Hitchhike Records is the U.S. record label of

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

performer

Jake Shimabukuro Jake Shimabukuro (born November 3, 1976) is a Hawaiian ukulele virtuoso and composer known for his fast and complex finger work. His music combines elements of jazz, blues, funk, rock, bluegrass, classical, folk, and flamenco. Shimabukuro has writt ...

. It is based in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...

, and is the American distribution arm of his recordings for

Sony Music Japan International , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...

, which he signed with in June 2002. Sony Japan only releases his music in Japan. Shimabukuro needed to license the music for release in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, so he created Hitchhike Records for U.S. release. In 2005, Shimabukuro secured a nationwide U.S. distribution deal for his Hitchhike Records label, which had previously distributed to the Hawaii market.Lewis, Vince
"Jake Shimabukuro: Ukulele Virtuoso"
''VinceLewis.net''. August 4, 2007. In addition to releasing all of Shimabukuro's U.S. albums, Hitchhike has also released an album by Jake's brother, ukulele performer Bruce Shimabukuro: ''Bits & Pieces'' (2007).

References

External links

Hitchhike Records
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

{{Authority control American record labels Record labels established in 2002 Companies based in Honolulu Sony Music Entertainment Japan 2002 establishments in Hawaii