Paramount Records was a
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 prod ...
started in 1969 by
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
(then a unit of
Gulf+Western) after acquiring the rights to the name from George H. Buck. A previous
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 and Blind Lemon Jefferson.
Early years
Paramount Records was formed in ...
, active between 1917 and 1932, had been unconnected to Paramount Pictures. The new Paramount label reissued pop releases by sister label
Dot Records, which had recently become a country label and, in the process, had its entire pop back catalog deleted completely. It also released new albums from other pop musicians and soundtracks to Paramount films such as ''
Paint Your Wagon'', among others. Cast members of the
Paramount Television series ''
The Brady Bunch
''The Brady Bunch'' is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz that aired from September 26, 1969, to March 8, 1974, on ABC. The series revolves around a large blended family with six children. The show aired for five seasons and, af ...
'' were signed, and the label issued several tie-in albums and singles.
After Gulf+Western sold its record label holdings to
ABC (which happened to have aired the ''Brady Bunch'' TV series) in 1974, the Paramount label was discontinued in favor of
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 ...
, which itself was sold to
MCA
MCA may refer to:
Astronomy
* Mars-crossing asteroid, an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars
Aviation
* Minimum crossing altitude, a minimum obstacle crossing altitude for fixes on published airways
* Medium Combat Aircraft, a 5th gene ...
Records in 1979. The Paramount 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 ...
and managed by
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint.
Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and ...
(whose founder,
David Geffen, later became a co-founder of
DreamWorks, which was a sister studio to Paramount from 2006 to 2008, and whose own record catalog is now owned by Universal).
On a side note, MCA continued to release soundtracks to some later Paramount films into the 1990s. ''
Sliding Doors'' (1998) was the last Paramount release to have its soundtrack issued by MCA.
In 2015, Paramount Pictures revived the label as
Paramount Music - a record label specializing in soundtracks from Paramount movies, with distribution by
TuneCore.
See also
*
List of record labels
File:Alvinoreyguitarboogie.jpg
File:AmMusicBunk78.jpg
File:Bingola1011b.jpg
Lists of record labels cover record labels, brands or trademarks associated with marketing of music recordings and music videos. The lists are organized alphabetically, b ...
*
Paramount Music
External links
Paramount Records info at BSN Publications
Defunct record labels of the United States
Pop record labels
Reissue record labels
Paramount Pictures
Record labels established in 1969
Record labels disestablished in 1974
Gulf and Western Industries
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