Drakkar Entertainment GmbH, also called Drakkar Records or Drakkar Publishing, 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 produ ...

with its headquarters in

Witten Witten () is a city with almost 100,000 inhabitants in the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis (district) in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Witten is situated in the Ruhr valley, in the southern Ruhr area. Bordering municipalities * Bochum * Dortmu ...

. It is a joint venture with

Bertelsmann Music Group Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008. Although it was established in 1987, the music com ...

History

Originally Kopec Music Publishing, Drakkar Entertainment was founded in 1986 by Bogdan Kopec. It initially only handled publishing, but in 1986, when Kopec changed the name to "''Drakkar Promotion''", he also expanded its services to include management, booking, and merchandising. The company later signed German metal bands such as Raven, Running Wild, and Sodom. In 1992, the company joined forces with

to become ''Drakkar Promotion Musikverlag GmbH''. At the same time, another company, G.U.N. Records GmbH was created. This second company became so successful that

Kopec KEPCO E&C (full name: KEPCO Engineering & Construction Company, INC., formerly: KOPEC) is a power plant design and engineering company in South Korea. It was established in 1975 as a public enterprise. KEPCO E&C engages in designing, engineering, ...

, who felt overworked, decided to sell his shares to BMG. He then closed the merchandising, booking, and trading departments of Drakkar Promotion and founded "Drakkar Records". His original company became "''Drakkar Entertainment GmbH''".

Divisions

Drakkar Entertainment now has four divisions: * Drakkar Classic, a label publishing rock and metal with orchestral accompaniment. * Drakkar Records, their metal label. * e-Wave Records, their electronic label. * Edition Drakkar, their publishing company.

Artists

De/Vision De/Vision is a German synthpop musical group formed in 1988. The band started as a quartet consisting of Thomas Adam, Steffen Keth, Stefan Blender, and Markus Ganssert. Blender left the band in 1991 and Ganssert departed in 2000. The name De/V ...

Dezperadoz Dezperadoz (formerly ''Desperados'') is a German "Western-metal" band and is the side-project of Tom Angelripper's guitarist Alex Kraft. The band plays heavy metal music that is heavily influenced by the soundtracks of the 1960s and 1970s S ...

* Diablo *

Double Experience Double Experience is a rock band based in Ottawa, Ontario that was formed in the summer of 2011. The band consists of vocalist and front man Ian Nichols and guitarist Brock Tinsley. History Formation and beginnings Double Experience's ...

Emil Bulls Emil Bulls is a German rock band that was formed in 1995 in Munich, Bavaria. The group consists of two guitarists, a bass guitar player, a drummer and a vocalist/guitarist. History In 1995, Christoph "Christ" von Freydorf (vocals) and Stefa ...

Eternal Tears of Sorrow Eternal Tears of Sorrow (commonly abbreviated to EToS) is a Finnish symphonic/melodic death metal band formed in Pudasjärvi. Biography The band was formed in 1994 by Jarmo Puolakanaho, Altti Veteläinen and Olli-Pekka Törrö, after vario ...

(until 2006) *

Gothminister Gothminister is a Norwegian gothic/industrial metal band. Formed in 1999, they have released six albums and have had success in Germany, playing many German music festivals, including Wave-Gotik-Treffen (WGT), the Dark Storm Festival, and the M ...

* Grantig *

Haggard Haggard may refer to an adjective reflecting exhaustion or poverty. Haggard may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Haggard (band), a German symphonic metal group * ''Haggard'' (TV series), a British comedy television series * '' Ha ...

* Jesus on Extasy * Karelia *

The Killer Barbies The Killer Barbies is a Spanish punk rock band fronted by singer/guitarist Silvia Superstar. After some success in Spain on the independent label Toxic Records, they got an international distribution through the German label Drakkar Records i ...

Kreator Kreator is a German thrash metal band from Essen, formed in 1982. Their current lineup consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Miland "Mille" Petrozza, drummer Jürgen "Ventor" Reil, lead guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö, and bassist Frédér ...

(for

Endorama ''Endorama'' is the ninth studio album by German thrash metal band Kreator, released on 20 April, 1999 by Drakkar Records. The gothic metal influences were the most prominent on this release, and Lacrimosa frontman Tilo Wolff provided guest voca ...

) *

Letzte Instanz Letzte Instanz is a German violin- rock band, founded in Dresden, Germany, in 1996, particularly noted for their use of the violin and cello. The founding members included Hörbi, Tin Whistle, Muttis Stolz, Kaspar Wichman, Holly D. and Markus G-P ...

Lordi Lordi () is a Finnish hard rock/ heavy metal band, formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker, Mr Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu). In addition to their melodic metal music, Lordi are also known for wearing monster ma ...

Loudness In acoustics, loudness is the subjectivity, subjective perception of sound pressure. More formally, it is defined as, "That attribute of auditory sensation in terms of which sounds can be ordered on a scale extending from quiet to loud". The rel ...

Lumsk Lumsk is a Norwegian folk metal band from Trondheim. The band combines traditional Norwegian folk music and folklore with rock, progressive rock and metal. The group has both male and female vocals with violin, guitar and drums. History After ...

Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neva ...

(until 2004) *

Odd Crew Odd Crew is a Bulgarian metal band from Sofia, formed in 1998. The band consists of vocalist Vasko Raykov, guitarist Vasil Parvanovski, bassist Martin Stoyanov and drummer Boyan "Bonzy" Georgiev. The band has released six studio albums and two l ...

Omega Lithium Omega Lithium was a Croatian industrial metal/ gothic metal band. It was formed in 2007 and is signed to Drakkar Entertainment, a part of Sony BMG. The band's debut album, '' Dreams in Formaline'', was released in 2009. Career The first s ...

Rebellion Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

Sahg Sahg is a three-piece Norwegian hard rock/doom metal band formed in Bergen in the summer of 2004, by key figures in the metal scene of their country: Tom Cato Visnes ( King ov Hell), Einar Selvik ( Kvitrafn), Olav Iversen and Thomas Tofthagen ...

*SETYØURSAILS *

The Sorrow The Sorrow was an Austrian metal band from Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label= Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also h ...

* The Wakes *

Twisted Sister Twisted Sister was an American heavy metal band originally from Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, and later based on Long Island, New York. Their best-known songs include " We're Not Gonna Take It" and " I Wanna Rock", both of which were associated with ...

Xandria Xandria is a German symphonic metal band founded by Marco Heubaum in 1994. Originally a project, Heubaum later restarted the project as a band in 1999, and has gone through various lineup changes. The German vocalist Lisa Middelhauve joined fo ...

(until 2011) * Zeraphine

External links

Official site of Drakkar Entertainment
contains both an English and German version.
Drakkar archive website
run by Drakkar Entertainment, which gives a description of the history of the label listed here. It's mostly in German, but an English version is available. {{Authority control German record labels Heavy metal record labels Electronic music record labels Record labels established in 1986 1986 establishments in West Germany