!K7 Music is a music company based in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

that focuses mostly on

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

. The name is an

abbreviation An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening (linguistics), shortening, contraction (grammar), contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened for ...

of the company's original Berlin address, Kaiserdamm 7 (it has since relocated, first to Heidestrasse 52, and currently headquartered at Gerichtstrasse 35). !K7 has since opened branch offices in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. It has five independent imprints as part of the K7 Label Group: !K7 Records, 7K!, Strut, Soul Bank and Eternal Source Of Light. K7 also runs successful Label Services and Synch and Licensing departments. K7 had a licensing deal with the New York–based indie label Frenchkiss Records. It has distributed the labels AGOGO, District 6, Environ, Get Physical, Ghostly International, Lo Recordings, Moshi Moshi Records, Piranha, R2, Skint, Salt Records and Muthas of Invention. It also has a

music publishing A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers began to play a role in the management of the intellectua ...

company. It currently distributes Turbo Recordings, Sonar Kollektiv, Luaka Bop, and Rushhour, among others.

History

Stud!o K7 has produced electronic music artists, especially for the '' DJ-Kicks'' compilations. It began in 1985 with the idea of releasing digital video clips. In 1991, the first of the 3LUX series (three volumes) was released, followed by the ''X-Mix'' series (from 1993 to 1998). In 1995, the ''DJ-Kicks'' series was released. At that time it was unconventional to play complete albums with DJ cuts on home stereos. Artists such as Kruder & Dorfmeister, Nightmares On Wax, Thievery Corporation and Stereo MC's

Chromeo Chromeo is a Canadian electro-funk duo from Montreal, formed in 2002 by musicians David "Dave 1" Macklovitch and Patrick "P-Thugg" Gemayel. Their sound draws from soul music, dance music, rock, synth-pop, disco and funk. As of 2024, the band h ...

, Booka Shade contributed to its release. The compilation series has since included mixes from Jackmaster, Seth Troxler, Marcel Dettmann, Michael Mayer, DJ Koze, Nina Kraviz, Daniel Avery and John Talabot. In 1996, !K7 started launching artist albums. As of 2014 the !K7 discography features albums from artists such as Kruder & Dorfmeister, Matthew Herbert, Dani Siciliano, Ursula Rucker, Swayzak, and Boozoo Bajou. In 2001, Rapster Records, a new subsidiary of !K7, started focusing on urban, soul and hip-hop music. Since then, Rapster has released records by DJ Jazzy Jeff, Pete Rock, and

Roy Ayers Roy Edward Ayers Jr. (September 10, 1940 – March 4, 2025) was an American vibraphonist, record producer, and composer. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several studio albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure ...

, among others. Rapster also forged an alliance with UK-based soul aficionado Peter Adarkwah, head of BBE Records. !K7 founded another subsidiary, Ever Records, in 2006, for indie bands and singer-songwriters such as Cortney Tidwell, Cyann & Ben, and Howie Beck. In 2008 Strut Records & Gold Dust Media joined the !K7 label group. Between 1999 and 2003 Strut released Nigerian

Afrobeats Afrobeats, not to be confused with Afrobeat or Afroswing, is an umbrella term to describe popular music from West Africa and the diaspora that initially developed in Ghana, Nigeria, and the UK in the 2000s and 2010s. Afrobeats is less of a st ...

, Leftfield Discos, Rare Groove and

Grandmaster Flash Joseph Robert Saddler (born January 1, 1958), known by his stage name Grandmaster Flash, is a Barbadian-American musician and DJ. He created a DJ technique called the Quick Mix Theory. This technique serviced the break-dancer and the rapper by el ...

's latest album. Strut's founder, Quinton Scott, is responsible for A&R. In 2013 !K7 started a cooperation with Tricky for releases on his label, including his 2013 album ''False Idols''. In May 2017, !K7 created a subsidiary focused on

Contemporary music Contemporary music is whatever music is produced at the current time. Specifically, it could refer to: Genres or audiences * Adult contemporary music * British contemporary R&B * Christian adult contemporary * Christian contemporary hit radio * Con ...

, producing artists such as Niklas Paschburg, Hior Chronik, Echo Collective, Henrik Schwarz, Luca D'Alberto, Maike Zazie and Martyn Heyne. In October 2017, !K7 acquired the catalogues of

Patrice Rushen Patrice Louise Rushen (born September 30, 1954) is an American jazz pianist, R&B singer, record producer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and music director. At the 25th Annual Grammy Awards, her 1982 single, "Forget Me Nots", received a no ...

, Miriam Makeba and The Beginning of the End from

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "Record label#M ...

, as part of the major's divestments after acquiring

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

as a result of the sale and break-up of EMI.

Artists

* John Acquaviva * The Beginning of the End * Mykki Blanco * Boozoo Bajou * Brandt Brauer Frick * da damn phreak noize phunk *

Erol Alkan Erol Alkan (born 30 May 1974) is an English DJ and Record producer, producer of Turkish Cypriot descent. He grew up in Archway in North London. Career DJ and club promoter In 1993, Erol Alkan started DJing in various Indie (music), indie n ...

* Digitalism * Chris de Luca * Sean Deason * Benjamin Diamond * Vikter Duplaix * Michael Fakesch * Fehlfarben * Five Deez * Funkstörung *

A Guy Called Gerald Gerald Rydel Simpson (born 1967), better known as A Guy Called Gerald, is a British record producer and musician. He was an early member of the electronic group 808 State, contributing to their debut LP '' Newbuild'' (1988) and hit single " ...

* The Herbaliser * Herbert * Beth Hirsch * Nick Holder * Interstellar * K-Hand * Koop * Kruder & Dorfmeister * Mike Ladd * Ladytron * Miriam Makeba * Milosh * Nicolette * Out Hud * Erlend Øye * Terrence Parker * Peace Orchestra * Playgroup * Princess Superstar * Stacey Pullen * Quiet Village * Rae & Christian * Ursula Rucker *

* Henrik Schwarz * Ian Simmonds * Shantel * Dani Siciliano * Smith & Mighty * Spacek * Stateless * Stereotyp * Swayzak * Terranova *

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...

* Tricky * Trüby Trio * Gez Varley *

Goose A goose (: geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (grey geese and white geese) and '' Branta'' (black geese). Some members of the Tadorninae subfamily (e.g., Egy ...

* Voom:Voom * Wamdue Kids * When Saints Go Machine * Bjarki * Red Axes * Bochum Welt * Hundred Waters * Michael Mayer

References

External links

Official site

Studio !K7
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:K7 Record labels established in 1996 German independent record labels Electronic music record labels

History

Artists

See also

References

External links