!K7 Music is a music company based in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

that focuses mostly on

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

. The name is an

abbreviation An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

of the company's original Berlin address, Kaiserdamm 7 (it has since relocated, first to Heidestrasse 52, and currently headquartered at Gerichtstrasse 35). !K7 has since opened branch offices in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The company now operates an

artist management A talent manager (also known as an artist manager, band manager or music manager) is an individual who guides the professional career of entertainer, artists in the entertainment industry. The responsibility of the talent manager is to oversee t ...

division, managing a roster of artists including the British musician Tricky. !K7 Music also runs a successful Label Services and Synch and Licensing department. It has five independent imprints as part of the K7 label group: !K7 Records, !7K, Strut, AUS and Soul Bank. K7 had a licensing deal with the New York-based indie label

Frenchkiss Records Frenchkiss Records is an independent record label based in New York City. The label was started in 1999 by Syd Butler, bassist and founder of Les Savy Fav. The label's first purpose was to release Les Savy Fav's second album '' The Cat and The Co ...

. It has distributed the labels AGOGO,

District 6 District Six is a place in Cape Town, South Africa. District Six may also refer to: :Government divisions * District 6, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam * District 6 (New York City Council), in the United States * VI District, Turku, in Finland * Distri ...

Environ Environ or environs may refer to: * Environ (Loft), a New York performance space * Ramboll Environ, or ''ENVIRON'', a consulting firm in Arlington, Virginia * ''Environs'' (journal), a student-run law review covering environmental subjects * E ...

Get Physical Get Physical Music is a Berlin-based electronic music record label founded in 2002 by M.A.N.D.Y. (Patrick Bodmer & Philipp Jung), DJ T (Thomas Koch) and Booka Shade (Walter Merziger, Arno Kammermeier & Peter Hayo). They were DJ Magazine's "Label o ...

Ghostly International Ghostly International is an American independent record label founded in 1999 by Samuel Valenti IV and currently headquartered in Brooklyn, New York City. Chief artists include Matthew Dear, Dabrye (a.k.a. Tadd Mullinix), Com Truise, Tycho, Gol ...

Lo Recordings Lo Recordings is a label founded in 1995 by Jon Tye. They are noted for their strong visual style thanks to Non-Format, with whom they work very closely and won a D&AD award for several of their releases sleeves. Musical style Lo recordings m ...

Moshi Moshi Records Moshi Moshi Records is a small London-based record label founded in 1998 by Adrian Pike, Michael McClatchey and Stephen Bass. The label has released music by bands including Lykke Li, Fimber Bravo, Bloc Party, Hot Chip, Late of the Pier, H ...

, Piranha, R2, Skint,

Salt Records Salt Records (S:alt Records - suitably:alternative) is a UK-based independent label/platform for eclectic music. Founded by Roberto Concina (aka Robert Miles) in 2000, it became the home for artists such as Robert Miles Roberto Concina (3 ...

and Muthas of Invention. It also has a

music publishing A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers started to play a role in the management of the intellect ...

company. It currently distributes Turbo Recordings,

Sonar Kollektiv Sonar Kollektiv is a German record label founded in the late 1990s by the DJ and producer team Jazzanova(Claas Brieler, Roskow Kretschmann, Stefan Leisering, Axel Reinemer). The label specializes in downtempo music. The intention was to create an ...

Luaka Bop Luaka Bop is a New York–based record label founded by musician David Byrne, former lead singer and guitarist for the art rock– new wave band Talking Heads. What began with Byrne making cassettes of his favorite Tropicália tracks for his fri ...

, and

Rushhour A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour ( Australian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice every weekday: ...

, among others.

History

Stud!o K7 has produced electronic music artists, especially for the '' DJ-Kicks'' compilations. It began in 1985 with the idea of releasing digital video clips. In 1991, the first of the 3LUX series (three volumes) was released, followed by the ''X-Mix'' series (from 1993 to 1998). In 1995, the ''DJ-Kicks'' series was released. At that time it was unconventional to play complete albums with DJ cuts on home stereos. Artists such as Kruder & Dorfmeister,

Nightmares On Wax George Evelyn (born 15 January 1970), better known by his stage name Nightmares on Wax or DJ E.A.S.E., is an English DJ and record producer from Leeds. His music has been released by Warp Records. He is based in Ibiza. Nightmares on Wax were or ...

Thievery Corporation Thievery Corporation is an American electronic music duo consisting of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton. Their musical style mixes elements of dub, acid jazz, reggae, Indian classical, Middle Eastern music, hip hop and Brazilian music, including bo ...

and Stereo MC's

Chromeo Chromeo is a Canadian electro-funk duo from Montreal, formed in 2002 by musicians David "Dave 1" Macklovitch and Patrick "P-Thugg" Gemayel. Their sound draws from blue-eyed soul, dance music, rock, synth-pop, disco and funk. , the band has rele ...

Booka Shade Booka Shade is a German House music, house duo. It is made up of Walter Merziger and Arno Kammermeier, described as veterans of the Frankfurt electronic music scene. They have released 7 studio albums including Memento (2004) Movements (2006), T ...

contributed to its release. The compilation series has since included mixes from

Jackmaster Jack Revill, better known as Jackmaster (born 11 January 1986), is a Scottish DJ and Producer from Glasgow. He is a co-founder of the record label and club night Numbers as well as Wireblock, Dress 2 Sweat, Point.One Recordings, Seldom Felt a ...

Seth Troxler Seth Troxler is an American DJ and record producer from Lake Orion, Michigan. His DJ work focuses on house and techno, while he has produced on the Wolf + Lamb, Crosstown Rebels and Circus Company labels, collaborating with artists Art Departmen ...

, Marcel Dettmann, Michael Mayer,

DJ Koze Stefan Kozalla (born 1972), better known as DJ Koze (), is a German DJ and music producer. Biography Born in Flensburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Kozalla first became known in the Hamburg music scene. In the early 1990s, he started as a rapper and DJ ...

Nina Kraviz Nina Kraviz (russian: Нина Кравиц, Nina Kravits) is a Russian DJ, music producer and singer. Early life and career Kraviz was born and raised in Irkutsk, Siberia, Russia. She moved to Moscow to study dentistry where she later gained h ...

, Daniel Avery and

John Talabot Oriol Riverola better known by stage name John Talabot (born 8 January 1982), is a Catalan DJ from Barcelona, Spain, record label owner, producer and electronic musician. Musical career After initially producing tracks under the name d.a.r.y. ...

. In 1996, !K7 started launching artist albums. As of 2014 the !K7 discography features albums from artists such as Kruder & Dorfmeister,

Matthew Herbert Matthew Herbert (born 1972), also known as Herbert, Doctor Rockit, Radio Boy, Mr. Vertigo, Transformer, and Wishmountain, is a British electronic musician. He often takes sounds from everyday items to produce electronic music. Career Mat ...

, Dani Siciliano,

Ursula Rucker Ursula Rucker is an American spoken word recording artist. Rucker is known for a diverse repertoire, and for using techniques that catch her listeners' attention. Biography Rucker was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she wa ...

Swayzak Swayzak were a tech house duo from the United Kingdom that consisted of James S. Taylor and David Brown. They released their first 12" single "Bueno" / "Fukumachi" in February 1997 to much acclaim. It was followed up by the 12" "Speedboat" / "L ...

, and

Boozoo Bajou Boozoo Bajou is a musical duo, Florian Seyberth and Peter Heider, from Germany. They are noted for their Ethnic electronica, distinct blend of Cajun music, Cajun sounds with Caribbean music, island rhythms. Their first album, ''Satta (album), Satt ...

. In 2001, Rapster Records, a new subsidiary of !K7, started focusing on urban, soul and hip-hop music. Since then, Rapster has released records by

DJ Jazzy Jeff Jeffrey Allen Townes (born January 22, 1965), known professionally as DJ Jazzy Jeff (or simply Jazz), is an American disc jockey (DJ) and music producer. He was a member of DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince with Will Smith. He is credited, alon ...

Pete Rock Peter O. Phillips (born June 21, 1970), better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapping, rapper. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time, and is often mentioned alongs ...

, and

Roy Ayers Roy Ayers (born September 10, 1940) is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer, vibraphone player, and music producer. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Pol ...

, among others. Rapster also forged an alliance with UK-based soul aficionado Peter Adarkwah, head of

BBE Records Barely Breaking Even (BBE) is a British record label started by two DJs, Peter Adarkwah and Ben Jolly. The name BBE comes from The Universal Robot Band's 1982 track "Barely Breaking Even". It has two sublabels: Deep Funk, and Urban Theory. B ...

. !K7 founded another subsidiary, Ever Records, in 2006, for indie bands and singer-songwriters such as

Cortney Tidwell Cortney Tidwell is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Personal life Cortney Lara Tidwell was born on December 2, 1972, in Nashville, Tennessee to country singer Connie Eaton and Cliff Williamson, music producer at A&R. Her ...

, Cyann & Ben, and

Howie Beck Howie Beck is a Canadian musician, mixer and producer based in Toronto, Ontario. He has been nominated for three Juno Awards in Canada on three occasions for Adult Alternative Album, Engineer of the Year and Producer of the Year (2017). History Be ...

. In 2008

Strut Records Strut Records is a British record label that focuses on dance music and afrobeat. History The label was "acquired and re-launched in January 2008." The label website states that "from 1999-2003, the label became renowned for its uncompromisi ...

& Gold Dust Media joined the !K7 label group. Between 1999 and 2003 Strut released Nigerian

Afrobeats Afrobeats (not to be confused with Afrobeat or Afroswing), or Afro-pop or Afro-fusion (or Afropop or Afrofusion), is an umbrella term to describe popular music from West Africa and the diaspora that initially developed in Nigeria, Ghana, and ...

, Leftfield Discos, Rare Groove and

Grandmaster Flash Joseph Saddler (born January 1, 1958), popularly known by his stage name Grandmaster Flash, is an American DJ and rapper. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of Hip Hop DJing, cutting, scratching and mixing. Grandmaster Flash and the Fur ...

's latest album. Strut's founder, Quinton Scott, is responsible for A&R. In 2013 !K7 started a cooperation with Tricky for releases on his label, including his 2013 album ''False Idols''. In May 2017, !K7 created a subsidiary focused on

Contemporary music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included serial ...

, producing artists such as Niklas Paschburg, Hior Chronik, Echo Collective,

Henrik Schwarz Henrik Schwarz (born 31 May 1972) is a German deep house and classical crossover producer and DJ from Bodensee, whose career began in the early 1990s. He has remixed music for numerous musicians, including Coldplay, Mary J. Blige, and Foals. In ...

, Luca D’Alberto, Maike Zazie and Martyn Heyne. In October 2017, !K7 acquired the catalogues of

Patrice Rushen Patrice Louise Rushen (born September 30, 1954) is an American jazz pianist and R&B singer. She is also a composer, record producer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and music director. Her 1982 single "Forget Me Nots" received a Grammy Awar ...

Miriam Makeba Zenzile Miriam Makeba (4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist. Associated with musical genres including African popular music, Afropop, jazz, a ...

and The Beginning of the End from

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

, as part of the major's divestments after acquiring

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...

as a result of the sale and break-up of

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

Artists

John Acquaviva John Acquaviva (born 1963) is an Italian Canadian DJ, producer, artist, and musical entrepreneur. Music career Acquaviva began his career in Detroit where he performed under the name of J'acquaviva+8. He met fellow DJ Richie Hawtin at The Shelter ...

* The Beginning of the End *

Mykki Blanco Mykki Blanco (born April 2, 1986) is an American rapper, performance artist, poet and activist. She has collaborated musically with artists including Kanye West, Teyana Taylor, and Dev Hynes, Blood Orange. Early life Blanco was born in Orange ...

Brandt Brauer Frick Brandt Brauer Frick is a German electronic music ensemble from Berlin. The group's members are Daniel Brandt, Jan Brauer, and Paul Frick. The group's members are classically trained and began performing together in 2009. ''The Guardian'' describe ...

* James Alexander Bright * Circlesquare * da damn phreak noize phunk *

Erol Alkan Erol Alkan (born 30 May 1974) is an English DJ and producer of Turkish Cypriot descent. He grew up in Archway in North London. Career DJ and club promoter In 1993, Erol Alkan started DJing in various indie nightclubs in London. His fir ...

* Digitalism * Chris de Luca *

Sean Deason Sean Deason is an American techno producer from Detroit. His aliases include Project X, Sounds Intangible Nature, Freq, and X-313. Deason got his start doing graphic design for Detroit techno artists while studying at the Center for Creative Stu ...

Benjamin Diamond "Music Sounds Better with You" is the only song by the French house French house, also known as French touch, filter house and tekfunk, is a style of house music originally produced by French musicians in the 1990s. It is a form of Eur ...

Vikter Duplaix Vikter Duplaix (born October 14, 1969), is an American singer-songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and DJ. Duplaix has traditional soul singer's beginnings – being raised in both Philadelphia and Augusta, Georgia singing in church ch ...

* Michael Fakesch *

Fehlfarben Fehlfarben is a Neue Deutsche Welle music band from Düsseldorf, Germany, that was formed in 1979. Its founding members were Peter Hein (vocals), former member of the Band ''Mittagspause'' ("lunch break"), Thomas Schwebel (guitar, former Mit ...

Five Deez Five Deez is an American hip hop group from Cincinnati, Ohio and a part of the Wanna Battle collective, which also includes DJ Hi-Tek, Talib Kweli, Rubix, and Lone Catalysts. The group consists of members: Fat Jon the Ample Soul Physician ( ...

* Funkstörung * Ghost Cauldron *

The Glimmers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

A Guy Called Gerald Gerald Rydel Simpson (born 16 February 1967), better known as A Guy Called Gerald, is a British record producer and musician. He was an early member of the electronic group 808 State, contributing to their debut LP '' Newbuild'' (1988) and hit ...

The Herbaliser The Herbaliser is an English jazz hip hop group formed by Jake Wherry and Ollie Teeba in London, England during the early 1990s. Although currently releasing on their own label and having previously been signed to !K7 Records, they were one o ...

Herbert Herbert may refer to: People Individuals * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert Name * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert ...

* Beth Hirsch *

Nick Holder Nick Holder (born 1969) is an underground hip-hop and house music deejay and producer from Toronto, Ontario. Holder began DJing in the early 1980s, and soon became influenced by the Detroit techno scene and DJs such as Derrick May and Carl Cra ...

* Interstellar * K-Hand * Khao *

Koop Koop is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Aire Koop (born 1957), Estonian actress *Arnold Koop (1922–1988), Estonian historian, university rector *Bill Koop (1906-1950), Australian rules footballer *Doug Koop (born 1960), Austr ...

* Kruder & Dorfmeister *

Mike Ladd Mike Ladd is an American hip hop musician from Boston, Massachusetts. He is based in Paris, France. ''The Guardian'' described him as "the king of the hip-hop concept." Early life Mike Ladd was born in Boston, Massachusetts. As a child, he live ...

Ladytron Ladytron are a largely British electronic band formed in Liverpool in 1999. The group consists of Helen Marnie (lead vocals, synthesizers), Mira Aroyo (vocals, synthesizers), Daniel Hunt (synthesizers, guitar, vocals), and Reuben Wu (synthesize ...

* Life Force *

Milosh Mike Milosh, known professionally as Milosh, (born 1976) is a Canadian electronic musician from Toronto, who is currently based in Los Angeles, California. Career Milosh started learning classical cello at age three, later taking up drumming. ...

* Nicolette *

Out Hud Out Hud was an American electronic band formed in 1996 in the Bay Area of California and later based in New York City. The band consisted of guitarist Nic Offer, bassist Tyler Pope, cellist Molly Schnick, vocalist/ drummer Phyllis Forbes and ...

Erlend Øye Erlend Øye (born 21 November 1975) is a Norwegian composer, musician, producer, singer and songwriter from Bergen, best known for being one half of the indie folk duo Kings of Convenience, along with Eirik Glambek Bøe. Among other musical pro ...

* Terrence Parker *

Peace Orchestra Peace Orchestra is a musical solo project from the Austrian music producer Peter Kruder, best known as one half of Kruder & Dorfmeister. History In parallel to his partnership with Dorfmeister, Peter Kruder has always followed his solo project ...

* Playgroup *

Princess Superstar Concetta Kirschner (born February 25, 1971), better known as Princess Superstar, is an American rapper and DJ. She has had two chart hits in the UK, "Bad Babysitter", which reached number 11 on the UK Singles Chart in 2002, and "Perfect (Exceed ...

Stacey Pullen Stacey Pullen is an American techno musician based in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Pullen was raised in Detroit, where he became interested in electronic music early in his life. He began working on the Detroit techno scene in 1990, studying ...

Quiet Village "Quiet Village" is an orchestral pop instrumental that was written and originally performed by Les Baxter in 1951 and an instrumental album from 1959 by Martin Denny. In the liner notes to his album, '' Ritual of the Savage (Le sacre du sauvage)' ...

Rae & Christian Rae & Christian are an English production duo, consisting of Mark Rae and Steve Christian. They are also founders of the Grand Central Records label. History In 1995, Mark Rae fulfilled a long-term dream by founding Grand Central Records in Ma ...

Ian Simmonds Ian Simmonds (born 1966), also known as Juryman, is a Welsh-born electronic musician. He is one of a few talents "to successfully breach the chasm that keeps DJ culture from more tangible, organic realms."Shantel *

Dani Siciliano Dani Siciliano is an American singer. She has worked with Matthew Herbert on several of his projects including the albums '' Around the House'', '' Bodily Functions'' and '' Scale''. She has also released two solo albums, '' Likes...'' and ''Slap ...

Smith & Mighty Smith & Mighty are an English trip hop group from Bristol, England, consisting of Rob Smith and Ray Mighty. Their first releases, in the late 1980s, were breakbeat covers of " Anyone Who Had a Heart" and " Walk On By". Both songs entered the ...

* Spacek * Stateless * Stereotyp *

* Terranova *

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...

* Tricky *

Trüby Trio Trüby Trio are a German music group specialising in nu jazz and broken beat. Founded in 1997 by Rainer Trüby, Roland Appel and Christian Prommer, their Latin-influenced sound, integrating bossa nova and flamenco styles, saw the band become pionee ...

Gez Varley Gerrard Varley is a British electronic musician and DJ, who was member of LFO during the 1990s and later released his solo works under the moniker G-Man. Life Varley founded LFO in 1990 with Mark Bell, whom he had known since 1984.

Goose A goose ( : geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera ''Anser'' (the grey geese and white geese) and '' Branta'' (the black geese). Some other birds, mostly related to the ...

* Voom:Voom *

Wamdue Kids Chris Brann (born March 25, 1972) is an American electronic music producer and remixer. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Brann is known for his work under the monikers Wamdue Project and Ananda Project. Career Chris Brann's teamed up with DJ Dee ...

When Saints Go Machine When Saints Go Machine is a Danish electropop band from Copenhagen. The group consists of three members: Silas Moldenhawer (drums), Jonas Kenton (synth, vocals) and Nikolaj Manuel Vonsild (vocals). Until February 2019, there was a fourth member, ...

* Earl Zinger * Bjarki *

Red Axes Red Axes is an Israeli electronic and indie music duo formed in 2010 by Dori Sadovnik and Niv Arzi. Based in Tel Aviv, the duo's eclectic sound range is influenced by many genres, including disco, house, garage rock, post punk, psychedelic roc ...

* Reto A Ichi * Tomat Petrella *

Bochum Welt Bochum Welt is the stage name of the Italian electronic musician Gianluigi Di Costanzo. The name Bochum Welt is a combination of the German word for "world" (''welt'') and the name of a high-powered astral telescope. Di Costanzo has released nume ...

Hundred Waters Hundred Waters is an American band formed in Gainesville, Florida in October 2011, composed of Nicole Miglis (vocals, piano, flute), Trayer Tryon (production, electronics, bass) and Zach Tetreault (drums, percussion, trumpet). The group came to p ...

* Sandunes * Michael Mayer

References

External links

Official site

Studio !K7
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Studio K7 Record labels established in 1996 German independent record labels Electronic dance music record labels Electronic music record labels

History

Artists

See also

References

External links