DreamWorks Records

DreamWorks Records
Parent company	Universal Music Group
Founded	1996
Founder	Steven Spielberg Jeffrey Katzenberg David Geffen
Status	Defunct since 2005
Distributor(s)	USA: Geffen, Interscope International: Polydor (starting in 1999)
Genre	Various
Country of origin	USA

DreamWorks Records (also SKG Music, or SKG Music Group, and Spielberg Music Group, or Katzenberg Records) was an American record label. Founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg as a subsidiary of DreamWorks SKG, the label operated until 2005 when it was shut down. The label itself also featured a Nashville, Tennessee based subsidiary, DreamWorks Nashville, which specialized in country music and was also shut down in 2005. The company's logo was designed by Roy Lichtenstein and was his last commission before his death in 1997.

History

In 1996, six years after Geffen sold Geffen Records to MCA Music Entertainment, he joined Spielberg and Katzenberg to form DreamWorks SKG, which included the subsidiary DreamWorks Records. The label's logo was the last project completed by artist Roy Lichtenstein. The distinctive design, incorporating musical notes in the artist's trademark "dream balloon," debuted on the packaging for "Beautiful Freak," the first album from Los Angeles-based Eels and the second release from the record company.^[1]

Geffen Records distributed DreamWorks until 1998, when Interscope Records took over distribution duties (meanwhile, as Interscope and Geffen switched international distribution to Polydor Records, DreamWorks followed suit). Rufus Wainwright was the first to be signed to the new label in early 1996. Henry Rollins (both as a spoken-word artist and with Rollins Band), George Michael, Randy Newman, Morphine, Eels, comedian/actor Chris Rock, and others were also signed to the label. The label was presided over by Lenny Waronker and Mo Ostin, who had run Warner Bros. Records until the mid-1990s. In a quest to cut costs, DreamWorks SKG sold the label to Universal Music Group (MCA's successor company) in October 2003. Despite high profile attention, the DreamWorks Records label ultimately failed to live up to full commercial expectation. With consistently lacking revenue, the label would eventually be dismantled, with much of its roster absorbed into Geffen Records in 2004 (other acts went to Interscope, while starting in 2007, many of the alternative groups once signed to DreamWorks moved to DGC Records). Its country music division, meanwhile, remained operational until January 29, 2006, when it was shut down by Universal Music Group Nashville.

DreamWorks Nashville

Between 1998 and 2005, DreamWorks also operated a division in Nashville, Tennessee for country music acts. Among the artists signed to the DreamWorks Nashville division were Jessica Andrews, Emerson Drive, Toby Keith, Jeff Foxworthy, Tracy Lawrence, Randy Travis, Jimmy Wayne, and Darryl Worley. After DreamWorks Records' dissolution, former executive Scott Borchetta formed Big Machine Records in late 2005, signing several country music acts to the label. Borchetta also signed Show Dog Records in partnership with Toby Keith,^[2] although Keith dropped his association with the latter label in 2006.

See also

• List of DreamWorks Records artists
• List of record labels

References

1. ^ "Artist Roy Lichtenstein Designs Logo For DreamWorks Records". http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-18598870.html. Retrieved 2011-09-02. 
2. ^ All Business: Nashville Scene: Keith's New Show Dog By PHYLLIS STARK, September 10, 2005

External links

• Official site
• Video Interview with Lenny Waronker, former President of DreamWorks Records