CNR is a Dutch audio and video label. It was founded in 1937 as CNR Records by Cornelis Nicolaas Rood, who made his fortune as a producer of lampshades and other lighting materials.
Rood regarded his record label merely as a hobby, but things changed for the better in the early 1950s when CNR bought distribution and marketing rights for several foreign pop and classical record companies. He also signed up several local artists.
One of CNR's first major successes was Dutch singer Gert Timmerman, who became one of the Dutch top selling male artists from the end of the 1950s. In the 1960s, CNR enjoyed major successes with artists like Trio Hellenique, Gert Timmerman (who was also part of a duo, Gert & Hermien) and Heintje, a Dutch teenage singer who sold millions of singles and albums in Europe between 1966 and the early 1970s.
By this time, CNR had grown into one of the Dutch major independent record labels. It mainly focussed on local talent such as André van Duin, Benny Neyman and Tol Hansse, but it also had hit singles with licensed international productions like Baccara's "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie" and "Sorry, I'm a Lady".
Local success continued well into the 1980s with artists including Stars on 45. CNR began distributing the up-and-coming Jive Records label in 1982. In the budding video market, CNR had a major presence with its CNR Video label, which specialised in kids material (Bassie & Adriaan).
In 1988 Rene Froger released his first top 10 hit ("Winter in America"), a Doug Ashdown cover on the CNR label. The singer would record two successful albums: Who Dares Wins (1988) and You're My Everything (1989). Both were certified with a golden award and his first number one hit in Dutch. The singer then signed to Dino Music and became the best selling Dutch musician of the early nineties.
In the early 1990s, CNR had become a subsidiary of Arcade Records, which was then a major compilation label in the Netherlands. However, Arcade was on the brink of bankruptcy and warned that all its signed artists could lose their recording contracts if the bankruptcy went ahead. Arcade survived, but CNR's output and success diminished drastically later in the decade.
It also underwent several management, licensing and name changes, including a joint venture with American rock label Roadrunner Records in 1998.
CNR is billed as CNR Entertainment, with the emphasis on local product, kids material, comedy and TV series. It has resurrected the Arcade compilation label and distributes several smaller labels. Until the end of 2012 it holds the distribution and marketing rights for Roadrunner acts such as Lenny Kravitz, Young the Giant, and Nickelback.
In August 2011, CNR announced a joint venture with the Dutch branch of Rough Trade to oversee the distribution of their material. The joint venture was launched as Tone Entertainment.
Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of motor and town, has become a nickname for Detroit, where the label was originally headquartered.
Monument Records is an American record label in Washington, D.C. named for the Washington Monument, founded in 1958 by Fred Foster, Buddy Deane, and business manager Jack Kirby. Buddy Deane soon left the company, and in the early '60s bought KOTN in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where he retired until his death. Foster and Kirby relocated to the Nashville suburb of Hendersonville, Tennessee. Monument's releases include a variety of genres, including rock and roll, country, jazz, and rhythm and blues.
Jive Records was an American independent record label formed in 1981 and was owned by Sony Music Entertainment since 2003. Formerly headquartered in New York City, Jive was best known for its string of successes with hip hop artists in the 1980s and 1990s, and also in teen pop and boy bands during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Since 2011, the label has been in hibernation with its previous operations having been absorbed by RCA Records.
Orion Pictures, legal name Orion Releasing LLC, is an American motion picture producer owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In its original operating period, the company produced and released films from 1978 until 1999 and was also involved in television production and syndication throughout the 1980s until the early 1990s. It was formed in 1978 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and three former senior executives at United Artists. During this early period, Orion was considered a mini-major studio.
Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical music label in 1953, but later expanded its scope to include a more diverse range of genres, including pop, R&B, rock, and hip hop. Epic Records has released music by major artists.
Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961 and shared its operations with Volt Records, a sister label created to avoid the impression of favoritism among radio stations playing their records.
Mercury Records was an American record label that had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s and that later became owned by Philips, PolyGram, and Universal Music Group. In the US, it operated through Island Records; in the UK, it was distributed by EMI Records.
Vee-Jay Records is an American record label founded in the 1950s, located in Chicago and specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll.
Enigma Records was a popular rock and alternative American record label in the 1980s.
Buddah Records was an American record label founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's founding. Buddah handled a variety of music genres, including bubblegum pop, folk-rock (Melanie), experimental music, and soul.
Mokum Records is a Dutch independent record label specialising in early hardcore and hardcore releases. They have released about 100 single and EP vinyl records between 1993 and 1999 and more than 80 since 2004.
Beserkley Records was an American independent record label based in Berkeley, California, from 1973 to 1984. Beserkley is usually regarded as a power pop and rock and roll label. During the 1970s, the label released albums by Earth Quake, Greg Kihn, Jonathan Richman, and The Modern Lovers, the Rubinoos, and the Tyla Gang. Several other artists appeared on singles, or on compilation albums. From 1980 to its dissolution in 1984, Beserkley was a one-artist label, the artist being Greg Kihn.
Sussex Records, Inc. was a Los Angeles-based record label, founded by music executive and businessman Clarence Avant, that existed from 1969 through 1975.
Festival Records was an Australian recording and publishing company founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1952 and operated until 2005.
Gruntruck is an American rock band formed in 1989 in Seattle, Washington, by vocalist Ben McMillan and drummer Norman Scott, both previously from early Seattle sound pioneers Skin Yard. While in Skin Yard, Norman also briefly joined Soundgarden, and collaborated with Chris Cornell on a lesser-known band, the low frequency power trio Bass Truck. Lead guitarist Tommy Niemeyer from metal thrashers The Accüsed and bassist Tim Paul, previously of Portland hardcore punk band Final Warning, rounded out the initial, classic line-up. Their sound is described as grunge, and the band focuses more on the metal side of the genre.
Music for Pleasure and Classics for Pleasure (CFP) were British record labels that issued budget-priced albums of popular and classical music respectively. Albums were subsequently released under the MFP label in Australia (MFP-A) and South Africa.
CherryDisc Records was a Boston-based independent record label in the mid- to late-1990s. It gained notoriety by moving acts such as Letters to Cleo, Big Catholic Guilt, Smackmelon, Tracy Bonham, The Sheila Divine, Quintaine Americana, and Semisonic on to major labels.
Razor & Tie is an American entertainment company that consists of a record label and a music publishing company. It was established in 1990 by Craig Balsam and Cliff Chenfeld. Based in New York City, Razor & Tie releases are distributed by Universal Music Group.
Arcade Records was a British record company specialised in multi-artist compilation albums, founded in 1972. In the 1970s, it found itself in direct competition with K-tel and other compilation labels. In the 1980s, the original company was sold to Dutch entrepreneur Herman Heinsbroek, who expanded it into a worldwide multi-media company.
Fable Records was an Australian independent record company which operated from 1970 to 1984. It was one of the most successful and productive Australian 'indie' labels of the period, issuing over 300 singles and dozens of EPs and LPs. Fable made a significant initial impact in Australia in 1970-71, scoring a string of hits by new Australian artists, and throughout its history the company discovered and promoted local talent. Fable enjoyed further success between 1972 and 1975 through its subsidiary label Bootleg Records, which racked up a string of hit albums and singles by artists including Brian Cadd, the Bootleg Family Band and Kerrie Biddell.
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