Total Experience Records

Total Experience Records
Parent companyUniversal Music (1979–1983 catalog)
BMG Rights Management (1984–1987 catalog)[1]
Founded1975 (as Total Experience Productions)
1981 (as a label)
FounderLonnie Simmons
StatusDefunct
Distributor(s)PolyGram (1981–1984)
RCA (1984–1987)
GenreR&B
Funk
Country of originUnited States
LocationBeverly Hills, California

Total Experience Records was a record label founded by Lonnie Simmons. Its two major acts were The Gap Band and Yarbrough & Peoples. It originally began in 1975 as a production company with the first release being a 45 with the Semper led group New Experience on Ariola Records. By the fall of 1978, the production company signed a label deal with Mercury Records, before Simmons decided to transform the production company into a label in 1981. From its inception in 1981 to late 1983, Total Experience was a subsidiary label of Mercury's parent company, PolyGram. In 1984, the label became independent, changing its distribution from PolyGram to RCA Records.