Mediarts Records was a small

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 ...

founded by former Capitol Records executive

Alan W. Livingston Alan Wendell Livingston (born Alan Wendell Levison; October 15, 1917 – March 13, 2009) was an American businessman best known for his tenures at Capitol Records, first as a writer/producer best known for creating Bozo the Clown for a series ...

and producer Nik Venet. The label's first release was

Dory Previn Dorothy "Dory" Veronica Previn ( Langan; October 22, 1925 – February 14, 2012) was an American lyricist, singer-songwriter and poet. During the late 1950s and 1960s, Previn was a lyricist on songs intended for motion pictures and, with her t ...

with ''On My Way To Where'' (

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

). Other artists signed on the label were

Don McLean Donald McLean III (born October 2, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his 1971 hit song " American Pie", an eight-and-a-half-minute folk rock "cultural touchstone" about the loss of innocence of the early ...

Spencer Davis Spencer Davis (born Spencer David Nelson Davies; 17 July 193919 October 2020) was a Welsh singer and musician. He founded The Spencer Davis Group, a band that had several hits in the 1960s including "Keep On Running", "Gimme Some Lovin'", and ...

and Peter Jameson,

Paul Anka Paul Albert Anka (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known for his signature hit songs including " Diana", " Lonely Boy", "Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and " (You're) Having My Baby". Anka also ...

Odia Coates Odia Coates (November 13, 1941 – May 19, 1991) was an African-American singer, best known for her high-profile hits with Canadian singer-songwriter Paul Anka. Early life The daughter of an evangelical minister, Odia Coates was born in Vi ...

Bill Conti William Conti (born April 13, 1942) is an American composer and conductor, best known for his film scores, including ''Rocky'' (and four of its sequels), ''The Karate Kid'' (and all of its sequels), '' For Your Eyes Only'', ''Dynasty'' (and its ...

Hello People Hello People was a rock group that was created in New York City in late 1967 by producer Lou Futterman. History The idea for creating the group stemmed from Marcel Carné's 1945 film '' Children of Paradise'' (''Les Enfants du Paradis''). Eti ...

, and

Gerry Rafferty Gerald Rafferty (16 April 1947– 4 January 2011) was a Scottish singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was a founding member of Stealers Wheel, whose biggest hit was " Stuck in the Middle with You" in 1973. His solo hits in th ...

. The most successful album on Mediarts was the comedy album ''

The Begatting of the President ''The Begatting of the President'' is a satirical album narrated by Orson Welles, summarising the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson and the election of 1968, leading up to the election of Richard Nixon, delivered in the style of Biblical verse. P ...

'', narrated by

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

. The label was acquired by

United Artists Records United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B. History Genres In 1959, ...

. The albums by McLean, Previn and Welles were reissued on UA. The acquisition was beneficial for UA as Anka, Coates, Conti and Rafferty had yet to issue albums for Mediarts, but would enjoy hits for UA. McLean had the megahit single and album '' American Pie'' for UA. The Mediarts catalog is now owned by

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

through its 2012 purchase of most assets and properties possessed by

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 ...

, which in turn purchased UA Records and, going full circle, is managed by Capitol Records. The first 45 rpm single released on the Mediarts record label was ME-100, "Earth Song"/"Everybody Has Been Burned" by Sioux City Zoo, a group from Fresno, California.

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Mediarts Records story from BSN Pubs

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See also