbey was founded by Pete Doraine and originally operated in the Forest Hills, Queens, section of New York City but soon moved to 10th Avenue in the Manhattan borough in mid-1949 with Doraine serving as president. In 1950 Abbey's experienced its first (and biggest) hit in a recording of The Old Piano Roll Blues by J. Lawrence Cook. This disc, catalog number 15003, reached a peak position of 13, and had staying power for eleven weeks.

Freedom Records was a jazz record label headed by Shel Safran and founded by Alan Bates as a division of Black Lion Records. Individual recordings were distributed via Polydor Records and Transatlantic Records during the early 1970s before the company was bought by Arista Records with the imprint dubbed Arista/Freedom in 1975.

550 Music (originally known as Sony 550 Music) was a unit of Sony Music Entertainment, which operated through Sony Music's Epic Records division while in activity.[1] Launched in 1992, the "550" name was inspired by the address of the Sony building, located at 550 Madison Avenue in New York. The label was folded in 2000 by Epic Records, it was part of the restructuring when Tommy Mottola was leaving Sony Music.

MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. MCA Inc., a talent agency and television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 with the purchase of the New York–based US Decca Records, including Coral Records and Brunswick Records. MCA was forced to exit the talent agency business in order to complete the merger. As American Decca owned Universal Pictures, MCA assumed full ownership of Universal and made it into a top film studio, producing several hits.

Central to M-Pac! is the Leaner family. By 1963 when brothers George and Ernie Leaner added M-Pac! as a sub-label to their One-derful! label, they were revered figures on Chicago's Record Row and beyond. They distributed material from labels like Motown and Stax and they attracted top talent. It wasn't uncommon for a WVON DJ to help the Leaners sign their newest discovery, or for their singers, musicians, songwriters, or producers to have Chess or Motown on their resumes.

End Records was a record label founded in 1957 by George Goldner. In 1962 the label was acquired by Morris Levy and incorporated into Roulette Records. Among its more successful recording acts were the Flamingos, the Chantels, and Little Anthony and the Imperials; it also recorded singles by Marilyn Monroe and Wilt Chamberlain. In 1988 Roulette was purchased by Rhino Records, and Rhino in turn was sold in the 1990s to what is now the Warner Music Group, which currently owns the End Records archives.

Kama Sutra Records was started in 1964 by Arthur "Artie" Ripp, Hy Mizrahi and Phil Steinberg as Kama Sutra Productions, a production house. The "Kama Sutra" is an ancient Sanskrit text. In 1965, the company was joined by Art Kass and the record label itself was started. A distribution deal with MGM Records was later signed, which lasted from 1965 until 1969. From 1969 onward, distribution was then handled by co-owned Buddah Records.

Bell Records was an American record label founded in 1952 in New York City by Arthur Shimkin, the owner of the children's record label Golden Records, and initially a unit of Pocket Books, after the rights to the name were acquired from Benny Bell who used the Bell name to issue risque novelty records. A British branch was also active in the 1960s and 1970s. Bell Records was shut down in late 1974, and its assets were transferred to Columbia Pictures' new label, Arista Records.

Flair Records was an American record label owned by the Bihari brothers, launched in the early 1950s. It was a subsidiary of Modern Records. Its most famous artist were Elmore James, who released ten singles with this label (as listed below), Richard Berry, and Ike Turner who was a session musician and also released a single on the label. Flair is believed to have issued 80 singles total between 1953 and 1955.

Warwick Records was a record label established in 1959 by Morty Craft. One of the label's earliest releases was a jazz album called Memories Of "Jolie" by 'Morty Craft & His Singing Strings'. Herbie Hancock's first appearance on record was for Warwick on an album with Donald Byrd and Pepper Adams. The label's catalogue also included albums by Ralph Burns, Teddy Charles, and Curtis Fuller. Warwick also released the single "Dream Alone"/"Beat Love" by the then relatively unknown Art Garfunkel under the name Artie Garr. Warwick was founded in New York City and was short-lived, closing after the album by Burns.

Chancellor Records was a record label associated with ABC-Paramount Records, which initially distributed the smaller label. Based in Philadelphia, it was an integral part of the dominance of popular Philadelphia artists and music in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Its first hit was "With All My Heart" sung by Jodie Sands (1957), but the major artists the label was famous for were Frankie Avalon and Fabian Forte, and later Claudine Clark. The studio drummer for Chancellor Records was Charles Pasco who played for all of the artists that recorded there. The label was owned by Bob Marcucci, originally with partner Peter De Angelis; Ray Sharkey played a version of Marcucci in the movie The Idolmaker [1980].

Loma Records was an American subsidiary record label of Warner Bros. Records managed by Bob Krasnow, then later Russ Regan. Its name was derived from Eloma, a cleared copyright Warner owned. In March 1964, Warner Bros. president Mike Maitland announced the formation of Loma Records. Former promotional man and record producer Bob Krasnow was named the manager of the new label. Maitland explained the purpose of Loma was "an attempt to broaden singles coverage. There's so much product available through outside source, that we can afford to release it on Warner Bros., Reprise and now Loma." The first releases on the label were purchased masters.

Banner Records was an American record company and label in the 1920s and 1930s. It was created primarily for the S.S. Kresge Company, though it was employed as a budget label in other discount stores. Banner was formed in January 1922 as the flagship label of the Plaza Music Company of New York City. Plaza Music produced several cheap labels targeted at discount houses and hired bandleader Adrian Schubert as musical director.

Blue Goose Records was an American independent record label set up in the early 1970s by Nick Perls. While on Blue Goose's sister label, Yazoo Records, Perls compiled rare 78 rpm recordings from the 1920s by Charley Patton, Blind Willie McTell, Memphis Jug Band, Blind Blake, and Blind Lemon Jefferson. On Blue Goose Records he recorded not only 'rediscovered' black blues artists like Sam Chatmon, Son House, Yank Rachell, Shirley Griffith and Thomas Shaw, but also younger blues and jazz performers, including Larry Johnson, Jo Ann Kelly, Woody Mann, John Lewis, Roy Book Binder, R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders, Rory Block, Roger Hubbard, Alan Seidler, and Brett Marvin and the Thunderbolts' member Graham Hine.

Vintage indie / alternative music look

Colpix Records was the first recording company for Columbia Pictures–Screen Gems. Colpix got its name from combining Columbia (Col) and Pictures (Pix). CBS, which owned Columbia Records, then sued Columbia Pictures for trademark infringement over the Colpix name. It was founded by Jonie Taps and Harry Cohn in 1958 and was based in New York City. Paul Wexler headed the label. Stu Phillips was in charge of A&R. Lester Sill later headed the label, after breaking with Philles Records partner Phil Spector.

ROULETTE RECORDS // Vintage Defunct Music Label

'59 Indiana Rockabilly 45 JERRY PARSONS Don't Need No Job/Undecided AMP hear

Schirmer Records was a United States based record label, active in the 1940s and 1950s. Schirmer released recordings of jazz, swing music, and classical music, by artists ranging from Eddie Condon to Rudolf Friml.

Musicraft Records was a record company and label established in 1937 in New York City. Musicraft's catalog encompassed many different musical styles, including classical music, folk, jazz, Latin, popular vocal, and calypso. Artists who recorded for Musicraft include singer Mel Torme, vocalist Sarah Vaughan, vocalist Mindy Carson, Duke Ellington, bebop comic Harry "the Hipster" Gibson, pianist Teddy Wilson, blues pioneer Lead Belly, poet Carl Sandburg, Dizzy Gillespie, Georgie Auld, Artie Shaw, Buddy Greco, Billie Rogers, and others.

Gregmark Records was founded by Lester Sill in 1961, a year before he started Philles Records with Phil Spector. The Paris Sisters recorded five singles for the label, two of them produced by Spector. "Caravan" is a Gregmark recording attributed to Duane Eddy, but in fact is by the session man, Al Casey.

The earliest Imperial Records was a short-lived United States-based company of the 1900s (decade), producing single-sided lateral cut gramophone records. Issues included ragtime banjo music, operatic solos, and Hebrew songs. As the name implies, they seem to have been destined at least in part for the British market. The back of the records carried a paper label printed with a copyright statement.

Dee Gee Records was a jazz record company and independent record label founded in Detroit, Michigan in 1951 by Dizzy Gillespie and Dave Usher Billboard relates that Dee Gee opened for business on April 7, 1951. According to Gillespie, Dee Gee Records was the result of his desire to control his own recorded output. Dave Usher was a 21-year-old fan and friend of Gillespie. Dee Gee Records was based in Detroit where Usher lived, and its sessions were held there, in New York City, and in Chicago.

Sound Stage 7 was an American, Nashville, Tennessee based record label of the 1960s and 1970s, noted mainly for its soul music releases. The label's biggest star was Joe Simon, who placed numerous singles on the US R&B and pop charts during his 1965–1970 tenure.

The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments from Germany for resale in the United States. Wurlitzer enjoyed initial success, largely due to defense contracts to provide musical instruments to the U.S. military. In 1880, the company began manufacturing pianos and eventually relocated to North Tonawanda, New York. It quickly expanded to make band organs, orchestrions, player pianos and pipe or theatre organs popular in theatres during the days of silent movies.

45s recorded at Tri-State Recording company, Kingsport, TN. Established 1967 and was active until around 1984. Most records are recognized by "TSRC" in the catalog number. The main house label was Trail Records.

SBK Records was a record label, owned by Universal Music Group, that is currently part of the Capitol Music Group, where it is in hibernation. The label was founded in 1988 and during its time in activity existed as part of the EMI Group.

Phantom Music was an independent record label established by Kalenna Harper (former member of Dirty Money) and Tony Vick in 2009, and dissolved in 2011.

Pendu Sound Recordings was an independent record label used by aTelecine, Chelsea Wolfe, Azar Swan, Mater Suspiria Vision, White Ring, Talibam!, Von Haze, and others. The label, also known as Pendu Sound, was started by Todd Brooks in 2005 for his PENDV projects and went defunct in 2013. The parent company Pendu NYC  was known for its "Pendu Disco" dance parties.

Vintage Spiller Record