E.G. Records was a British

artist management A talent manager (also known as an artist manager, band manager or music manager) is an individual who guides the professional career of entertainer, artists in the entertainment industry. The responsibility of the talent manager is to oversee t ...

company and

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

, mostly active during the 1970s and 1980s. The initials stood for its founders, David Enthoven and John Gaydon. The pair signed on as managers of King Crimson in early 1969, during the formative stage of the band and prior to the release of debut ''

In the Court of the Crimson King ''In the Court of the Crimson King'' (subtitled ''An Observation by King Crimson'') is the debut studio album by English rock band King Crimson, released on 10 October 1969 by Island Records. The album is one of the earliest and most influentia ...

'', with it springboarding their entrance into the record label and music publishing markets. They also signed T. Rex, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and

Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry—who became the band's lead vocalist and principal songwriter—and bassist Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson. The other longtime members are Phil Manzanera ...

to management. Gaydon left the company in 1971 and Enthoven, due to declining health, in June 1977. Samuel George Alder and

Mark Fenwick Mark Anthony Fenwick (born May 1948) is a British businessman, the fifth generation of his family to run the Fenwick department store chain founded in 1882. Mark Anthony Fenwick was born in May 1948. He was the son of John Fenwick, who died in ...

(later managing

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. In 1965, he co-founded the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. Waters initially served as the bassist, but following the departure of singer-so ...

) took over control of the companies, re-releasing material from King Crimson in addition to new releases from acts such as

Iain Ballamy Iain Ballamy (born 20 February 1964) is a British composer and saxophonist. He is considered one of the greatest modern jazz saxophonists. Career Ballamy was born in Guildford, Surrey, and educated at George Abbot School, Guildford, from 1975 ...

, Bill Bruford, The Chieftains,

Earthworks Earthworks may refer to: Construction *Earthworks (archaeology), human-made constructions that modify the land contour * Earthworks (engineering), civil engineering works created by moving or processing quantities of soil *Earthworks (military), m ...

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session ...

, Human Chain,

Killing Joke Killing Joke are an English rock music, rock band from Notting Hill, London, England, formed in 1979 by Jaz Coleman (vocals, keyboards), Paul Ferguson (drums), Geordie Walker (guitar) and Youth (musician), Youth (bass). Their first album, ''Ki ...

Loose Tubes Loose Tubes were a British jazz big band/orchestra active during the mid-to-late 1980s. Critically and popularly acclaimed, the band was considered to be the focal point of a 1980s renaissance in British jazz. It was the main launchpad for the ...

Man Jumping Man Jumping was a British musical ensemble, formed in England in 1983, which included members from the much larger but disbanded musical collective The Lost Jockey. The band was conceived primarily as a recording project whose musical agenda sax ...

Penguin Cafe Orchestra The Penguin Cafe Orchestra (PCO) were an avant-pop band led by English guitarist Simon Jeffes. Co-founded with cellist Helen Liebmann, it toured extensively during the 1980s and 1990s. The band's sound is not easily categorized, having elemen ...

Elan Sicroff Elan David Sicroff (born March 20, 1950) is a concert pianist, recording artist, and educator. He is the foremost interpreter of music composed by Thomas de Hartmann (1885–1956) and the spiritualist George Gurdjieff (1866 or 1867–1949). As a t ...

, Toyah Willcox, and

U.K. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

The label was distributed in the UK by

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

(through 1974) and then

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

. In the US, artists were placed on

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...

, Atco Records,

, Passport Records/ Jem Records, Caroline Records and

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

and on various other labels in other parts of the world. Alder and Fenwick were investors in Lloyd's of London and attempted an entrance into the

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

market; major losses on both ventures through 1988-1991 led them to have E.G. loan 4 million pounds towards their failing businesses, which led to no royalty payments to their roster for that time period. This prompted extensive legal battles with many of the artists they were involved with. Most notable among those was the one undertaken by

, which lasted 7 and a half years (April 1991 - September 1997). Fripp has been publicly critical of Sam Alder's business practices, both in regards to the non-payment of royalties and beyond, recounting the development of the situation that led to the lawsuit and digitizing/reproducing financial/legal documents multiple times on his online diary. E.G. was sold to Virgin Records in 1992, which continued operating E.G. In 1996, after Virgin was sold to

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

, it was absorbed into Virgin. Enthoven was born on 5 July 1944. He continued in music management until his death on 11 August 2016.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1969 establishments in the United Kingdom 1996 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Record labels established in 1969 British jazz Virgin Records EMI British record labels Ambient music record labels Jazz record labels Progressive rock record labels IFPI members

See also

References

External links