Asylum Records
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Asylum Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group that, today, specifically deals in HipHop music.
Company history
Formation
Asylum was founded in 1971 by David Geffen, who had previously worked as an agent at the William Morris agency and operated as a folk/rock label. After Geffen failed to get Jackson Brown a record deal, still believing in his talent, Geffen formed Asylum Records just so that he could sign him. The same year, Asylum went on to sign John David Souther, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell and Glenn Frey (who Geffen encouraged to form The Eagles, with Don Henley and Randy Meisner.) The biggest coup for Asylum was signing Bob Dylan, who had been signed to Columbia Records but after a falling out with the company was shopping around for a new label. Dylan recorded two albums with Asylum.
The Elektra merger
In 1972, Asylum was acquired by Warner Communications and merged with Elektra Records to become Elektra/Asylum Records. David Geffen remained in charge of the company until 1975, when he resigned as director and retired, due to health problems. As the 1970s progressed, Elektra/Asylum continued signing multi-platinum acts, including the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield.By the early 1980s (though technically still billed as "Elektra/Asylum Records"), Elektra and Asylum began to split off with the former becoming more of the dominate and the latter acting as more of a extension. By the middle of the decade, the company was unofficially calling itself Elektra Records, and in 1989 it was renamed Elektra Entertainment. Asylum, meanwhile, broke off into a subsidiary label underneath and subsequently became less active in its own rite.
Country format
Asylum was reformatted into a semi-successful country music label, still operated by Elektra, in 1992. Under the new format, Asylum scored hits by such acts as: Emmylou Harris, Bryan White, Bob Gibson. As the 1990s progressed, the company eventually went into hibernation.Relaunch
After being dormant for several years, the Asylum label was revived in 2004 as an urban music-based label, independently managed through Warner Music Group. Some of its releases distributed in conjuction with Warner Bros. Records and others through Atlantic Records. In 2006, the WMG shifted Asylum to operate under their newly created Independent Label Group, which also comprises Cordless Recordings and East West RecordsSee also
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