Ariola (also known as Ariola Records, Ariola-Eurodisc and BMG Ariola) is a German
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 ...
. In the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of the
Bertelsmann Music Group, which in turn has become a part of the international media conglomerate
Sony Music Entertainment.
Profile
Ariola Eurodisc GmbH was founded in 1958 as a music outlet of
Bertelsmann. It set up several foreign subsidiaries. Ariola America was founded in 1975 in Los Angeles, and achieved ''
Billboard'' magazine number one singles with
Mary MacGregor's "
Torn Between Two Lovers" (1976) and
Amii Stewart's cover version of the 1966
Eddie Floyd hit "
Knock on Wood" (1979). Other artists on the Ariola America roster during the late 1970s included
Gene Cotton
Gene Cotton (born June 30, 1944 in Columbus, Ohio) is an American pop and folk singer-songwriter. He is best known for his four ''Billboard'' top 40 entries during the years 1976–1978. In the UK, he is most famous for the song "Me and the E ...
,
The Three Degrees, Chanson, and the Canadian band
Prism among others. After its pop success dried up, Ariola America found success in the Spanish language market including
José José and
Rocío Dúrcal from the late 1970s onward and Mexican artist
Marisela starting in the 1990s. Other subsidiaries include Ariola-Athena to release spoken word records; Ariola Benelux was founded in 1970 to cover the
Benelux
The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a Political union, politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in ...
market; Ariola Eurodisc was a Spanish division of Ariola, founded in 1970; Ariola UK the UK based subsidiary of Ariola was founded in 1977; Baccarola; Türküola for the Turkish market;
Eurodisc to release disco records in France - most successfully with
Amanda Lear,
Giorgio Moroder
Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer, songwriter, and record producer. Dubbed the " Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering euro disco and electronic dance music. His work with synthesizers had ...
(house producer of Ariola) and Jupiter Records for German
Schlager music and disco like for instance group
Dschinghis Khan.
It acquired both
Arista Records and German rival label
Hansa Records in 1979. It sold 50% of Arista to
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also ...
in 1983; after a brief joint venture between RCA and Ariola, RCA (including its record division) was acquired by
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
who promptly sold RCA's stake in the venture back to Ariola. Ariola America also had a sister label called Ocean Records, which included on its roster actress/entertainer
Ann-Margret. It was active 1979 through 1980. In the 1980s, there was a software development division called
Ariolasoft.
Today, Ariola is a unit of
Sony Music
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainmen ...
Group and is still active in Germany under the Sony Group Corporation umbrella.
See also
*
List of record labels
*
Ariola Japan, formerly called BMG Japan until its acquisition from
Sony Music Entertainment Japan
External links
Official website(in German)
{{Authority control
German record labels
Spoken word record labels
Record labels established in 1958
1958 establishments in Germany