Croatia Records is the largest

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

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 ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, based in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

( Dubrava).

Summary

Croatia Records d.d. is a

joint-stock company A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's capital stock, stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their share (finance), shares (certificates ...

currently led by the chief executive officer Želimir Babogredac, a notable

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

. It releases mostly (but not necessarily) mainstream music, and it has signed many prominent

Croatian music The music of Croatia, like the divisions of the country itself, has two major influences: Central European, present in central and northern parts of the country including Slavonia, and Mediterranean, present in coastal regions of Dalmatia and ...

ians of various

music genres A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from ''musical form'' and musical style, although in practice these terms are some ...

such as

Dražen Zečić Dražen Zečić (born 24 July 1967) is a Croatian singer-songwriter. He was born in Split in 1967. He initially began his career as a songwriter, writing for musicians such as Mate Bulić, Zlatko Pejaković, and Mišo Kovač Mate "Mišo" K ...

Arsen Dedić Arsenije "Arsen" Dedić ( sr-Cyrl, Арсеније "Арсен" Дедић, ; 28 July 1938 – 17 August 2015) was a Croatian singer-songwriter. He wrote and performed chansons, as well as film music. He was also an award-winning poet, and was o ...

Mišo Kovač Mate "Mišo" Kovač (; born 16 July 1941) is a Croatian recording artist. He is the best selling artist from Croatia, with well over 20 million records, cassettes and compact discs sold to date, and is often regarded as one of the most popular mu ...

Josipa Lisac Josipa Lisac (; born 14 February 1950) is a Croatian pop rock singer. Biography During the 1960s, Lisac was the vocalist of the group Zlatni Akordi. Her first solo album, '' Dnevnik jedne ljubavi'' (''The Diary of a Love''), recorded in 1973, was ...

, Majke,

Teška Industrija Teška Industrija (trans. "''Heavy Industry''") is a rock band from Bosnia and Herzegovina, based in Sarajevo. They are noted for a mixture of hard rock and prog-rock sound with elements of bosnian folk music and "symphonic" arrangements. Teška ...

Thompson Thompson may refer to: People * Thompson (surname) * Thompson M. Scoon (1888–1953), New York politician Places Australia *Thompson Beach, South Australia, a locality Bulgaria * Thompson, Bulgaria, a village in Sofia Province Canada * ...

Maksim Mrvica Maksim Mrvica (; born 3 May 1975) is a Croatian pianist. He plays classical crossover Crossover is a term applied to musical works or performers who appeal to different types of audience. This can be seen, for example, (especially in the ...

Crvena jabuka Crvena jabuka () is a pop rock band formed in Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1985. Since then they had great success and are still very popular. They were a part of the New primitives movement that started during the 80s. Biography The ...

Jelena Rozga Jelena Rozga (born 23 August 1977) is a Croatian pop, folk, and electropop singer. Born and raised in Split, Croatia, Rozga was a ballet dancer as a child. She rose to fame in 1996, when she became the lead singer of Magazin, a pop band famou ...

, Novi fosili,

Opća opasnost Opća opasnost (lit. "General danger") is a rock band from Croatia known for rock ballads. Founded by Slaven Živanović and Pero Galić in Županja in 1992, they grew to six members and released their first studio album in 1994, ''Treba mi neš ...

Rade Šerbedžija Rade Šerbedžija ( sr-Cyrl, Раде Шербеџија, ; born 27 July 1946) is a Croatian actor, director and musician. He is known for his portrayals of imposing figures on both sides of the law. He was one of the best known Yugoslav actors i ...

Jacques Houdek Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...

Parni valjak Parni Valjak (; "steamroller") is a Croatian and former Yugoslav rock band. They were one of the top acts of the former Yugoslav rock scene, and one of the top rock bands in Croatia. Biography Parni Valjak was founded in 1975 in Zagreb. Unl ...

Leteći odred Leteći odred is Croatian pop band from the city of Osijek that used to be popular in the mid 1990s. Its name means "''Flying Squad''" in Croatian. They formed in 1991 with Denis Dumančić. Their serious music career group began in 1992, when it ...

, Mladen Grdović,

Dino Dvornik Dino Dvornik (; 20 August 1964 – 7 September 2008) was a Croatian singer-songwriter, music producer, actor and reality television star known as "the Croatian king of funk". Biography Early life A son of renowned actor Boris Dvornik and mothe ...

Dino Merlin Edin Dervišhalidović (; born 12 September 1962), known professionally as Dino Merlin (), is a Bosnian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. Born in Sarajevo, he was the founder and leader of Merlin, which eventually became one of ...

Hari Rončević Hari Rončević (born 9 December 1963) is a Croatian pop singer and songwriter. He was born in Split, in former Yugoslavia. After living for 13 years in Zagreb, he returned to his native Split in 2020. In 2019, he drew media attention for sin ...

, Radojka Šverko,

Giuliano People with the Italian given name or surname Giuliano () have included: In arts and entertainment Surname * Geoffrey Giuliano, American author * Maurizio Giuliano, writer and Guinness-record-holding traveler Given name * Giuliano Gemma, actor ...

Mate Bulić Mate Bulić (; born 18 February 1957) is a Herzegovinian pop and folk singer, whose songs are influenced by his native Herzegovina region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since 1990s, he has been living and performing from Frankfurt, Germany, where h ...

Disciplin A Kitschme Disciplin A Kitschme, originally known as Disciplina Kičme ( sr-Cyrl, Дисциплина Кичме, transl. ''Backbone Discipline''), was a Serbian and Yugoslav and, for a period of time, British rock band, formed in Belgrade in 1981. The ...

, Srebrna krila, Divlje jagode,

Indexi Indexi was a Bosnian and former Yugoslav rock band popular in Yugoslavia. It formed in 1962 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and disbanded in 2001 when singer Davorin Popović died. Some of their most notable songs are "Svijet u kome živi ...

Sinan Alimanović Sinan Alimanović (born 11 February 1954) is a Bosnian jazz pianist, organist, composer, conductor, arranger and educator. Biography Sinan Alimanović has worked with American and European jazz musicians such as Randy Brecker, Harvie S, Duško ...

, Lu Jakelić, Mia Dimšić, Mia Negovetić, Nina Donelli and others. Today, Croatia Records claims to have 70% share of the Croatian music market and has 30

record shop A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records, but over the 20th century, record sho ...

s. Being a continuation of

Jugoton Jugoton was the largest record label and chain record store in the former Yugoslavia based in Zagreb, SR Croatia. History Jugoton was formed in 1947. It is notable for releasing some of the most important former Yugoslav pop and rock records ...

, from which it inherited a comprehensive audio and video collection, Croatia Records is also active in re-releasing numerous

digitally remaster Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...

ed former

Yugoslav pop and rock Popular music in Yugoslavia includes the pop and rock music of the former SFR Yugoslavia, including all their genres and subgenres. The scene included the constituent republics: SR Slovenia, SR Croatia, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SR Monteneg ...

titles. Following the global retro trend, the company decided to re-introduce

gramophone records A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...

as well.

History

The company that is today Croatia Records was founded in

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

, the capital of the then-

People's Republic of Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), or SR Croatia, was a constituent republic and federated state of the Sociali ...

under the name

, a

publicly owned company A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

which was the largest

and

chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A c ...

record store A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells recorded music. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records, but over the 20th century, record shops sold the new formats that were ...

in the former

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

. During several decades of its successful existence, Jugoton signed many eminent ex-Yugoslav artists such as:

Bijelo Dugme Bijelo Dugme (trans. ''White Button'') was a Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav rock music, rock band, formed in Sarajevo, Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1974. Bijelo Dugme is widely co ...

Električni Orgazam Električni Orgazam ( sr-cyr, Електрични Оргазам, lit=Electric Orgasm, translit=) is a Serbian rock band from Belgrade. Originally starting as a combination of new wave, punk rock and post-punk, the band later slowly changed th ...

Haustor Haustor ( hr, Hallway or front door) was a Yugoslav rock band from Zagreb, SR Croatia, a member of the new wave movement, and an important act of the former Yugoslav rock scene. History The basis of the band was formed in 1977, when singer ...

Idoli Idoli ( sr-cyr, Идоли; trans. The Idols) were a Serbian new wave band from Belgrade. They are considered to be one of the most notable acts of the Yugoslav rock scene, and their 1982 album ''Odbrana i poslednji dani'' was on several occas ...

and

Leb i Sol Leb i sol ( mk, Леб и сол) is a Macedonian and former Yugoslav rock group founded in the 1970s by Vlatko Stefanovski (guitar), Bodan Arsovski (bass guitar), Nikola Kokan Dimuševski (keyboards) and Garabet Tavitjan (drums). Tavitjan ced ...

, and also numerous important foreign stars for the domestic market including:

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

, U2,

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

etc. The company also owned a

s across Yugoslavia. Many Yugoslav entries in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

were signed with Jugoton including the 1989 winners

Riva Riva may refer to: People * Riva (surname) * Riva Castleman (1930–2014), American art historian, art curator and author * Riva Ganguly Das (born 1961), Indian diplomat * Riva (footballer), Brazilian former footballer Rivadávio Alves Pereira ...

Croatian independence

After the transition from

socialist state A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country, sometimes referred to as a workers' state or workers' republic, is a Sovereign state, sovereign State (polity), state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. The ...

parliamentary democracy A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...

in 1989, the question of Croatia's

self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...

from Yugoslavia was raised. In 1991, shortly before the declaration of Croatian independence and the

breakup of Yugoslavia The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

, the company's name

, a

portmanteau word A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsYugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

) and ''tone'', was changed to Croatia Records. The company was inherited by the now-independent

Republic of Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

and since the previous economic system was abandoned, it was

privatized Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

. Since the year of 2000, Croatia Records is managed by professionals from the

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

joined in the partnership company called AUTOR d.o.o. In 2001, the musician

Miroslav Škoro Miroslav Škoro (; born 29 July 1962) is a Croatian musician, television host and politician. He is the founder and the first president of the conservative Homeland Movement party, which he established in February 2020 and led until July 2021. As ...

became the leader of Croatia Records, until his

resignation Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...

in 2006.

Croatia Records Music Publishing

Croatia Records Music Publishing (CRMP d.o.o.) is a company owned by Croatia Records d.d. that specializes in the regulation of conditions of use of copyright music and digital distribution. Their activities include regulating the conditions of using music in media, advertising campaigns, on film, in the mobile industry, legal protection and promotion of copyright work, cooperation with a discography, associations for the collective protection of copyright and related rights. Founded in 1947. as a copyright department of former Jugoton and Since 1991 as a part of a major label house Croatia Records, today Croatia Records Music Publishing stands as an independent company. Croatia Records Music Publishing has the largest catalog of Croatian songs and the largest catalog of master recordings made in the last 40 years of the most famous Croatian singers, songwriters and composers such as

Đorđe Novković Đorđe Novković (; 2 September 1943 – 6 May 2007) was a Croatian songwriter who was known for his work in Yugoslavia and Croatia. Novković composed more than 2,500 songs and sold approximately 20 million records. He is also known as the fathe ...

Damir Urban Damir Urban (born 19 September 1968) is a Croatian rock musician best known for his work as a singer/songwriter for Laufer and for his solo work with his band Urban & 4. Early years Damir Urban was born on 19 September 1968 in Rijeka, Croatia, ...

, Nenad Ninčević, Zlatan Stipišić - Gibonni,

Zdenko Runjić Zdenko Runjić (26 October 1942 – 27 October 2004) was a Croatian songwriter. In his long career, he established himself as one of the most prolific and most popular songwriters of former Yugoslavia and Croatia. Biography Runjić was born on 26 ...

. Croatia Records Music Publishing has begun digitization of musical works issued by Croatia Records and is developing relationships between advertising agencies and production companies in the regulation of all rights necessary for the commercial exploitation of music. It also works on digital distribution of music in direct cooperation with the

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

, Rebeat GMBH, Roba Music Verlag and other similar online stores.

Controversy

Often, the company was a target of public criticism on various issues. Croatia Records has been the object of a controversy raised by singer

Branimir Štulić Branimir "Johnny" Štulić (born 11 April 1953) is a Yugoslav singer-songwriter, musician and author, best known for being the frontman of the popular Yugoslav rock group Azra. He is known for his charismatic stage performances and inspiring song ...

over

royalty Royalty may refer to: * Any individual monarch, such as a king, queen, emperor, empress, etc. * Royal family, the immediate family of a king or queen regnant, and sometimes his or her extended family * Royalty payment for use of such things as int ...

rights. Štulić claims royalties of songs by former rock band

Azra Azra was a Croatian and Yugoslav rock band that was one of the most popular acts of the Yugoslav new wave music of the 1980s. Azra was formed in 1977 by its frontman Branimir "Johnny" Štulić. The other two members of the original line-up were ...

, whose lead singer and songwriter he was in the 1980s, and which was then managed by Croatia Record's predecessor Jugoton. Štulić has named a sum of 12 million

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

s he believes the company owes him but has not opted to take legal action to claim it. Želimir Babogredac replied that Croatia Records has all the legal rights to release titles by Štulić and Azra, as the company is a direct successor of Jugoton, whom these artists were signed for. He also said that the sum Štulić claims is exaggerated. However, he added that Croatia Records is proud to have the highly acclaimed Štulić in the list of its artists and that he may receive a payment from the sale of

audio CD Compact Disc Digital Audio (CDDA or CD-DA), also known as Digital Audio Compact Disc or simply as Audio CD, is the standard format for audio compact discs. The standard is defined in the ''Red Book'', one of a series of Rainbow Books (named fo ...

s only if he joins the

Croatian Composers' Society Croatian Composers' Society ( hr, Hrvatsko društvo skladatelja, HDS) is a professional organization of composers in Croatia. The society has more than 300 full and over 9000 associate members. The full membership is available to composers, musi ...

(ZAMP).

Slobodna Dalmacija ''Slobodna Dalmacija'' () is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Split. The first issue of ''Slobodna Dalmacija'' was published on 17 June 1943 by Tito's Partisans in an abandoned stone barn on Mosor, a mountain near Split, while the city ...

, April 5, 200

References

External links

Croatia Records Official site

Croatia Records Music Publishing official websiteCroatia Records
at

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

Croatian Roots Music
- Roots music edition of Croatia Records
Croatia Records USA
- Distributor for the United States and Canada
Croatia Records
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 ...

* {{Authority control Record labels established in 1947 Croatian record labels IFPI members Companies based in Zagreb