Zappa Records is an American

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 ...

based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

which was founded by

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

in 1977. It was mostly inactive during the 1980s and 1990s, but was revived in 2006 by the Zappa Family Trust.

History

In May 1976, Zappa ended his relationship with manager and business partner

Herb Cohen Herbert Cohen (December 30, 1932 – March 16, 2010) was an American personal manager, record company executive, and music publisher, best known as the manager of Judy Henske, Linda Ronstadt, Frank Zappa, Tim Buckley, Odetta, Tom Waits, Geo ...

. The pair had co-owned

DiscReet Records DiscReet Records, self-identified simply as DiscReet, was a record label founded by Frank Zappa and his then business partner/manager Herb Cohen. The name of the label was a pun derived from disc and the Compatible Discrete 4 process of encoding ...

which was distributed by

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

. Zappa then left Warner and DiscReet following a series of disagreements and lawsuits in 1977. Around mid 1977, Zappa founded Zappa Records, and negotiated a deal with Phonogram Inc., to distribute the label's releases in the United States and Canada. Under this agreement Zappa planned to release a four-LP box set titled ''

Läther ''Läther'' (, or "''Leather''") is the sixty-fifth official album by Frank Zappa. It was released posthumously as a three-CD set on Rykodisc in 1996. The album's title is derived from bits of comic dialog that link the songs. Zappa also explained ...

'' (pronounced ''"Leather"''.) The album was scheduled for release on Halloween, October 31, 1977, but production was cancelled at the

test pressing A white label record is a vinyl record with white labels attached. There are several variations each with a different purpose. Variations include test pressings, white label promos, and plain white labels. Test pressings Test pressings, usua ...

stage. Zappa and Phonogram were forced to shelve the package following a legal threat from Warner. The first release by Zappa Records was ''

Sheik Yerbouti ''Sheik Yerbouti'' is a double album by Frank Zappa, released in March 1979 as the first release on Zappa Records (distributed by Phonogram Inc.) It is mostly made up of live material recorded in 1977 and 1978, with extensive overdubs added i ...

'' in May 1979. This was soon followed by the dystopian

rock opera A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs with lyrics that relate to a common story. Rock operas are typically released as concept albums and are not scripted for acting, which distinguishes them from operas, although several have been ad ...

Joe's Garage ''Joe's Garage'' is a three-part rock opera recorded by American musician Frank Zappa in September and November 1979. Originally released as two separate studio albums on Zappa Records, the project was later remastered and reissued as a triple a ...

'' later in the year. The ''Joe's Garage'' project initially had to be released in two parts. The first was a single LP, ''Joe's Garage, Act I'' (September 1979), followed by a two-LP set ''Joe's Garage, Acts II and III'' (November 1979.) The album '' Touch Me There'', by

L. Shankar Lakshminarayana Shankar (born 26 April 1950), better known as L. Shankar, Shankar and Shenkar, is an Indian violinist, singer and composer. Early life, family and education Shankar was born in Madras, India, and raised in Ceylon (current- ...

, was also released on Zappa Records in 1979. Frank Zappa produced the album, sang, and co-wrote some of the songs. In early 1980 Phonogram refused to distribute the Zappa single ''

I Don't Wanna Get Drafted "I Don't Wanna Get Drafted" was a 1980 single by American musician Frank Zappa. The song peaked at #103 US ''Billboard'' Bubbling Under Hot 100 and #68 on the ''Cash Box'' charts, but more successfully reached #3 in Sweden. The original single ver ...

'' in the United States, though they did distribute the record in Canada. According to Zappa, this was because a Phonogram executive objected to the lyrics. The song criticized US president

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

's reintroduction of the military draft. Phonogram president Robert Sherwood disputed Zappa's version of the story, insisting that they did not want to release a single without the support of a full length album. Zappa distributed the single independently in the US and elsewhere through

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company * CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990 * CBS Records (2006), founde ...

. In 1981 Zappa founded

Barking Pumpkin Records Barking Pumpkin Records, is an American record label founded by Frank Zappa in 1981. Zappa named the label after his wife's smoker's cough when she tried to quit the habit. Barking Pumpkin was initially distributed by CBS Records. History Zappa ...

with distribution by CBS Records. In 2006, the Zappa Records label was revived with the release of

Dweezil Zappa Dweezil Zappa (born Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa; September 5, 1969) is an American rock guitarist and occasional actor. He is the son of musical composer and performer Frank Zappa. Exposed to the music industry from an early age, Dweezil dev ...

's '' Go with What You Know'' and Frank Zappa's ''

Imaginary Diseases ''Imaginary Diseases'' is an album of material by Frank Zappa from the Petit Wazoo tour of 1972. It is one of two finished CD projects from the tour containing material mastered by Zappa before his death. The name of the album is derived from a l ...

'' and ''

Trance-Fusion ''Trance-Fusion'' is an album by Frank Zappa. Released posthumously in 2006, 13 years after the musician's death, the album forms the third in a trilogy of instrumental albums which focus on Zappa's improvised guitar solos, after ''Shut Up 'n Play ...

'' on Zappa Records, followed by '' The Dub Room Special'' (2007), ''

One Shot Deal ''One Shot Deal'' is an album by Frank Zappa, posthumously released in June 2008. Overview The track "Occam's Razor" is a guitar solo extract from a live version of the song "Inca Roads". The solo was used in the song "On the Bus" from the albu ...

'' (2008) and ''

Feeding the Monkies At Ma Maison Eating (also known as consuming) is the ingestion of food, typically to provide a heterotrophic organism with energy and to allow for growth. Animals and other heterotrophs must eat in order to survive — carnivores eat other animals, herbi ...

'' (2011). In 2012, the Zappa Family Trust regained control of Frank Zappa's recorded output and made a distribution deal with

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, ...

to reissue the recordings on the Zappa and Barking Pumpkin labels.

Artists

; Former

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Frank Zappa American independent record labels