Black Hole Recordings is a Dutch

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 pr ...

founded by Tijs Verwest (

Tiësto Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( ), is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted "the Greatest DJ of All Time" by '' Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, he was v ...

) and Arny Bink in 1997. In August 2009, Tiësto decided to leave Black Hole Recordings, setting up the record label Musical Freedom in association with

PIAS Entertainment Group PIAS is a British recording, licensing, distribution, sales and marketing company for independent music. The company was founded in 1983 by Kenny Gates and Michel Lambot in Brussels, Belgium,

History

Background

In late 1994,

signed with Basic Beat, where he met Arny Bink. Tiësto released records on the sub-label Trashcan, founded by Arny, and later created the Guardian Angel sub-label with Arny in which they introduced the ''Forbidden Paradise'' series. In the fall of 1997, Bink and Tiësto decided to leave Basic Beat and create their own parent label, Black Hole Recordings. Trashcan was discontinued and Guardian Angel continued releasing music up to 2002. Through Black Hole, Tiësto released the '' Magik'' series and created two major sub-labels;

SongBird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 5000 ...

and In Trance We Trust. From 1998 to 1999 Tiësto released music on Planetary Consciousness, where he met A&R Hardy Heller and invited him to release some records on Black Hole. Tiësto later included the '' In Search of Sunrise'' series on Songbird and opened a new division of Black Hole,

Magik Muzik Magik Muzik is a sub-label of Dutch label Black Hole Recordings that was founded by Tiësto in 2001. History In 1997 with the help of Arny Bink, co-founder of Black Hole Recordings, Tiësto was able to compile various styles of electronic music ...

, which was established in 2001. Magik Muzik released major chart-topping songs by

. Initially it released exclusive material but has since expanded.

1997–2004

In 1997, the label was founded by

and Arny Bink and was privately launched by Tiësto's own productions and mixes. After the release of Magik One: First Flight and Space Age 1.0 Tiësto's fame began to rise and so did the label. In 1998, due to the success of the first two DJ Mix compilations, he and Arny decided to work with other DJs and released "In Trance We Trust 001" mixed by Misja Helsloot, which was one of the first commercially available trance compilations at that time. With the support the imprint gave to Misja, other DJs and producers got interested in working along with Black Hole. The label released the first DJ Mix compilations of many artists like DJ Stigma,

Ferry Corsten Ferry Corsten (; born 4 December 1973) is a Dutch disc jockey, record producer and remixer from Rotterdam. He is well known for producing many pioneering trance tracks during the 1990s–2000s under his numerous aliases, including System F, Moon ...

Armin van Buuren Armin Jozef Jacobus Daniël van Buuren ( , ; born 25 December 1976) is a Dutch DJ and record producer from Leiden, South Holland. Since 2001, he has hosted '' A State of Trance'' (ASOT), a weekly radio show, which is broadcast to nearly 40&n ...

Johan Gielen Johan Gielen () is a trance artist, DJ, and remixer. He was born on 23 February 1968 in the town of Mol, Belgium. Early years Johan started DJing at the age of 17 in his home country of Belgium, and during the latest 15 years has built up an ...

, Mark Norman Cor Fijneman, DJ Montana, and Ton TB. As Tiësto released 12" vinyls for himself he also introduced many tracks from other DJs through the vinyl system on 10 different sub-labels, each having its own specific style of electronic dance music. Tiësto has sold over 1,000,000 copies of his DJ Mix compilations, and the "In Trance We Trust" series is one of the leading series in

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

based music. Misja Helsloot was the first to work with Tiësto in In Trance We Trust, Tiësto only helped in compiling the DJ Mixes until the fifth installment in 2001. Between 1999 and 2000, Tiësto released his own ''Artist Profile Series'' after

's ''Solar Serenades'' DJ Mix, Tiësto's number two included Magik Four: A New Adventure; ''Black Hole CD 07'' is the only CD which is released in the Artist Profile Series, after the four first Magik CDs were re-released in 2000 with new artwork. The sleeves on the first copies were replaced due to the unauthorized use of

Patrick Woodroffe Patrick James Woodroffe (27 October 1940 – 10 May 2014) was an English artist, etcher and drawer, specialised in fantasy science-fiction artwork, with images that bordered on the surreal. His achievements include several collaborations wi ...

's artwork. DJ René followed the ''Artist Profile Series'' with number three ''All Over The World'',

's ''Boundaries of Imagination'' which became the fourth and fifth installment with DJ HH // Hardy Heller's ''Artist Profile'' ''Mix in Motion''. In the first day of 2001, Prime Time Management became the official booking agency of Tiësto, its main objective is the development of Tiësto as an artist. In 2001

Jonas Steur Jonas Steur () is a Belgian trance DJ and producer. He is known under several additional aliases, most notably Estuera, the name under which he released most of his music until 2005 when he began DJing and releasing music under his birth name J ...

joined the label and released music under the artist name Estuera. That same year Ralphie B signed to the label when Tiësto heard one track from him and was released on the "In Trance We Trust" imprint. Starting 16 December 2004, Black Hole began compiling its catalogue for purchase download at

beatport Beatport is an American electronic music-oriented online music store owned by LiveStyle. The company is based in Denver, Los Angeles, and Berlin. Beatport is oriented primarily towards DJs, selling full songs as well as resources that can be u ...

.com; its sublabels were added later that year. In 2004 the label released a 2xCD compilation, "Black Hole Recordings: Best of 1997-2004"; the first disc contains unmixed tracks and the second disc is mixed by DJ Ton T.B. The DJ Mix contains the best of the label from 1997 to 2004.

2005–2008

In 2005, Sander van Dien and Ralphie B collaborated on some tracks, they released songs under the alias Midway and later created the alias "First State" which is a breakthrough according to the label. The First State album "Time Frame" has released already two singles and it is expected that "Time Frame II – the sequel" and "Time Frame III" will be released later. It was 2006 when Black Hole asked

for a solo album; "Born for the night" was released in 2007. In 2007 Barcelona Urban Sound released ''Trance World Series: Black Hole in Session'' which featured two CDs, one mixed by T4L and one by Slamm!, tracks featured in the compilation were by artists of the Black Hole repertoire.

Streamline Studios Streamline Studios is part of Streamline Media Group, a Dutch/Malaysian entertainment and enterprise video game development company. Streamline Studios, the original studio founded in 2001, focuses on video game development and art outsourcing fr ...

, an independent game developer and digital content provider for AAA videogames and Black Hole Recordings have formed, a joint venture which would provide sound solutions for digital entertainment including the entire catalog of Black Hole's artists. The first work that Streamline Sound has contributed is on the

massively multiplayer online A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players, often hundreds or thousands, on the same server. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent world, persistent open world, alt ...

(MMO) role-playing PC game '' Sword of the New World: Granado Espada'' with 17 12" tracks,

, an independent game developer and digital content provider for video games and Black Hole have confirmed the formation of Streamline Sound, a joint venture to provide sound for digital entertainment. Streamline Sound combines audio services and 5.1 studio with the artist catalog of Black Hole Recordings, including Grammy-nominated electronic music superstar

and a large number of independent composers and musicians. ''

Forza Motorsport 2 ''Forza Motorsport 2'' is a 2007 simulation racing video game developed by Turn 10 Studios for the Xbox 360 console. It is the second title in the ''Forza'' series, and is the sequel to the original ''Forza Motorsport'' (2005) and was followed by ...

'' which includes Tom Clouds' track "Told You So" and ''HoopWorld''. Iwan de Kuijper, New Media Manager for Black Hole Recordings will be the General Manager of Streamline Sound dealing with business matters, along with music industry veteran artist and engineer Tom Pearce functioning as Audio Director for projects. Currently Streamline Sound has three main artists, ambient expert Tom Pearce, classical composer

Geert Huinink Geert Huinink () (born 29 April 1971) is a Dutch electronic music producer and classical composer. His compositions have been released under many different aliases. There is little published about him, but his name has surfaced around some influent ...

, and

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

producer Tiësto. Geert Huinink has been assigned to compose game soundtracks and is part of the Virtualish project to create video game scores in a theatrical show. Streamline Sound will release the soundtrack of Korean MMORPG Granado Espada in the first half of 2008. Christopher Norman who has created many tracks for Black Hole joined Topher Jones and created ''"Otherside"'', the song has been featured in

Tiësto's Club Life ''Tiësto's Club Life'' is Dutch DJ Tiësto's weekly radio show that was formerly broadcast on Radio 538 in the Netherlands. It was broadcast on 3FM, but in 2015, Tiësto came back to Radio 538. The show started broadcasting on 6 April 2007 eve ...

Radio 538 Radio 538 () is a Dutch commercial radio station that was founded in Hilversum, Netherlands in 1992. It is the second-most listened to radio station in the Netherlands. Radio 538 refers to the wavelength on which Radio Veronica used to broadcas ...

. Since the creation of the track, Jones was invited by Tiësto to open for him on his In Search of Sunrise: North American Summer Tour 2008. Three other songs from Jones were included in previous podcasts; ''"Castaway"'', ''"Club 37"'' and his remix of Tyler Michaud vs. JPL's – ''"Five Days Till Sunrise"''. ''"Young Life"'' is another track from Jones which was played by Tiësto at the In Search of Sunrise 6: Ibiza release party to promote the inclusion of Jones to Black Hole. On 24 May 2008, the Dutch club "The Matrixx" in

Nijmegen Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...

featured the performance of artists like Cor Fijneman,

Cosmic Gate Cosmic Gate is a German DJ duo consisting of trance music producers Claus Terhoeven (born 1972) and Stefan Bossems (born 1967). Both hail from Krefeld, Germany. On October 28, 2009, ''DJ Magazine'' announced the results of their annual Top 100 ...

, First State, Mark Norman, Mr. Sam,

Phynn Finne Jager (; born 6 December 1984), commonly known as Phynn, is a Dutch trance and techno DJ and producer. He is the founder of the American electronic dance music label Lunary Records. Career Early Stages In 2000, Finne discovered his love ...

, Progression and Ton TB. After the release of this party, the exclusive best of CD from the imprint called "10 Years of Black Hole Recordings" was released. An event which took place in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

named "Black Hole Label Night" was recorded and release through Avex Taiwan Inc., the credits of the mix were given to DJ J-Six which has no relation with the label and only recorded the event. All tracks featured are from current Black Hole artists with the exception of Josh Millstone with his song ''"As The Day Fades"''. Black Hole also introduced Fris!, which is another subdivision of the label which emphasizes on

progressive house Progressive house is a subgenre of house music. The progressive house style emerged in the early 1990s. It initially developed in the United Kingdom as a natural progression of American and European house music of the late 1980s.Gerard, Morgan; ...

. As of January 2009, Black Hole began releasing "Captivate", its first free online magazine through Myebooks containing information on forthcoming tracks and albums as well as artists' biographies. In March 2009 after signing Richard Durand as part of Magik Muzik, Black Hole decided to absorb the label in which Durand got his most popular hits, Terminal 4.

2009–2010: Departure of Tiësto and ''In Search of Sunrise''

In August 2009 Tiësto decided to part ways with Black Hole Recordings, setting up the label Musical Freedom in association with IASEntertainment Group. In April 2010 Black Hole Recordings announced that the eighth album in the '' In Search of Sunrise'' compilation series would be mixed by Dutch trance producer Richard Durand, and released in May 2010. He continues to mix the '' In Search of Sunrise'' series, with the latest one being ''In Search of Sunrise 13.5: Amsterdam''.

Artists

Source:

Awards

Black Hole Recordings was nominated for the WMC Awards: Miami as ''Best Global Dance Record Label'' in the years 2008 to 2011.

Labels

Source: *Ace of Clubs *Afterdark *AVA Recordings (includes sublabels AVA White and AVA Chill) *Avanti *Coldharbour Recordings (includes sublabel Coldharbour Black) *Damaged Records *Deep In Thought *Dinamode Records *Drizzly Escape *Elpida Music *Force Of Habit *Gameroom Records *GO Music *Heavens Gate *HTE Recordings *In Control Recordings *In Trance We Trust *KSS3TE Recordings *LNG Records *Magic Island Records (includes sublabels Magic Island Elevate and Magic Island Deep) *Magik Muzik *Mental Asylum Records *Nocturnal Knights Music (includes sublabels Nocturnal Nights Fusion and Nocturnal Knights Reworked) *Outburst Records (includes sublabel Outburst Twilight) *

Perfecto Records Perfecto Records is a British trance record label, founded by Paul Oakenfold in 1989. Perfecto was also a remix team consisting of Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne and in its later years, Osborne was replaced by Andy Gray. Perfecto Records h ...

(includes sublabels Perfecto Black, Perfecto Fluoro, and Perfecto House) *Pure Trance Recordings (includes sublabels Pure Progressive and Pure Trance Neon) *Regenerate *Ride Recordings *Scorchin Records *Serendipity Muzik *Skullduggery *

*Songspire Records *Subculture *Techburst Records *Tell You Something *TurnItUp Music *Universal Nation *Victims Helpline *VII *Wake Your Mind Records

Captivate

This is a list of the issues of Black Hole's monthly free online magazine, Captivate, launched in January 2009. *Captivate 001: Carl B. *Captivate 002:

*Captivate 003: Daniel Wanrooy *Captivate 004: Richard Durand *Captivate 005:

;Album presentation Album presentations usually include press release and sometimes short mp3 clips of songs featured in the album. *

: Signs of the Times *Richard Durand: Always the Sun *

Robbie Rivera Roberto "Robbie" Rivera (born 1973) is a house music producer and DJ born in Puerto Rico. He has an extensive catalog of original productions and remixes to his credit, ranging from tribal to progressive house, as well as incorporating garage ...

: Juicy Ibiza 2009 *

& Hardwell: Privilege Ibiza *Julie Thompson: Feeling For Corners *

: Closer to the Sun ;Specials *Ibiza 2009

References

External links

Black Hole Recordings website

Black Hole Recordings UK

Magik Muzik

UK Division of Magik Muzik

Black Hole Recordings Discography
{{Authority control Dutch record labels Trance record labels Electronic dance music record labels IFPI members Tiësto Record labels established in 1997 1997 establishments in the Netherlands