ASV Records was a

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

-based

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the prod ...

set up by Harley Usill, founder of

Argo Records Argo Records was a record label in Chicago that was established in 1955 as a division of Chess Records. Originally the label was called Marterry, but bandleader Ralph Marterie objected, and within a couple of months the imprint was renamed Ar ...

, Decca producer and former Argo general manager, Kevin Daly, and producer Jack Boyce, after Argo's parent company Decca was bought by

PolyGram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be ...

in 1980. ASV stood for "Academy Sound and Vision". The label was bought by the

Sanctuary Records Group Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and is as of 2013 a subsidiary of BMG Rights Management solely for reissues. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest m ...

in May 1999. ASV, which was founded in London in 1981, was mainly a classical label, but its catalogue included

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film. Born to ...

, The Ink Spots, and The Boswell Sisters. Starting in 1986, ASV had an imprint called Living Era, created by Kevin Daly, which specialized in reissuing recordings (particularly American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

recordings) that are in the public domain in the UK, which are all at least 50 years old. It also showcased American

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describ ...

, American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

, British dance bands, and British nostalgia. Much of ASV's classical catalogue was reissued on Sanctuary's Resonance budget label. Sanctuary's UK recorded music business was shut down shortly after

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

bought the firm in 2007. This also included the ASV and ASV/Living Era imprints. As a fulfilment of conditions imposed by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

following UMG's acquisition of most of EMI in 2012, Universal sold Sanctuary to

BMG Rights Management BMG Rights Management Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, GmbH (also known simply as BMG) is an international music company based in Berlin, Germany. It combines the activities of a Music publisher (popular music), music publisher and a rec ...

in 2013. Thus,

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. (trade name, d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York C ...

, through its

Alternative Distribution Alliance Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA) is a music distribution company owned by Warner Music Group, which represents the rights to various independent record labels. ADA provides "independent artist and label partners with access to the resource ...

division, handles the catalogue of reissues from ASV's artists' releases on Sanctuary's behalf after BMG designated ADA in March 2017 as its distributor.

Roster

Conductors: * Enrique Bátiz Campbell, Mexico * Francesco D'Avalos, Italy * David Allinson, United States * Ross Pople, New Zealand * Christoph Eschenbach, Germany *

Jane Glover Dame Jane Alison Glover (born 13 May 1949) is a British-born conductor and musicologist. Early life Born at Helmsley, Glover attended Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls. Her father, Robert Finlay Glover, MA ( TCD), was headmaster of ...

, United Kingdom * Andrew Carwood, United Kingdom * Loris Tjeknavorian, Iran, Austria * Steven Sloane, United States Performers: * London Festival Orchestra *

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Sym ...

* Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra * Nikolai Demidenko * Robert Gibbs * Young Uck Kim * John Lill *

Jorge Luis Prats Jorge Luis Prats Soca (born 3 July 1956) is a Cuban pianist living in Spain. Prats Soca was born in Camagüey. He studied piano since 1963 under Barbara Díaz Alea. In 1970, he was accepted into National Art School, from which he graduated in 19 ...

Julian Lloyd Webber Julian Lloyd Webber (born 14 April 1951) is a British solo cellist, conductor and broadcaster, a former principal of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the founder of the In Harmony music education programme. Early years and education Julian ...

* Lindsay String Quartet * The Cardinall's Musick *

Ensemble 360 Ensemble 360 is a British chamber music ensemble founded in 2005 by Music in the Round following the retirement of the Lindsay String Quartet. It comprises five string players, five wind players, and a pianist, and as often as possible presents con ...

Gordon Fergus-Thompson Gordon Fergus-Thompson FRCM (born 9 March 1952) is an English concert pianist. Biography Fergus-Thompson's first piano teacher waChristine Brown a pupil of Denis Matthews. Subsequently, he became a student of Gordon Green at the Royal Northern ...

New Chamber Opera Ensemble New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

* Emma Johnson *

Sandro Ivo Bartoli Sandro Ivo Bartoli (born 10 February 1970 in Pisa) is an Italian pianist. Early career From the early 1990s, Bartoli has rediscovered, played and recorded Italian classical music from the early twentieth century, leading a fashion. His performan ...

References

External links

ASV's Living Era series discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asv Records Classical music record labels Jazz record labels British record labels

Roster

See also

References

External links