| Geffen Records | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Parent company | Universal Music Group (UMG) |
| Founded | October 1980; 45 years ago (1980-10) |
| Founder | David Geffen |
| Distributors |
|
| Genre | Various |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Location | Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Official website | interscope.com |
Geffen Records (formerlyThe David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 andGeffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an Americanrecord label owned byInterscope Geffen A&M (IGA), a division of theInterscope Capitol Labels Group, which is owned byUniversal Music Group. It was founded in 1980 byDavid Geffen, as a musicsubsidiary of his then film companyGeffen Pictures, with financial and distribution support fromWarner Bros. Records.
In 1990, the label was sold toMCA Music Entertainment, which later became part of Universal Music Group (UMG) through acquisitions byPanasonic andSeagram. Since its merger into the Interscope Geffen A&M group in 1999, Geffen has served as a syndicate label withinInterscope Records, expanding its catalog through the absorption of other imprints. It has operated as a key platform for new releases, especially following its 2003 expansion and 2017 relaunch. As of 2024, Geffen is part of Universal Music Group's Interscope Capitol Labels Group.
Geffen Records began operations in 1980. It was created by music industry businessmanDavid Geffen[1] who, in the early 1970s, had co-foundedAsylum Records withElliot Roberts. Geffen stepped down from Asylum in 1975, when he crossed over to film and was named a vice president ofWarner Bros. Pictures. He was fired from Warnerc. 1978, but still remained locked in a five-year contract, which prevented him from working elsewhere. When that deal expired, he returned to work in 1980 and struck a deal with Warner Bros. Records (now simplyWarner Records, due to the label's disassociation from Warner Bros. Pictures in 2004),[2][3] to create Geffen Records.[4] Warner Bros. Records provided 100 percent of the funding for the label's start-up and operations, while it distributed its releases inNorth America, withCBS'sEpic Records handling distribution in the rest of the world until 1985 whenWarner Music Group (parent company of Warner Records and formerly a division of Time Warner/Warner Bros. Discovery until 2004) took over distribution for the rest of the world. Profits were split 50% each between Geffen Records and its respective distributors. Despite being named for founder and original owner David Geffen, it has been acknowledged that Ed Rosenblatt, who became president of Geffen Records upon its inception in 1980, was the one who led Geffen Records during its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s.[5][6]
The label releasedDouble Fantasy byJohn Lennon andYoko Ono. Two weeks after it entered the charts,Lennon was murdered in New York City.[7][8] Subsequently, the album went on to sell millions and gave Geffen its first number-one album and single; the rights to the album would later be taken over byEMI, which eventually would be absorbed by Geffen's then-future parent,Universal Music Group in 2012.[9][10]
As the mid-1980s progressed, Geffen would go on to have extended success with such acts asAsia,Berlin,Enya,Kylie Minogue,Quarterflash,Wang Chung, andSammy Hagar. The label also signed several established acts such asElton John,Irene Cara,Cher,Debbie Harry,Don Henley,Joni Mitchell,Neil Young,Peter Gabriel, andJennifer Holliday. Toward the end of the decade, the company also began making a name for itself as an emergingrock label, thanks to the success ofWhitesnake (U.S. and Canada only),The Stone Roses,Guns N' Roses,Tesla,Sonic Youth and the comeback of 1970s-era rockersAerosmith. This prompted Geffen to create a subsidiary label,DGC Records (formerly the David Geffen Company), in 1990; which focused on more progressive rock and would later embrace the emergence ofalternative rock—Nirvana being an example.[11] Geffen also briefly distributed the first incarnation of Def American Recordings (now simplyAmerican Recordings) through Warner Music Group from 1988 to 1990.
After nearly a decade of operating through WMG, its contract with the company ended. Geffen was then sold to MCA Music Entertainment, by then, a label division of the now-defunctMCA Inc. in 1990.[12] The deal earned founder David Geffen an estimated US$800 million in stock and an employment contract that ran until then. Following the sale, Geffen Records operated as one of MCA's leading independently managed labels. A year later, MCA was acquired by Japanese conglomerate Matsushita Electric (nowPanasonic), bringing Geffen,Universal Pictures and other sister companies along.[13] The acquisition was completed on New Year's Day 1991 for $6.6 billion USD.[14]
Geffen stepped down as head of the label in 1995 to collaborate withJeffrey Katzenberg andAmblin Entertainment co-founderSteven Spielberg to form DreamWorks SKG (laterDreamWorks Pictures),[15] an ambitious multimedia empire dealing in film, television, books and music. Geffen Records would distribute releases on the newly-founded company'sDreamWorks Records subsidiary. That spring, Panasonic's ownership percentage of MCA was decreased to 20% when the remaining 80% was sold to Canadian distillery companySeagram in exchange for $5.7 billion USD.[16][17] In January 1996, Geffen funded and distributed a short-lived boutique label,Outpost Recordings, featuring the likes ofWhiskeytown,Ry Cooder,Veruca Salt, andHayden.[18] On December 9, 1996, Geffen's parent company, MCA Inc. was reincorporated as Universal Studios, Inc. Even so, its music division, MCA Music Entertainment Group, was also renamed Universal Music Group.[19][20][21] However, under UMG's new ownership, Geffen's fortunes began to dwindle.[22]
On December 10, 1998, Seagram completed its seven-month $10.6 billion plan to acquire PolyGram. As a result, PolyGram's music division was merged into Universal Music Group.[23][24] Geffen now became sister labels toA&M Records,Island Records,Mercury Records,Def Jam Recordings andMotown (which had previously been a part of UMG during its preceding MCA days from 1988 to 1993). In the ensuing months, a number of corporate reshufflings occurred,[25] resulting in Geffen and A&M, on New Year's Eve 1998, being merged intoInterscope Geffen A&M Records.[26] Interscope Geffen A&M became one of Universal Music Group's four new label factions alongside theVerve Label Group,Universal Motown Republic Group and theIsland Def Jam Music Group. However, the IGA merger resulted in Geffen firing 110 of its employees.[22] Unlike A&M, which was closed entirely, Geffen was able to continue existing as a one-off brand underInterscope Records. At the same time, international distribution of Interscope and Geffen releases respectively switched fromBMG Distribution and Island Records UK to ex-PolyGram labelPolydor Records, which had already been distributing A&M releases overseas (in return for A&M handling Polydor releases in the U.S.); A&M was forced to remain as a one-off active label for Interscope following a lawsuit by its co-foundersJerry Moss andHerb Alpert, which was later settled in 2003.[27][28]
In October 1999,Jordan Schur (ofFlip Records) was declared Geffen's new president; this led to Schur stepping down as the head of Flip, but he still managed to maintain control of the label, while certain acts from Flip's roster, such asCold andProfessional Murder Music, were transferred over to Geffen.[29] Geffen's first release under Schur's leadership was theEnd of Days soundtrack, released in November 1999. Geffen became a predominantly rock music-based label.[29]
Geffen continued to do steady business—even within2003, UMG foldedMCA Records into Geffen that July.[30][31] Though Geffen had been substantially a pop-rock label, its absorption of MCA (and its back catalogs) led to a more diverse roster; with former MCA artists such asMary J. Blige,The Roots,Blink-182,Rise Against, andCommon now being transferred to the label. Meanwhile, DreamWorks Records, in October, also folded, with its artists roster, consisting ofNelly Furtado,Lifehouse andRufus Wainwright, being absorbed by Geffen as well.[32][33] The absorption occurred following a reorganization at DreamWorks Pictures, which resulted inDreamWorks Animation being divested and DreamWorks Records being acquired by UMG.[34][35] During this time, the remains of DGC Records were also folded into Geffen, although the label was previously absorbed in 1999 following its merger with Interscope. Retained artists,Beck andSonic Youth, were later redirected to record for Geffen afterwards; DGC was later reactivated in 2007, later operating under Interscope rather than Geffen.
With the mergers of MCA, DGC and DreamWorks into Geffen, more than 103 employees were laid off.[36]
As the mid-2000s progressed, Geffen's absorption of the MCA, DGC and DreamWorks labels, along with the signage of new acts such asAshlee Simpson,Angels & Airwaves andSnoop Dogg, had boosted the company to the extent that it began gaining equal footing with the main Interscope label, leading some industry insiders to speculate that it could revert to operating as an independently managed imprint at UMG again.[37] In 2006, musicianRon Fair was named the chairman of Geffen.[37] That same year, after disputes with Interscope co-founderJimmy Iovine (at the time, the chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M, parent unit of Geffen), former labelmates50 Cent andDr. Dre, rapperThe Game was dismissed fromG-Unit Records and Interscope division imprintAftermath Entertainment (the respective labels of the aforementioned latter two), but was later transferred to Geffen to avoid contractual obligations withG-Unit.[38] His sophomore studio album (also his first under the label),Doctor's Advocate, debuted at number one on the U.S.Billboard 200 upon release on November 14, 2006.[39]
Geffen's urban division pertained even more notoriety with the IGA resigning ofKeyshia Cole through the imprint, following DGC's relaunch and A&M's revitalization asA&M Octone Records in 2007; Cole was previously signed to sister label A&M early in her career from 2004 to that point. Her sophomore album,Just like You, received critical praise and debuted at number two on theBillboard 200.[40] However, at the end of 2007, Geffen was subsided further into Interscope.[41] The restructuring resulted in Geffen laying off sixty employees.[42][43]
In 2009, it was announced that Geffen Records had signed an agreement with theHoly See to produce an album ofMarian songs and prayers from PopeBenedict XVI.[44]
Interscope Geffen A&M chairman and CEO Jimmy Iovine relaunched Geffen in 2011, moving its headquarters from Santa Monica toNew York City. Former manager ofKanye West, Gee Roberson was appointed chairman.[45] However, in late 2013, the label went idle with a majority of Geffen's artists now recording under Interscope.[citation needed]
On May 28, 2014, Iovine departed from Interscope Geffen A&M as its chairman and CEO and hiredFueled by Ramen co-founderJohn Janick as his replacement.[46][47][48]
In March 2017, Neil Jacobson was appointed president of Geffen Records to oversee the second relaunch of the label via new signings as well as reinvigoration of the label's legendary catalog.[49][50][51]
In 2018, Interscope musicianDJ Snake was drafted to Geffen to release his second studio album,Carte Blanche, which commenced on July 26, 2019. Its single, "Taki Taki", went on to accumulate four million equivalent units in the United States and peak at number one onBillboard'sHot Latin Songs chart.[52][53]
In December 2019, Neil Jacobson vacated his position as the president of Geffen, leaving to start his own company, Crescent Drive Productions.[54] The following month to a new year, in mid-January 2020, Lee L'Heureux was appointed thegeneral manager of Geffen.[55] The label then started to see more success from artistsRod Wave,Lil Durk,Yungblud andHotboii (the former two were signed to Geffen throughTodd Moscowitz's Alamo Records).[56][citation needed]
In a staff exchange that July, longtime Interscope executive Nicole Bilzerian was drafted to Geffen to become its executive vice president.[57]
Olivia Rodrigo joined Geffen in the fall of 2020.[58] Her single, "Drivers License", made the number one position on theBillboard Hot 100 in early 2021.[59][60][61] That May, she released her debut album,Sour. It accumulated 295,000 album-equivalent units.[62] Its five-week reign at number one on theBillboard 200 became the longest by a female recording artist that year.[63]Sour also made Rodrigo the first Geffen recording artist and first female artist overall to have a number one album under the label in nearly 13 years since Mary J. Blige'sGrowing Pains (2007).[citation needed][64]
Rodrigo followed upSour in 2023 withGuts.[65] Released in September, it once again debuted at number one on theBillboard 200, though its first week units were moderately slim behind the artist's debut.[66] Also, in 2023, Interscope artistKali Uchis was drafted to Geffen before releasing her sophomore album,Red Moon in Venus, earlier that March.[67] The album peaked at number four on the Billboard 200, another top five charting success for the label that year.[68]
Since 2024, Geffen has been a part of Universal Music Group's Interscope Capitol Labels Group.
In July 2024, longtime former Geffen Records president Ed Rosenblatt, who served as president of Geffen Records from its inception in 1980 through its glory years ofGuns N’ Roses,Nirvana,Don Henley and countless others, died.[6]
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