Beyond Music was an American

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 produ ...

group based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, California. It was founded in August 1998 by Allen Kovac. The label group operated as an arm of Kovac's Left Bank Management firm (founded in 1983), which he jointly ran with Jeffrey Sydney. The label was known for its strategy of "resurrecting" bands that had decreased in popularity with unusual high-profile marketing campaigns, and its roster included

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * YES (Your Extraordinary Saturday), a learning program from the Minnesota Institute for Talente ...

, Blondie,

Veruca Salt Veruca Salt is an American alternative rock band founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1992 by vocalist-guitarists Nina Gordon and Louise Post, drummer Jim Shapiro and bassist Steve Lack. They are best known for their first single, " Seether", that ...

Mötley Crüe Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1981. The group was founded by bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe has sold over 100 million albums ...

Vince Neil Vincent Neil Wharton (born February 8, 1961), best known by the stage name Vince Neil, is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist and occasional rhythm guitarist of heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, which he fronted from their 1981 forma ...

, and others. It also signed a variety of new bands, such as

Lucy Pearl Lucy Pearl was an American R&B supergroup formed in 1999. The group was composed of Raphael Saadiq (formerly of Tony! Toni! Toné!), Dawn Robinson (formerly of En Vogue), and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (formerly of A Tribe Called Quest). History In 199 ...

and 58.

History

On August 1, 1998, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' magazine announced the formation of Beyond Music via an exclusive feature in the magazine, and unveiled a list of artists who had signed to the label.

BMG BMG may refer to: Organizations * Music publishing companies: ** Bertelsmann Music Group, a 1987–2008 division of Bertelsmann that was purchased by Sony on October 1, 2008 *** Sony BMG, a 2004–2008 joint venture of Bertelsmann and Sony that wa ...

signed a pressing-and-distribution (P&D) agreement with Beyond Music to distribute the label group's release internationally; outside of the United States, some of Beyond Music's releases were licensed to and distributed by a variety of labels, such as

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...

for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and

Sony Music Entertainment 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 Entertainment ...

(SME) for Europe. Universal Music and Video Distribution took over Beyond Music's distribution from BMG in May 2001; the label's first release under the new distribution deal was ''

God Bless The Go-Go's ''God Bless the Go-Go's '' is the fourth studio album by the American rock band the Go-Go's, released on May 15, 2001. It was their first studio album in 17 years since the release of ''Talk Show (The Go-Go's album), Talk Show'' in 1984. As of ...

'' by The Go-Go's, which was released on May 15, 2001. The label, along with Left Bank Management, went into

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...

towards the end of 2002 following a dispute between Kovac and Sydney, resulting in more than a dozen employees being laid off. Kovac later filed an

arbitration Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ' ...

lawsuit against Sydney on December 31, 2002, alleging that he had defrauded and manipulated him, and formed a new management company, Kovac Media Group, in January 2003. Eleven Seven Music, which Kovac formed in 2006, is seen as a successor to Beyond Music. Several former artists on Beyond, such as Better than Ezra, have since reclaimed the rights to their releases on the label.

Roster

This is a list of artists who have recorded for Beyond Music and its associated labels. * 58 (Americoma){{Cite web , date=May 12, 2000 , title=Nikki Sixx on "58" , url=http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/1982/nikki_sixx.html , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102203120/http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/1982/nikki_sixx.html , archive-date=2007-11-02 , access-date=2023-02-20 , website=Petsbrugh * The Alarm MM++ * Better Than Ezra * Blondie * Colony * Face to Face * The Fixx * The Go-Go's *

Heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...

Jill Sobule Jill Sobule (born January 16, 1961) is an American singer-songwriter best known for the 1995 single "I Kissed a Girl (Jill Sobule song), I Kissed a Girl", and "Supermodel (Jill Sobule song), Supermodel" from the soundtrack of the 1995 film ''Cl ...

* Laidlaw *

(Mötley) * Sammy Hagar *

* Violent Femmes *

References

Record labels established in 1998 Record labels disestablished in 2002 Defunct record labels of the United States Defunct companies based in California