Big Beat Records, Inc. is an American electronic and dance music record label, owned by Warner Music Group and operates through

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

. It was founded as an independent record label in 1986 by Craig Kallman with an emphasis on

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

, and later hip hop. It was absorbed into Atlantic Records in 1998, and eventually relaunched separately in 2010 as a primarily electronic music label. Its current roster includes Dog Blood, Galantis, Whethan, Cash Cash, and Clean Bandit.

History

1987–1998: Original Big Beat

The first iteration of Big Beat was founded as an

Independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

in 1987 by Craig Kallman who was, at the time, a 20-year-old deejay in New York City. The company initially operated out of Kallman's bedroom where he recorded the label's first track, "Join Hands" by Tara Vhonty. That record sold 5,000 copies largely through direct promotion at record stores by Kallman himself. The second record Kallman recorded in his bedroom studio was titled "The Party" by Kraze which would go on to sell 250,000 units in the United States and internationally. Soon after, Kallman began focusing on developing the record label, signing acts like

Tara Kemp Tara Kemp is an American singer best known for her two Billboard ''Hot 100'' top-ten singles in 1991: " Hold You Tight" and "Piece of My Heart." Career Kemp signed to Giant Records in 1990, a new sublabel of the Warner Brothers music label. ...

and Jomanda over the following three years. He would sell Kemp's contract to Giant in 1991. Also that year, Jomanda released a record entitled " Got a Love for You" on Big Beat which attracted the attention of Doug Morris, the co-chairman of Atlantic Records at the time. Atlantic acquired Big Beat and made Kallman the Vice President of A&R while he still operated Big Beat. As the 1990s escalated, the label's roster shifted from primarily house music to more hip hop music. Big Beat signed a variety of artists including

Mad Skillz Donnie Shaquan Lewis, (born June 2, 1974) also known as Skillz, or Mad Skillz is an American rapper known for his acclaimed 1996 album ''From Where???'', a reference to his origins in Virginia, not a New York City or Los Angeles rapper. He ...

, Changing Faces,

Robin S. Robin Stone (born April 27, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter, who scored success in the 1990s with such house music singles as " Show Me Love" (which was her debut single) and " Luv 4 Luv". She has had three number ones on the ''Bi ...

Fat Joe Joseph Antonio Cartagena (born August 19, 1970), better known by his stage name Fat Joe, is an American rapper from New York City. He began his music career as a member of hip hop group Diggin' in the Crates Crew (D.I.T.C.), then forged a sol ...

Junior M.A.F.I.A. Junior M.A.F.I.A. was an American hip hop group from Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York City. The backronym M.A.F.I.A. stands for Masters At Finding Intelligent Attitudes. They were formed and mentored by New York rapper The Notorious B.I.G ...

Lil' Kim Kimberly Denise Jones (born July 11, 1974), Those giving 1974 include: * * * * * better known by her stage name Lil' Kim, is an American rapper and reality television personality. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, she lived much of he ...

(both via the company's Undeas imprint), Artifacts,

Art n' Soul Art n' Soul is an American contemporary R&B group that was active in the mid-1990s. The band consisted of Sam Bostic (lead vocals, bass, and keyboards), Rodney Lattrel Evans (keyboards) and Dion Riley (drums). Prior to forming Art n' Soul, Bos ...

, Double X Posse, Kenny Dope, Dawn Penn, Marshall Jefferson, Todd Terry, Quad City DJs, Percee P, and numerous others. In 1998, the label and its roster were absorbed into Atlantic Records. In 2001, an attempt to relaunch Big Beat was planned, but ultimately abandoned.

2010–present: Relaunch

Big Beat was relaunched under Atlantic Records as a dance-focused label in 2010. Artists on the label at the time of the relaunch included Skrillex, Chromeo, Wynter Gordon, Martin Solveig, Teddybears, and others. The relaunched label's first hit came in 2010 with Wynter Gordon's " Dirty Talk" which reached #1 on the

ARIA singles chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

and the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Dance Club Songs Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart and was certified triple platinum in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Martin Solveig's song " Hello," which was released in 2011 in the United States, peaked at #46 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and at #1 on the Dance Club Songs chart while also achieving Platinum status from the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. Skrillex's '' Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites'' EP, released in 2010, effectively charted the label's trajectory toward electronic music. The EP sold hundreds of thousands of copies and its title track sold over 2 million copies and appeared on the ''Billboard''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

. At the

54th Grammy Awards The 54th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 12, 2012, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles being broadcast on CBS honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011. LL Cool J hosted the ...

in 2012, the EP was named the Best Dance/Electronic Album and its title track won Best Dance Recording. The following year at the

55th Grammy Awards The 55th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 10, 2013, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. E ...

, Skrillex again won Best Dance/Electronic Album for his '' Bangarang'' EP along with Best Dance Recording for the EP's title track which featured Sirah. He also won the Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical for his and Nero's remix of the Nero song, "

Promises A promise is a transaction whereby a person makes a vow or the suggestion of a guarantee. Promise(s) may also refer to: Places * Promise, Oregon *Promise, South Dakota *Promise City, Iowa *Promise Land, Tennessee or Promise Film and TV * ''Pro ...

". In 2013, Big Beat signed

Icona Pop Icona Pop ( ) is a Swedish electropop duo which formed in 2009, with electro house and indie pop music influences. Its two members, Caroline Hjelt (born 8 November 1987) and Aino Jawo (born 7 July 1986), grew up in Stockholm and create what the ...

, a Swedish electropop duo that would go on to release the 4× Platinum " I Love It" featuring Charli XCX. The label also signed Cash Cash—whose 2013 single, " Take Me Home" featuring Bebe Rexha, was certified Gold— and Galantis around that time. In December 2013, Big Beat's parent company, Warner Music Group, acquired Parlophone (a German-British record label). As part of the terms of the deal, David Guetta was added to Big Beat's roster. In 2014, Clean Bandit released its album, '' New Eyes'', on Big Beat. The lead single from the album, " Rather Be" featuring Jess Glynne, won the Grammy for Best Dance Recording at the

57th Grammy Awards The 57th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 8, 2015, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The show was broadcast live by CBS at 5:00 p.m. PST ( UTC−8). Rapper LL Cool J hosted the show for the fourth consecutive time. ...

in 2015. Liz Miller, Big Beat's General Manager in 2014, was named one of the "50 Most Important People in EDM" by '' Rolling Stone''. In November 2014, David Guetta's first album with Big Beat, '' Listen'', was released featuring the eventual double-platinum lead single " Hey Mama" featuring Nicki Minaj, Bebe Rexha, and Afrojack. In 2015, Skrillex released a collaborative album with

Diplo Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is the co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer, a member of the supergroup LSD with ...

entitled ''

Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack Ü ''Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack Ü'' is the only studio album by American DJ duo Jack Ü, individually known as Skrillex and Diplo. It was released on February 27, 2015, by Owsla and Mad Decent, Skrillex and Diplo's respective labels. The album ...

''. At the

58th Grammy Awards The 58th Annual Grammy Awards was held on February 15, 2016, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The ceremony recognizes the best recordings, compositions and artists of the eligibility year, which was from October 1, 2014, to September 30, 201 ...

in 2016, the album won the award for Best Dance/Electronic Album. Its lead single, " Where Are Ü Now" featuring Justin Bieber, won for Best Dance Recording. Galantis' 2016 single, " No Money" amassed nearly 700 million streams globally and charted on the Hot 100, Dance/Electronic Songs chart, and numerous other charts throughout the world. In 2017, Big Beat executives, Craig Kallman and Gina Tucci, were listed among ''Billboard''s list of "Dance Power Players." Big Beat label mates Skrillex and David Guetta were also on the list. Also in 2017, '' Mixmag'' nominated Big Beat for the label of the decade.

Current roster

References

External links