MCA Inc. (originally an initialism for Music Corporation of America) was an American

media conglomerate A media conglomerate, media company, media group, or media institution is a company that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises, such as music, television, radio, publishing, motion pictures, video games, amusement parks, or ...

founded in 1924. Originally a

talent agency A talent agency is a company that represents actors, authors, musicians, model (person), models, professional athlete, athletes, writers, dancers, and other professionals in various industries. Talent agencies specialize, either by creating dep ...

with artists in the music business as clients, the company became a major force in the film industry, and later expanded into television production. MCA published music, booked acts, ran the

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

music label, represented film, television and radio stars, and eventually produced and sold television programs to the three major television networks, especially NBC. MCA was the legal predecessor of

Vivendi Universal Vivendi SE (stylized in all lowercase) is a French investment company headquartered in Paris. It currently wholly-owns Gameloft as well as a number of investments in several companies, primarily involved in content, entertainment, media, and t ...

and thereby

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...

. Its other legal successor is Universal Music Group Holding Corp, a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

owned by

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

(which has absorbed PolyGram).

History

Early years

MCA was formed in 1924 by Jules Stein and William R. Goodheart, Jr., as Music Corporation of America, a music booking agency based in Chicago, Illinois. MCA helped pioneer modern practices of touring bands and name acts. Early on, MCA booked such prominent artists as King Oliver and

Jelly Roll Morton Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe ( Lemott, later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American blues and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer of Louisiana Creole descent. Morton was jazz ...

for clubs and

speakeasies A speakeasy, also called a beer flat or blind pig or blind tiger, was an illicit establishment that sold alcoholic beverages. The term may also refer to a retro style bar that replicates aspects of historical speakeasies. In the United State ...

run by legendary notorious Chicago mobsters such as

Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone ( ; ; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American organized crime, gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-foun ...

and others. Lew Wasserman joined MCA in 1936 at the age of 23 and rose through the ranks of MCA for more than four decades, with

Sonny Werblin David Abraham "Sonny" Werblin (March 17, 1910 – November 21, 1991) was a prominent entertainment industry executive and sports impresario who was an owner of the New York Jets and served as chairman of Madison Square Garden, and who built and ...

as his right-hand man. Wasserman helped create MCA's radio show, '' Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge'', which debuted on NBC Radio that same year. Following that success, Stein installed Wasserman in New York City in 1937, but Wasserman convinced him that

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

was the best place for the company's growth.

"The Rules of the Road"

The company was guided by a codification of Stein's pet policies known as "The Rules of The Road". The Rules were passed down from the

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

era, Chicago–area MCA (referenced in books like '' Citizen Cohn'' and ''The King and Queen of Hollywood'') to the 1940s Los Angeles–area firm, which focused on representing movie actors. The Rules were next passed to the 1950s generation of MCA talent agents, including Jerry Perenchio, who later owned and headed a number of businesses including

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...

from 1992 to 2007. Perenchio was well known for his version of the Rules (up to twenty rules), which varied from year to year and had some internal contradictions (In 2006, Perenchio pointed out that while there was a "no nepotism" rule, he was aware his son was on the company's board of directors at the time).

Move to Hollywood: "The Octopus"

In 1939, based on Wasserman's recommendation, MCA's headquarters moved from Chicago to

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hills ...

, creating a movie division. The company began to acquire talent agencies, representing established actors such as

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military aviator. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morali ...

, Henry Fonda,

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympatheti ...

Jane Wyman Jane Wyman ( ; born Sarah Jane Mayfield; January 5, 1917 – September 10, 2007). was an American actress. A star of both movies and television, she received an Academy Award for Best Actress, four Golden Globe Awards and nominations for two Pr ...

and

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

, whom Wasserman became very close with personally. In later decades, Wasserman became a guiding force in Reagan's political ambition by helping Reagan to win the presidency of the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

(SAG), then election as Governor of California in 1966, and finally President of the United States in 1980. By the end of the 1930s, MCA had become the largest

in the world, with over 700 clients, including movie stars, recording artists, Broadway actors, radio stars, and directors. The company's aggressive acquisition of clientele in all entertainment sectors earned MCA the nickname of "The Octopus". The company's activities led U.S. Department of Justice agents to investigate not only whether MCA was a monopoly breaking antitrust laws, but also its suspected connections to underworld criminal activities. This investigation continued for the next few decades.

Revue Productions and the early days of television

In 1948, Jules Stein moved up as MCA's first chairman, giving Lew Wasserman charge of day-to-day operations of the company as president. That year, Stein and Wasserman decided to get into a new medium that would soon change the entertainment industry: television. Although many motion picture studios would not touch this new medium, thinking it was just a fad and would fade away, MCA decided to embrace it. First, however, the company needed to get a waiver from the

, which ruled at the time that talent agencies such as MCA were prohibited from producing TV shows or films. Thanks to the newly elected SAG president, Ronald Reagan (an MCA client), MCA was granted a waiver to start producing TV shows. After the waiver was granted, the company formed MCA Television Limited for syndication. In 1950, Revue Productions, once a live concert promotion division that produced "Stage Door Canteen" live events for the

USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

during World War II, was re-launched as MCA's television production subsidiary. By 1956, Revue became the top supplier of television for all broadcast networks, spanning three decades of television programs such as '' Armour Theater'', '' General Electric Theater'', '' The Jane Wyman Show'', ''

Leave It to Beaver ''Leave It to Beaver'' is an American television sitcom that follows the misadventures of a suburban boy, his family and his friends. It starred Barbara Billingsley, Hugh Beaumont, Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers. CBS first broadcast the show ...

'', ''

Wagon Train ''Wagon Train'' is an American Western television series that aired for eight seasons, first on the NBC television network (1957–1962) and then on ABC (1962–1965). ''Wagon Train'' debuted on September 18, 1957, and reached the top of the ...

'', and many others. Prior to 1958, all Revue's shows were filmed at the old

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures is currently an acquisition-only label owned by Paramount Pictures. Its history dates back to Republic Pictures Corporation, an American film studio that originally operated from 1935 to 1967, based in Los Angeles, California ...

studio lot in Studio City, California. In February 1958, MCA acquired

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

' pre-1950 sound feature film library for $10 million, through a newly created MCA subsidiary,

EMKA, Ltd. EMKA Limited is a company that is owned by the Universal Television division of NBCUniversal with the sole function of overseeing the list of Paramount Pictures films (1920–1929), 1929–List of Paramount Pictures films (1940–1949), 1949 Para ...

In December 1958, MCA bought the Universal Studios lot from

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

for $11,250,000 and renamed it, as well as the actual television unit, Revue Studios. As part of the deal, MCA leased the studios back to Universal for $2 million a year, plus unlimited access to MCA's clients such as Jimmy Stewart, Rock Hudson,

Doris Day Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She began her career as a big band singer in 1937, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, "Sentimental Journey ...

and

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

to make films for Universal. Stein, who by this time was the sole owner of MCA, decided to take the company public by giving 51% of his ownership of MCA to his employees, which included a 20% stake for Wasserman. The company went

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

and was incorporated as MCA Inc. on November 10, 1958. A couple of years later,

gave MCA his rights to '' Psycho'' and his television anthology in exchange for 150,000 shares, making him the third largest investor in MCA, and his own boss at Universal.

Takeovers of Universal Pictures and Decca Records

On June 18, 1962,

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

shareholders agreed to MCA's buyout offer after the record label had entered into talks about a

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

that April. Decca at the time owned

Coral Records Coral Records was a subsidiary of Decca Records that was formed in 1949. Coral released music by Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, the McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer. Coral issued jazz and swing music in the 1940s, but after Bob Thiele became head ...

and

Brunswick Records Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916. History 1916–1929 Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing ...

, and an 89% stake in Universal Pictures Company, Inc. On July 13, 1962, the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

filed suit against MCA, charging that its acquisition of Decca's controlling interest in Universal violated

antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

laws. To retain Universal, MCA would have to close its talent agency, which represented most of the industry's biggest names (a select few handled by Wasserman personally). In reality, MCA's talent agency arm became defunct the day the DOJ filed the suit; dissolving it that October was a mere formality. MCA's now-former agents quickly formed new agencies, many of which are woven into the corporate fabric of today's talent management; Jerry Perenchio's Chartwell Artists represented

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was an English and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 19 ...

and

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and social activist. A global cultural icon, widely known by the nickname "The Greatest", he is often regarded as the gr ...

. Former MCA agents Freddie Fields and

David Begelman David Begelman (August 26, 1921 – August 7, 1995) was an American film producer, film executive and talent agent who was involved in a studio embezzlement scandal in the 1970s. Life and career Begelman was born to a Jewish family in New Yor ...

formed Creative Management Associates, another important new agency. By the end of 1962, MCA assumed full ownership of Universal. In 1964, MCA entered the music publishing business when it acquired Lou Levy's Leeds Music, and formed Universal City Studios the same year in effort to merge under one umbrella both Universal Pictures and its Revue Studios division, which was later reincorporated as

Universal Television Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a division of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming#Universal Studio Group, Universal Studio Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which, in turn, is ...

in 1966. On July 15, 1964, MCA established the Studio Tour, which provided guests a behind-the-scenes glimpse of film and television production at Universal Studios. This established a footprint of what is now known as

Universal Studios Hollywood Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and Amusement park, theme park located in Universal City, California, near Hollywood, Los Angeles. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood film studios still in use. Its official marketin ...

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

. Over the next few decades, similar parks were built and expanded under MCA for Universal Orlando Resort in

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

and

Universal Studios Japan is a theme park located in Osaka, Japan. Opened on March 31, 2001, it is one of six Universal Destinations & Experiences, Universal Studios theme parks worldwide and was the first to open outside the United States. The park is owned and operat ...

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

. In 1966, MCA formed

Uni Records Uni Records (short for the label's legal name Universal City Records and rendered as UNI) was a record label owned by MCA Inc. The brand, which long featured a distinctive UNi logo, was established in 1966 by MCA executive Ned Tanen and develop ...

, California, and in 1967, MCA bought New York–based

Kapp Records Kapp Records was an independent record label started in 1954 by David Kapp, brother of Jack Kapp (who set up American Decca Records in 1934). David Kapp founded his own label after stints with Decca and RCA Victor. Kapp licensed its records to L ...

. That same year MCA also acquired guitar maker Danelectro and mall retailer Spencer Gifts.

Further expansion

In 1967, the

label was established outside the United States and Canada to issue releases by the MCA group of labels. Decca, Kapp, and Uni were merged into MCA Records at

Universal City, California Universal City is an unincorporated area within the San Fernando Valley. Approximately within and immediately outside the area is the property of Universal Pictures NBCUniversal's film studio, one of the five major film studios in the United ...

in 1971; the three labels maintained their identities for a short time but were soon retired in favor of the MCA label. The first MCA Records release in the US was former Uni artist

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

's " Crocodile Rock" in 1972. In 1973, the final Decca pop label release, " Drift Away", a No. 5 pop hit by Dobie Gray, was issued. MCA had two failed mergers in 1969. Initially, it planned a merger with

Westinghouse Electric Corporation The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was ...

but that collapsed in April, and in July, they announced a proposed merger with the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, but this too was called off in September. In 1973, Stein stepped down from the company he founded and Wasserman took over as chairman and chief executive officer, while Sidney Sheinberg was appointed president and chief operating officer of MCA. Other executives within MCA were Lawrence R. Barnett, who ran the agency's live acts division during its glory agency years in the 1950s and 1960s, and Ned Tanen, head of

. Tanen was behind Universal hits such as ''

Animal House ''National Lampoon's Animal House'' is a 1978 American comedy film directed by John Landis and written by Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller (writer), Chris Miller. It stars John Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Tom ...

'', and John Hughes's '' Sixteen Candles'' and '' The Breakfast Club''. MCA issued soundtrack albums for most films released by Universal Pictures. In 1975, the company entered the

book publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

business with the acquisition of G. P. Putnam's Sons. In 1979, it acquired

ABC Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels bef ...

along with its subsidiaries

Paramount Records Paramount Records was an American record label known for its recordings of jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey, Tommy Johnson (guitarist), Tommy Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Early years Paramoun ...

Impulse! Records Impulse! Records (occasionally styled as "¡mpulse! Records" and "¡!") is an American jazz record label established by Creed Taylor in 1960. John Coltrane was among Impulse!'s earliest signings. Thanks to consistent sales and positive critiques ...

, and Dot Records. ABC had acquired the Paramount and Dot labels when it purchased Gulf+Western's record labels in 1974, then the parent company of

. From 1983 to 1989,

Irving Azoff Irving Azoff (; born December 12, 1947) is an American businessman, who is chairman of Full Stop Management, a company that represents recording artists. During the course of his career, he has worked as an agent, personal manager, concert pr ...

was chairman of MCA Records and is credited for turning around the fortunes of the label. The

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock an ...

catalog was acquired from the remnants of Sugarhill in 1985.

Motown Records Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

was bought in 1988 (and sold to PolyGram in 1993). GRP Records (which became for some years MCA's

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

music label and thus began managing the company's jazz catalogue) and

Geffen Records Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...

(which served as another mainstream music subsidiary) were acquired in 1990. MCA also acquired other assets outside of the music industry. It became a shareholder in

USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...

in 1981, eventually owning 50% of the network (the other half was owned by Paramount). In 1982, its publishing division, G. P. Putnam's Sons, bought

Grosset & Dunlap Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898. The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of Penguin Random House through its subsidiary Penguin Group. In recent years, through the P ...

from Filmways. In 1984, MCA bought

Walter Lantz Productions Walter Lantz Productions was an American animation studio. It was in operation from 1928 to 1949 and then from 1950 to 1972, and was the principal supplier of animation for Universal Pictures. The studio was originally formed as Universal Carto ...

and its characters, including

Woody Woodpecker Woody Woodpecker is a cartoon character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Productions, Walter Lantz Studio and Universal Animation Studios, Universal Animation Studio and distributed by Universal Pictures sinc ...

. In 1985, MCA bought toy and video game company

LJN LJN Toys Ltd. was an American toy company and video game publisher founded by Jack Friedman in 1967. MCA Inc. acquired the company in 1985, and sold to Acclaim Entertainment in 1990. The toy division of the company was closed by Acclaim and a m ...

. It also bought a TV station in New York City, WWOR-TV (renamed from WOR-TV), in 1987, from RKO General subsidiary of

GenCorp Aerojet Rocketdyne is a subsidiary of American Arms industry, defense company L3Harris that manufactures rocket, Hypersonic flight, hypersonic, and electric propulsive systems for space, defense, civil and commercial applications. Aerojet traces ...

, which was in the midst of a licensing scandal. In 1982, MCA decided to start out its video game unit, MCA Video Games, led by technicians of the MCA DiscoVision unit. In 1983, MCA Videogames, the video game division of MCA itself and video game developer/publisher Atari Inc. entered into a partnership to start out Studio Games, a joint venture that would develop video games based on MCA's film and television properties, most notably from then-sister Universal Pictures, and decided that they would give them access to all motion picture and television properties coming from the unit. In 1990, MCA hired

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...

executive Jeff Segal to start out its MCA Family Entertainment arm (aka Universal Family Entertainment) and had Universal Cartoon Studios as its subsidiary.

Sale to Matsushita and Seagram

On November 26, 1990, Japanese multinational conglomerate Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. agreed to acquire MCA for US$6.59 billion. MCA was forced to sell WWOR-TV in 1991 to Pinelands, Inc. because of the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) rules that foreign companies could not own over 25% of a U.S. TV station. In 1995,

Seagram The Seagram Company Ltd. (which trade name, traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational beverage and during the last few years of its existence, entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. ...

acquired 80% of MCA from Matsushita. On November 26, 1996, MCA announced that it would acquire television syndication company Multimedia Entertainment from

Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as several ...

, who acquired its parent company in 1995, for $40 million.

Later years

On December 9, 1996, the new owners dropped the MCA name; the company became Universal Studios, Inc. MCA's music division, MCA Music Entertainment Group, was renamed

. MCA Records continued to live on as a label within the Universal Music Group. The following year, G. P. Putnam's Sons was sold to the

Penguin Group Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media company, media Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a Mergers and acquisitions, mer ...

subsidiary of Pearson PLC. After MCA Records was folded into Geffen Records in 2003,

Interscope Capitol Labels Group Universal Music Group (UMG) owns, or has a joint share in, many of the record labels listed here. According to the UMG official website, the main labels are Abbey Road Studios, Capitol Music Group, Decca Records, Def Jam Recordings, Deutsche Gra ...

and

Universal Music Enterprises Universal Music Enterprises (UME, stylized as UMe) is the catalogue division of Universal Music Group. It includes Hip-O Records, Universal Chronicles, and UM3 or UMC (which is the international division of the company). Under various divisions, ...

manage MCA's rock, pop, and urban back catalogues (including those from

and Famous Music Group) in conjunction with Geffen – UME and Geffen have re-released various albums from MCA in the years since, as well as several compilations. Its

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

label MCA Records Nashville is still in operation, and is one of the only businesses using the MCA trademark as of 2016 along with MCA Records France (imprint of Universal Music France). MCA's

catalogue is managed by

Verve Records Verve Records is an active American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Ca ...

(through the Impulse! and GRP imprints, depending on whether the recording was acquired from ABC or not), while its

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

catalogue is managed by

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

. MCA's

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

catalogue is managed by

on its Decca Broadway imprint. On April 25, 2025, it marked a new chapter as Universal Music Group Nashville rebranded as MCA, comprising

Capitol Records Nashville Capitol Records Nashville is a major United States–based record label located in Nashville, Tennessee, operating as part of the Music Corporation of America. From 1991 to 1995, Capitol Nashville was known as Liberty Records. While under the ...

, EMI Records Nashville,

Mercury Nashville Music Corporation of America, formerly known as Universal Music Group Nashville, is Universal Music Group's country music subsidiary. It was officially opened in 1945 as #MCA Nashville, MCA Nashville and #Mercury Nashville, Mercury Nashville wh ...

, MCA Nashville, and Lucille Records.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mca Inc. Defunct mass media companies of the United States Home video companies of the United States Television production companies of the United States * Predecessors of NBCUniversal Defunct companies based in Chicago Entertainment companies based in California American companies established in 1924 Entertainment companies established in 1924 Mass media companies established in 1924 Mass media companies disestablished in 1996 1924 establishments in Illinois 1996 disestablishments in Illinois 1924 establishments in California 1996 disestablishments in California History of Chicago Universal Music Group Universal Pictures Former Vivendi subsidiaries Former Panasonic subsidiaries Comcast Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange

History

Early years

"The Rules of the Road"

Move to Hollywood: "The Octopus"

Revue Productions and the early days of television

Takeovers of Universal Pictures and Decca Records

Further expansion

Sale to Matsushita and Seagram

Later years

See also

References