| Jive Records | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Parent company | Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) (2002–2008) Sony Music Entertainment (SME) (2004–2011) |
| Founded | 1981; 44 years ago (1981)[1] |
| Founder | Clive Calder |
| Defunct | October 7, 2011; 14 years ago (2011-10-07) |
| Status |
|
| Distributor | Legacy Recordings (reissues) |
| Genre | Various |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Location | New York City,Chicago |
Jive Records (later stylized asJIVE Records) was a British-Americanindependent record label founded byClive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary of theZomba Group. In theUS, the label had offices inNew York City andChicago. Jive was best known for its successes withhip hop,R&B, and dance acts in the 1980s and 1990s, along withteen pop andboy bands during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Jive was acquired byBertelsmann Music Group in 2002.[2] In 2008, BMG itself was bought out bySony Music Entertainment.[3] Jive Records thereupon remained a unit wholly owned by Sony up until the label’s dissolution in 2011, when Jive was absorbed intoRCA Records.
In 1971, South African businessmenClive Calder andRalph Simon began a publishing and management company. It was namedZomba Records and relocated toLondon, England, four years later; their first client was a youngRobert "Mutt" Lange. Zomba originally wanted to avoid record labels to instead focus on their songwriters and producers while allowing other established labels to release the material.[4] Later that decade, the company opened offices in the US, where Calder began a business relationship withClive Davis, whoseArista Records began releasing material by Zomba artists.[4]
In 1981, Zomba formed Jive Records, whose operations began with the release of British dance and pop music from groups such asQ-Feel,A Flock of Seagulls, andTight Fit.[1] Its name was inspired bytownship Jive, a type of music that originated in South Africa.[5] Clive Davis had hoped that Zomba's connection with Mutt Lange would help alleviate the difficulties Arista was having with launching rock acts to success.
By 1982, Calder was introduced toBarry Weiss, a young college graduate who took Calder out tohip-hop clubs in New York City for his job interview with Zomba.[6] Weiss and Calder began grooming musicians for what would eventually become the hip hop groupWhodini.[4] After two days, the group created and recorded its hit single "Magic's Wand." While the group would eventually leave Jive, the early success allowed the label to focus on hip-hop artists throughout the 1980s.[1][7]
In 1987, Jive cut distribution ties with Arista, effectively separating them from Davis, who eschewed hip hop music at his label.[8] As the 1980s drew to a close, the label entered a distribution deal with Arista's sister labelRCA Records, and it continued to sign hip hop acts includingDJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince,Boogie Down Productions,Too $hort,Schoolly D, andKid Rock.[7][9]
In 1990, Calder bought Simon’s stake in Zomba and became the sole owner of Jive Records.[10][11] Jive's distribution deal with RCA expired in 1991. At this time,Bertelsmann Music Group acquired a minority share of the label and began to distribute its records directly.[12] Weiss became chief executive of Jive Records that year.[13] Jive opened branches inChicago and had also become a premier label in the genres of hip hop andR&B with the success of acts likeD-Nice,E-40,UGK,A Tribe Called Quest,Hi-Five,KRS-One/Boogie Down Productions,R. Kelly[14] andAaliyah.
In 1996, BMG deepened its relationship with the label by purchasing a 20-percent stake of Jive.[8] By the late 1990s, Jive began signing pop actsBackstreet Boys,NSYNC andBritney Spears. All three acts achieved massive success as the 2000s dawned, becoming the three best-selling acts in the label's history.[15]
In 2002, Calder sold Zomba to BMG for US$2.74 billion,[16][17] which at the time was the largest-ever acquisition of an independent label with major-label distribution.[18] Calder then announced his resignation from Zomba, but continued to stay on at Jive in a temporary advisory role as Zomba was integrated into BMG.[19] Weiss succeeded Calder as the new head of Zomba.[2][20] In 2004, BMG merged with Sony Music Entertainment to formSony BMG.[21] During this time, Jive's management and distribution were restructured under the newly formedZomba Label Group.[22] Artists who had previously been on LaFace and Arista Records were subsequently absorbed under the Zomba group and placed under the purview of Jive Records’ staff. Thus, artists such asPink,Usher, andOutkast became de facto Jive artists. Though both physical record sales and teen pop had steadily declined since the early 2000s, the output from Jive’s newer artists — particularly Usher’sConfessions album and Outkast’sSpeakerboxxx/The Love Below — would prove to be profitable successes for Jive. In addition to releasing Spears’ 2007 albumBlackout,[23] Jive was now also the home of a soloJustin Timberlake, whoseFutureSex/LoveSounds also saw high sales.[24] Other Jive artists at that time includedCiara[25] andChris Brown.[26][27]
By early 2008, the BMG Label Group was said to includeRCA Records,J Records,LaFace,Arista,Volcano Entertainment,Verity,GospoCentric and Fo Yo Soul — all overseen by Weiss.[28] Later that year, Sony and BMG dissolved its merger, with the former buying out shares of the latter.[29] As a result of Sony's buyout, Jive (along with its BMG sisters RCA and Arista) became a wholly owned unit of a refreshedSony Music Entertainment. Starting in 2008 Jive was all capital (e.g. JIVE Records), this change started when BMG Label Group was renamedRCA/JIVE Label Group.
After two decades as president of Jive, Barry Weiss left forUniversal Music Group[30] in March 2011.[31][32] On October 7, 2011, it was announced that Jive, along with Arista andJ Records, would be retired to refresh and re-brandRCA Records by not confusing or diluting it with other labels.[33] All retained artists on those labels were then moved to RCA Records.[34][35][30]
The label is currently in hibernation, with the distribution of its back catalog handled by Sony Music'sLegacy Recordings. Previously, the Jive brand was being exclusively used under the Sony Music France division under the name JiveEpic inFrance until 2019, when it was absorbed into RCA Records France.[36]
On September 27, 2021, singerR. Kelly was found guilty by a federal jury of acts including bribery andsexual exploitation of a child.[37] Allegations of Kelly’s sexual misconduct had long followed the singer since his early career with Jive in the early 1990s,[38][13] as well as throughout the 2000s when a video tape surfaced allegedly showing Kelly engaging in sexual acts with a minor and when Kelly was arrested for possession ofchild pornography.[39][40]
Despite the scandals, Kelly remained signed to Jive’s roster and continued to release albums with the label up to its merger withRCA in 2011.[13] In 2018, theWashington Post ran a lengthy article alleging industry executives at Jive had been aware of Kelly's sexually abusive behavior towards young women for years, but did nothing about them due to his success as a performer and songwriter.[13] The article reported Clive Calder had been warned about Kelly’s behavior as early as 1994; it quoted him: "Clearly, we missed something."[13]
Former Jive president Barry Weiss told the newspaper that during his 20 years with the label, he never concerned himself with Kelly's private life, and was unaware of two lawsuits filed against Kelly and the label by women alleging sexual misconduct, suits in which the label had successfully argued it was notliable.[13] Larry Khan, another Jive executive who worked closely with the singer even after viewing the sex tape, similarly implied Kelly’s misconduct was not the label's responsibility and pointed toChuck Berry andJerry Lee Lewis as musicians whose labels also continued to release and promote their records despite public awareness that they were involved with underage girls.[13]
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