History Of A&M

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Rick

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I was in a discussion about recording companies. Of course I brought up A&M. I recall that around 1984 A&M was sold to RCA and then sometime in the 90's to Polygram. Were there any others that owned A&M between RCA and Polygram? When did Universal come into the picture- I guess maybe 2000. What is the history of who has owned A&M and when and why?
 
It's my understanding RCA distributed A&M "product" for a while but never owned the label per se. It was independently owned up until Polygram acquired it.
 
A&M was the largest independent record company up until 1989, when it sold out to Polygram. (I believe Alpert and Moss felt that, in order to survive, they would have to become part of a larger group...although A&M, in my eyes, hasn't really survived since Univer$al got ahold of it.) Prior to that, RCA was distributing A&M product. (And in retrospect, I wonder if BMG would have been a better home for A&M?) The Univer$al/Vivendi takeovers took place only a couple of years ago when they acquired Polygram.

The few articles I read after the 1989 Polygram buyout hinted that the value of A&M was nowhere near worth the reported $460 million they paid for it, since it had few major charting acts left on the label, and a back catalog that, aside from a few highlights (Styx, Carpenters, etc.) had limited commercial appeal. I'm just glad that Alpert & Moss were able to bail out when they did and make a tidy profit for something that started up in an L.A. garage! :D

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From what I remember, A&M agreed to have its product distributed by RCA starting in 1979 (the year of the infamous Crash when vinyl sales began falling faster than the Titanic) while retaining its autonomy and independence. I remember going to record stores in the early-to-mid-'80's and seeing boxes labeled "RCA and A&M and Associated Labels." (Also in '79, RCA began distributing 20th Century-Fox Records, which died in 1982 and whose masters, for the most part, ended up falling into PolyGram's hands.)

Then PolyGram acquired A&M outright in 1989 -- and the rest, for better or worse (some would say VERY worse) is history.
 
I worked at a music store named Licorice Pizza in the mid 1980's. I remember seeing the new release catalogs from RCA. Arista, and it's associated labels, was also distributed by RCA. I manged to save three of these catalogs from October 1984, April 1985, and August 1987.
A few of the A&M newreleases in these catalogs were; Bryan Adams "Reckless" (10/84), the Carpenters "Old Fashioned Christmas" (10/84), Chaz Jankel "Looking At You (4/84), Suzanne Vega (4/85), Squeeze "BabylonAnd On" (9/87), Richard Carpenter "Time" (9/87), Breathe "All That Jazz" 9/87).

I've also seen A&M artists, who remained until the end, such as Sheryl Crow and Bryan Adams latest releases are the Interscope and Universal labels. Is there a possiblity that A&M even as a name will be eventually phased out all together?
 
Rick1229 said:
I've also seen A&M artists, who remained until the end, such as Sheryl Crow and Bryan Adams latest releases are the Interscope and Universal labels. Is there a possiblity that A&M even as a name will be eventually phased out all together?

It really isn't much more than an office at Interscope and an ink logo anymore. My guess is that it'll remain an "imprint" for as long as groups like Styx, Carpenters, Police and other big sellers have reissues being released. But as for it being its own entity? Univer$al stripped that dignity from A&M when they closed the Chaplin lot. (If you haven't checked it yet, hop over to our Gallery and check the Black Thursday page.)

IMHO, it quit being A&M when Herb and Jerry sold out, but at least Polygram treated it with some respect. Until Univer$al finds a way to exploit it somehow, of course. (When it suits their purpose.)

One parallel to A&M is the jazz label GRP. A great upstart, with a musician/business pair running it (Dave Grusin on the artistic side, and Larry Rosen handling the business end). GRP made such a name for itself, MCA turned over its jazz catalog for GRP to operate. And they did a good job until Univer$al did their housecleaning--the artist roster was slashed to where even popular GRP artists (Rippingtons, Lee Ritenour, and many others) found themselves without a label, and I'd say about 80% of their catalog was dumped into cutout (GRP and MCA Jazz included). (Whatever artists were left after the slashing ended up leaving on their own anyway...and Rosen went on to form "N2K Encoded Music".)

Univer$al made the decision that GRP was to be their "$mooth Jazz property", where Verve would handle the more traditional end of the spectrum. This was solidified when GRP signed George Benson out of retirement, waving their cash around to lure him in with a nice juicy contract. To me, the original GRP had a unique sound (much like A&M's), and a unique identity to where I knew that if I purchased just about any GRP CD, I'd like it. Not so, anymore. Much like today's A&M is sometimes "off the mark" in regard to quality music. These aren't your daddy's Oldsmobile...

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Another "big indie" that grew during the '60s is Motown. Talk about a unified sound! And-what a concept-black music aimed at white boomers just finding their musical tastes. Probably the only label with 100s of songs that can be identified by a drum beat. (A case could be made for Stax/Atlantic,but IMHO Booker T & the MGs and the BarKays had a lot more colors on their palette.) Motown also fell prey to Universal's tenacles,though both MCA and Polygram had individual hands in screwing up Motown and Berry Gordy Sr. did a respectable job of killing his golden goose all by himself. Mac
 
That's an understatement about Motown: they did have a unique sound for a label, but yes, others you mentioned did have more than one color on the palette. Around Detroit, all the oldies stations want to pump at you 24/7 is Motown, Motown, Motown. Most of us are sick of hearing the same song repeated over and over...oh, wait, it IS a different song. :confused: Motown in the 60's did serve a niche: easily identifiable, throwaway pop music for the suburbs. (Their album covers did not feature the musicians, if you notice. :wink: )

I don't think Motown grew creative legs until Stevie Wonder sued Berry Gordy for back royalties and creative control (which begat Music Of My Mind and all that followed), and likewise, Marvin Gaye was given similar artistic freedom (What's Going On and Let's Get It On). But no sooner does this happen when Gordy finds another sappy throwaway group in the Jackson Five. What really shot Gordy in the rear end was his paying his performers a minimal salary, while these same artists topped the charts and made Gordy and Motown carloads of money. Once they found out... :evil:

-= N =-
 
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