Manhattan Records

Manhattan Records
Parent company	Capitol Music Group
Founded	1984 (1984)
Founder	Bruce Lundvall
Distributor(s)	Capitol Music Group
Genre	Adult Contemporary, classical
Country of origin	U.S.

Manhattan Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group and operates as a branch of Capitol Music Group.

Company history

Manhattan Records was formed in 1984 by Bruce Lundvall^[1] and was later renamed EMI Manhattan Records after absorbing the EMI America Records imprint. EMI Manhattan was used to reissue back catalogue titles from Capitol Records and other EMI labels such as United Artists Records and Liberty Records. It also distributed new albums from Gamble and Huff's Philadelphia International Records during the later half of the 1980s, after a 15-year stint with CBS Records. The deal gave EMI distribution rights to PIR's back catalog from 1976 onward (CBS, later Sony Music, would retain the rights to PIR's catalog up to 1975).

Notable artists signed to EMI Manhattan included Kenny Rogers, Richard Marx, Natalie Cole, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Queensrÿche, and Thomas Dolby. In 1992, EMI Manhattan was dismantled and absorbed into Capitol Records with the catalog bearing the EMI label.

In 2001, the Manhattan label was relaunched (without the EMI prefix) as a division of EMI Classics by veteran record producer Arif Mardin. Richard Marx, one of its flagship artists during the label's heyday, returned to the label upon its revival. In 2006, EMI reorganized its adult music operations and put the Manhattan label under the aegis of the Blue Note Label Group. As of 2013, following the reorganization of labels as a result of Universal Music Group's acquisition of EMI, Manhattan currently operates under the umbrella of the Capitol Music Group.

Artists

References