| Arista Records | |
|---|---|
 Logo used since 2018 | |
| Parent company | Sony Music Entertainment (SME) (2008–2011, 2018–present) Previous: Columbia Pictures (1974–1979) Ariola Records (1979–1985) Bertelsmann Music Group (1985–2004) Sony BMG (2004–2008) |
| Founded | 1974; 51 years ago (1974) (original) 2018; 7 years ago (2018) (revival) |
| Founder | Clive Davis |
| Defunct | 2011 (2011) (original) |
| Distributors |
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| Genre | Various |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Location | New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Official website | aristarecordings |
Arista Records (/ˈærɪstə/ARR-ist-ə) is an Americanrecord label owned bySony Music Entertainment, asubsidiary of the Japanese conglomerateSony. The label was previously a division ofColumbia Pictures and laterBertelsmann Music Group, the North American division of German conglomerateBertelsmann. Founded in November 1974 byClive Davis and deactivated in 2011, Arista was re-established in 2018. Along withRCA Records,Columbia Records, andEpic Records, it is one of Sony Music's four flagship record labels.
After being fired fromCBS Records,[1] Clive Davis was recruited byAlan Hirschfield, then-CEO ofColumbia Pictures, in June 1974 to be a consultant for the company's record and music operations. Shortly after his hiring by CPI, Davis became president ofBell Records, replacing the departingLarry Uttal.
Davis's real goal was to reorganize and revitalizeColumbia Pictures's music division. With a $10 million investment by CPI, and a reorganization of the various Columbia Pictures legacy labels (Colpix, Colgems, and Bell), Davis introduced Columbia Pictures' new record division, Arista Records, in November 1974,[2] ultimately owning 20 percent of the company.
The label was named afterArista, New York City's public secondary school honor society (of which Davis was a member atErasmus Hall High School).
In early 1975, most of the artists who had been signed to Bell were let go, includingDavid Cassidy (who left forRCA Records),Tony Orlando and Dawn (who left forElektra Records), andthe 5th Dimension (which departed forABC Records). Others, such asSuzi Quatro andHot Chocolate, were farmed out to the Bell/Arista-distributed label,Big Tree. Several Bell acts, such asBarry Manilow, theBay City Rollers, andMelissa Manchester continued with Arista.
The British Bell label kept that name for a couple of years before changing its name to Arista. The label was mentioned in the 1978Nick Lowe song "They Called It Rock", in the lyric, "Arista says they love you/But the kids can't dance to this."
Arista signed theGrateful Dead in 1976, and the group released their only Top 40 pop hit, "Touch of Grey", on the label in 1987.[3][4] In addition toOutlaws,Patti Smith,Eric Carmen,Air Supply,the Kinks,Lou Reed,Alan Parsons andDionne Warwick, Arista signedAretha Franklin in 1980, after her long relationship withAtlantic Records ended. The label's most significant acquisition came in 1983 when Davis signedWhitney Houston. Houston would become Arista's biggest-selling recording act and one of thebest-selling acts in music history with sales of over 220 million records worldwide, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[5]
Arista had an imprint label in the 1970s calledArista Novus, which focused on contemporary jazz artists. It distributed two other jazz labels, Arista Freedom, which specialized inavant-garde jazz[6] and, until 1982,GRP Records, which specialized in contemporary jazz and what came to be known assmooth jazz. A country music division, Career Records, was merged into theArista Nashville division in 1997. Arista Austin was used in the late 1990s as a country label. Arista Texas (later Arista Latin) was used in the mid to late 1990s as a Tejano/Regional Mexican label. Additionally, Arista was the U.S. distributor ofJive Records from 1981 until 1987. During the 1990s, Arista also distributed Logic,Rowdy andHeavenly Recordings.[citation needed]
Looking to stave off bankruptcy, Columbia Pictures sold Arista to German-basedAriola Records, a unit ofBertelsmann, on July 27, 1979;[7] the acquisition was completed on October 1 of that year.[8] After Arista lost $12 million in 1982, Bertelsmann sold a 50% interest in the company toRCA Records in 1983. In 1985, RCA and Bertelsmann merged their music operations to form RCA/Ariola International; RCA owned 75% and Bertelsmann owned the remaining 25%.
AfterGeneral Electric absorbed the RCA Corporation in 1986, GE sold off various RCA assets, including all of its interest in RCA/Ariola to Bertelsmann, and it was renamedBertelsmann Music Group, though Arista's U.S. releases would not note BMG until 1987. That year, in 1987, Arista Records formed a home video subsidiary, 6 West Home Video, in order to release home video titles on Arista Records' musical catalog, and the initial release, which served as the first title for the 6 West Home Video division was a one-hour performance onThe Grateful Dead,So Far, with an October release and a list price of $29.95.[9]
Into the 1980s, Arista continued its success, including major UK actSecret Affair. Over the years it acquiredNorthwestside Records,deConstruction Records,First Avenue Records, andDedicated Records in the UK. In 1989, Arista entered into a joint venture withAntonio "L.A." Reid andBabyface in the creation ofLaFace Records, record company ofToni Braxton,Usher,Outkast, andTLC, which it acquired in 1999. In 1993, Arista also entered into a joint-venture withSean "Puffy" Combs to formBad Boy Records. In 1997, Arista acquiredProfile Records, the home ofRun-D.M.C. andPoor Righteous Teachers.
In 1989, Arista Records signedMilli Vanilli, a contemporary R&B duo consisting ofRob Pilatus andFab Morvan that was based in Germany. The label released its debut album,Girl You Know It's True, which was a remixed and re-edited version ofAll or Nothing, which had been out in Europe the previous year. The album was certified sextuple platinum in the U.S., and charted five top-ten singles, three of them reaching the number one position. In 1990,Milli Vanilli won twoAmerican Music Awards and aGrammy Award for Best New Artist.
Carol Decker, lead singer of the bandT'Pau, was interviewed after their performance onMTV and said thatMilli Vanilli had used aSynclavier and were not singing. Later that year,Frank Farian, producer ofMilli Vanilli, confirmed that the duo had not performed asingle note on their album.
This revelation caused a huge firestorm in the music industry, as recording artists, particularlybubblegum pop acts that heavily relied on electronic processing andoverdubbing (what they referred to as "studio magic"), were now under scrutiny and subsequently forced to cut back on lip-synching to show that they were authentic.Milli Vanilli's Grammy Award was subsequently revoked.[10] Clive Davis promptly released the duo from its contract and deleted the album and its masters from their catalogue—makingGirl You Know It's True the largest-selling album to be deleted.
A court ruling in the U.S. allowed anyone who had bought the album to get arefund.
In response to the scandal, Arista's position was that the company had been completely unaware of Morvan and Pilatus having not themselves recorded their album. In a post-debacle interview, Morvan defended himself for his part in the deception by saying: "[Before Milli Vanilli] I was working at aMcDonald's. What would you have done?"
At the end of the year 2000, following its 25th anniversary, BMG fired Davis as president/CEO due to age restrictions. Although Davis was still one of the most successful record heads in the entire music industry, BMG had an age restriction policy.L.A. Reid succeeded Davis as Arista's president/CEO.
Under Reid, the label had success with newer acts such asAvril Lavigne,Pink, andKelis, but struggled with newer releases by more established acts already on the label. Reid seemed to lose focus and have many miscalculations when it came to promoting Arista's established acts such asTLC,Toni Braxton,Whitney Houston (Houston being BMG's biggest selling act out of all BMG labels), and several other acts.
Reid seemed to put more money in promoting newer acts and less money into promoting established acts. Whitney Houston's December 2002,Just Whitney, as well as her November 2003 albumOne Wish: The Holiday Album failed to achieve the same success as her previous albums with Davis as head of Arista. Reid's extravagant spending, meanwhile, and lower sales of big-name established acts under his tenure, caused Arista to lose money. In two years, with Reid as CEO of Arista, Arista lost over $100 million.
After BMG andSony Music Entertainment merged in 2004, Reid was fired in January of that year.[11] Arista, always an independently managed front line label at BMG, was merged withJ Records in August 2005; J Records being the label that Davis started after being fired by BMG.
The merged Arista and J record labels began operating under the newly formedRCA Music Group—of which Davis was re-instated as CEO after the merger of BMG and Sony, thus Davis once again became in control of Arista and several other labels from the very company that previously fired him.
The Arista label continued to be used for new releases, although heavily scaled back, while its reissues are released through Sony Music'sLegacy Recordings. Also, as a result of the Sony-BMG merger, Arista once again became related toColumbia Pictures, which is fully owned by theSony Corporation of America (throughSony Pictures Entertainment) – who would buy out BMG's share in 2008.[12]
After the Sony-BMG merger,LaFace Records was eventually revived; the label was now fully owned by Sony-BMG and began operating as part of theJive Label Group.
During the summer of 2011, the RCA Music Group underwent a restructuring that saw the elimination of the Arista name later on that year, along with sister labelsJ Records andJive.[13]RCA Records started releasing all RCA Music Group releases under RCA Records.[14][15][16]Arista Nashville continued to operate throughSony Music Nashville and was not affected by the closing of Arista Records.[17]
Arista Records France was founded in September 2012, making it initially the last active remnant of the label. In 2023, Sony Music France closed Arista Records France, with the existing roster transferring to other labels under Sony's ownership.
In July 2018, it was announced that Arista would be revived as a frontline label, making it now the fourth flagship record label underSony Music alongsideColumbia,RCA, andEpic. The company hired formerIsland Records president/CEODavid Massey to lead Arista.[18] The label signedMike Posner ahead of his new album in 2025.[19]
In 1989, Arista Records launchedArista Nashville, which specializes incountry music artists.Alan Jackson was the first act signed label. In 1995, Arista Nashville launched a subsidiary label known as Career Records, the roster of which at the time includedBrett James,Tammy Graham, andLee Roy Parnell. Currently, Arista Nashville falls under the wing ofSony Music Nashville, hosting such artists asCarrie Underwood,Ronnie Dunn andJerrod Niemann.
In March 2023, Arista Nashville was closed, with its roster reassigned under other Sony Music labels.[20]
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