Interscope Records Inc. | |
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Parent company | Universal Music Group (UMG) |
Founded | 1990[1] |
Founder | |
Distributor(s) |
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Genre | Various |
Country of origin | United States |
Location | Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
Official website | interscope.com |
Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Music Group and Interscope Communications,[2] it differed from most record labels by letting A&R staff control decisions and allowing artists and producers full creative control.[3] Interscope's first hit records arrived in under a year, and it achieved profitability in 1993.[4] Chair and CEO until May 2014, Iovine was succeeded by John Janick.[5]
In 1992, Interscope acquired the exclusive rights to market and distribute releases from hardcore hip hop label Death Row Records, a decision that ultimately put the label at the center of the mid-1990s gangsta rap controversy. As a result, Time Warner, then the parent of Warner Music Group, severed ties with Interscope by selling its 50 percent stake back to Field and Iovine for $115 million in 1995. In 1996, 50% of the label was acquired for a reported $200 million by MCA Inc. (now Universal Music Group).[4][6][7]
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