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Rykodisc

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Rykodisc Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group.

Company history

Claiming to be the first CD-only independent record label in the United States, Rykodisc was founded in 1983 or 1984 in Salem, Massachusetts, by Arthur Mann, Rob Simonds, Doug Lexa and Don Rose. The word "ryko" means approximately "sound from a flash of light" in Japanese, a reference to their intention to concentrate on the then-new compact disc technology. In the late 1980s, the label also began to issue high-quality cassette and vinyl versions of many releases under the name Ryko Analogue.

Rykodisc had some notable successes in the CD-reissue industry, as artists such as Elvis Costello, David Bowie, Yoko Ono, Frank Zappa and Mission of Burma allowed Rykodisc to issue their catalogs on CD. Rykodisc still retains the rights to the Zappa and Mission of Burma catalogs. Rykodisc also has re-released the classic SST Records-era recordings by the Meat Puppets.

Over the years the label has acquired Hannibal Records, Tradition Records, Gramavision Records and Restless Records, as well as founded a distribution company, Ryko Distribution and a music publishing company, Rykomusic. The label's catalogue now exceeds 1,200 titles.

In 1999, Chris Blackwell left Island Records and bought Rykodisc for a reported $35 million as a means of acquiring music marketing and distribution expertise for his new venture, a media company called Palm Pictures. In 2001 Blackwell parted ways with Rykodisc. The label was then located in New York with offices in Los Angeles and in Beverly, Massachusetts.

Rykodisc sets apart their CD issues with their trademarked green-tinted jewel boxes, which the company began using in 1988. The label began limiting the use of the green-tinted cases on new releases in 2002.

On March 23, 2006, it was announced that Warner Music Group acquired the Ryko Corporation for $67.5 million. When Warner bought Ryko, it acquired the label's Frank Zappa master tapes, entitling Warner to any reissue rights--an irony considering Zappa's outspoken hatred for the major record label.

Rykodisc artists

See also

External links

  • http://rykodisc.com/ Official site
  • http://www.rykodisc.co.uk/ RykoDisc International



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Last updated on Tuesday February 19, 2008 at 15:17:36 PST (GMT -0800)
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