Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies are independently owned. Rob Cavallo currently serves as Chairman of the company. Warner Bros. Records was originally established in 1958 as the recorded music division of the American movie studio Warner Bros. Pictures. For most of its existence it was one of a group of labels owned and operated by larger parent corporations. The sequence of companies that controlled Warner Bros. and its allied labels evolved through a convoluted series of corporate mergers and acquisitions from the early 1960s to the early 2000s. Over this period, Warner Bros. Records grew from a struggling minor player in the industry to become one of the top recording labels in the world.

In 2003 these music assets were divested by their then owner Time Warner and purchased by a private equity group. This independent company traded as the Warner Music Group (WMG), before being bought by Access Industries in 2011. WMG is currently the third-largest of the four major international music conglomerates and the world's last publicly traded major music company.^[1] Warner Bros. Records is still an active label of this company. The group's extensive publishing assets, which include over one million song copyrights by more than 65,000 songwriters,^[1] currently make it the world's largest music publisher.

History[link]

Origins[link]

At the end of the silent movie era Warner Bros. Pictures decided to expand into publishing and recording so that it could access low-cost music content for its films. In 1928 the studio acquired several smaller music publishing firms—including M. Witmark & Sons, Remick Music Corp., Harms Inc. and a partial interest in New World Music Corp., and merged them to form the Music Publishers Holding Company. This new group controlled valuable copyrights on standards by George and Ira Gershwin and Jerome Kern and the new division was soon earning solid profits of up to US$2 million annually.^[2]

In 1930 MPHC paid US$28 million to acquire Brunswick Records, whose roster included Duke Ellington, Red Nichols, Al Jolson, Earl Burtnett, Abe Lyman, Leroy Carr, Tampa Red and Memphis Minnie, and soon after the sale to Warner Bros., the label signed rising radio and recording stars Bing Crosby, Mills Brothers, and Boswell Sisters. Unfortunately for Warner Bros., the dual impact of the Great Depression and the introduction of broadcast radio decimated the recording industry—sales crashed, dropping by around 90% from more than 100 million units in 1927 to less than 10 million by 1932^[3][4] and major companies were forced to halve the price of records from 75c to 35c.^[5] In December 1931, Warner Bros. offloaded Brunswick to the American Record Corporation (ARC) for a fraction of its former value, in a lease arrangement which did not include Brunswick's pressing plants. Technically Warner maintained actual ownership of Brunswick, which with the sale of ARC to CBS in 1939 and their decision to discontinue Brunswick in favor of reviving the Columbia label, reverted back to Warner Bros. Warner Bros. sold Brunswick (along with Brunswick's back catalog up to 1931) to Decca along with the old Brunswick pressing plants Warner owned to Decca Records (which formed its American operations in 1934) in exchange for a financial interest in Decca.^[6] Mainly due to Starr's considerable influence over Jack Warner, the studio stayed out of the record business for more than 25 years, and during this period it licensed its film music to other companies for release as soundtrack albums.^[3]

1958-1963: formation and early years[link]

Warner Bros. re-entered the record business in 1958 with the establishment of its own recording division, Warner Bros. Records. By this time the established Hollywood studios were reeling from multiple challenges to their former dominance, the most notable being the introduction of television in the late 1940s. Legal changes also had a major impact on their business—lawsuits brought by major stars had effectively overthrown the old studio contract system by the late 1940s; Warner Bros. Pictures sold off much of its movie library in 1948 (although, ironically, Time Warner's 1996 takeover of Turner Broadcasting returned most of the Warner archive to the company) and, beginning in 1949, anti-trust suits brought by the US government forced the five major studios to divest their cinema chains.

In 1956 Harry Warner and Albert Warner sold their interest in the studio and the board was joined by new members who favoured a renewed expansion into the music business—Charles Allen of the investment bank Charles Allen & Company, Serge Semenenko of the First National Bank of Boston and investor David Baird. Semenenko in particular had a strong professional interest in the entertainment business and he began to push Jack Warner on the issue of setting up an 'in-house' record label. With the record business booming—sales had topped US$500 million by 1958—Semenenko argued that it was foolish for Warner Bros. to make deals with other companies to release its soundtracks when, for less than the cost of one motion picture, they could establish their own label, creating a new income stream that could continue indefinitely and provide an additional means of exploiting and promoting its contract actors.^[7]

Another impetus for the label's creation was the brief music career of Warner Bros. actor Tab Hunter. Although Hunter was signed to an exclusive acting contract with the studio, it did not prevent him from signing a recording contract, which he did with Dot Records, since Warner Bros. had no label of its own at the time. Hunter scored several hits for Dot, including the U.S. #1 single "Young Love" (1957), and to Warner Bros.' chagrin, reporters were primarily asking about the hit record, rather than Hunter's latest Warner movie. In 1958 the studio signed Hunter to its newly formed record division, although his subsequent recordings for the label failed to duplicate his success with Dot.^[8]

Warner Bros. agreed to buy Imperial Records in 1956 and although the deal fell apart it marked the breaking of a psychological barrier: if the company was willing to buy another label, why not start its own? To establish the label the company hired former Columbia Records president James B. Conkling; its founding directors of A&R were Harris Ashburn, George Avakian and Bob Prince.^[8] Conkling was an able administrator with extensive experience in the industry—he had been instrumental in launching the LP format at Columbia and had played a key role in establishing the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences the previous year.^[9] However, Conkling had decidedly middle-of-the-road musical tastes (he was married to Donna King of vocal trio the King Sisters) and was thus rather out of step with emerging trends in the industry, especially the fast-growing market for rock'n'roll music.^[10]

Warner Bros. Records opened for business on 19 March 1958; its original office was located above the film studio's machine shop at 3701 Warner Boulevard in Burbank, California.^[11] Its early album releases (1958–1960) were aimed at the upscale end of the mainstream audience, and Warner Bros. took an early (though largely unsuccessful) lead in recording stereo LPs that targeted the new "hi-fi" market. The catalogue in this period included:

• vocal albums by Warner contract players such as Tab Hunter, Edd Byrnes, Connie Stevens, Jack Webb and William Holden
• novelty/comedy albums by artists such as Spike Jones and Bob Newhart
• film soundtracks and collections of film and TV themes
• 'middle of the road' instrumental albums by artists including Matty Matlock, Buddy Cole, Henry Mancini, George Greeley, Warren Barker and "Ira Ironstrings" (a pseudonym for guitarist Alvino Rey, Conkling's brother-in-law, who was in fact under contract to Columbia Records at the time).

Some albums featured jokey or self-deprecating titles such as:

• Music for People with $3.98 (Plus Tax If Any),
• Terribly Sophisticated Songs: A Collection of Unpopular Songs for Popular People,
• Songs the Kids Brought Home from Camp
• Don't Put Your Empties on the Piano and
• But You've Never Heard Gershwin With Bongos.

Almost all were commercial failures;^[12] and the only charting album in Warner Bros.' first two years was Warren Barker's 'soundtrack' album for the studio's hit series 77 Sunset Strip, which reached #3 in 1959.^[13] Tab Hunter's "Jealous Heart" (WB 5008), which reached #62, was Warner Bros. only charting single during its first year.^[14]

Early Warner Bros. singles had distinctive red labels, with the WB logo to the side and a number of different-colored arrows surrounding and pointing at the center hole. The first hit was the novelty record "Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)", which reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was nominally performed by Warner contract actor Edd Byrnes, who played the wisecracking hipster character Gerald Lloyd "Kookie" Kookson III on Warner's TV detective series 77 Sunset Strip. The story behind the recording illustrates the sharp practices often employed by major recording companies. Actress and singer Connie Stevens (who appeared in the Warner TV series Hawaiian Eye) sang the song's chorus, but although her record contract entitled her to a 5 percent royalty rate, the label arbitrarily defined her contribution to be a favour to Byrnes and assigned her just 1% royalty on the song, despite the fact that, as she soon discovered, her name was being prominently displayed on the single's label. Warner Bros. also charged her for a share of the recording costs, which was to be recouped from her drastically reduced royalty. When Stevens scored her own hit single with "Sixteen Reasons" in 1960, Warner Bros. refused to allow her to perform it on Hawaiian Eye because it was not published by MPHC, and they also prevented her from singing it on The Ed Sullivan Show, thereby robbing her of nationwide promotion (and a $5000 appearance fee).^[15]

With only two hits to its credit in two years, the label was in serious financial trouble by 1960, having lost at least US$3 million^[15][16] and music historian Frederick Dannen reports that the only reason it was not closed down was because the Warner board was reluctant to write off the additional $2 million the label was owed in outstanding receivables and inventory. After a restructure, Conkling was obliged to report to Herman Starr, who still loathed the record business; he rejected a buyout offer by Conkling and a group of other record company employees but agreed to keep the label running in exchange for heavy cost-cutting—the staff was reduced from 100 to 30 and Conkling voluntarily cut his own pay from $1000 to $500.^[17]

Warner Bros. now turned to rock'n'roll acts in hopes of advancing its sales but their first signing, Bill Haley, was by then past his prime and failed to score any hits. The label was more fortunate with its next signing, The Everly Brothers, whom Warner Bros. secured after the end of their previous contract with Cadence Records. In an uncharacteristically bold move, Herman Starr effectively gambled the future of the company by approving what was reputed to be the first million-dollar contract in music history,^[18] which guaranteed the Everly Brothers $525,000 against an escalating royalty rate of up to 7 percent, well above the industry standard of the day.^[17] Luckily the Everlys' first Warner Bros. single, "Cathy's Clown" was a smash hit, going to #1 in the U.S. and selling more than eight million copies, and their debut Warner Bros. album It's Everly Time reached #9 on the album chart.

In 1959 Warner Bros. had signed rising standup comedian Bob Newhart, marking the beginning of the label's continuing involvement with comedy. Newhart provided the label's next major commercial breakthrough—in May 1960, three months after the success of "Cathy's Clown", Newhart's debut album The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart went straight to #1 in the U.S., staying at the top for fourteen weeks, charting for more than two years and selling more than 600,000 copies.^[17] Capping this commercial success, Newhart scored historic wins in three major categories at the 1961 1961 Grammy Awards -- he won Album of the Year for Button-Down Mind, his quickly released follow-up album, The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back (1960) won the Best Comedy Performance - Spoken Word category and Newhart himself won Best New Artist -- the first time in Grammy history that a comedy album had won 'Album of the Year', and the only time a comedian has won 'Best New Artist'.

New staff joined the label in late 1961—Jim Conkling retired in the fall of that year, selecting as his successor John K. (Mike) Maitland, a former Capitol executive, with Joe Smith appointed as head of promotions. Warner Bros. made another prescient signing in folk group Peter, Paul & Mary. The trio had been on the verge of signing with Atlantic Records, but before the deal could be completed they were poached by Warner Bros.. Artie Mogull (who worked for one of Warner Bros.' publishing companies, Witmark Music) had introduced their manager Albert Grossman to Herman Starr, and as a result the group signed a recording and publishing deal with Warner Bros.. Grossman's deal for the group broke new ground for recording artists—it included a substantial advance of $30,000 and, most significantly, it set a new benchmark for recording contracts by stipulating that the trio would have complete creative control over the recording and packaging of their music.^[19]

Soon after, Grossman and Mogull signed a publishing deal that gave Witmark one of its most lucrative clients -- Bob Dylan. Grossman bought out Dylan's previous contract with Leeds Music and signed the then unknown singer-songwriter to Witmark for an advance of $5000. Two years later in 1963, Peter, Paul and Mary scored two consecutive Top 10 hits with Dylan songs, launching Dylan's career, and this was followed by many more hits by artists covering Dylan's songs, alongside the growing commercial success of Dylan himself. Grossman benefited enormously from both deals, because he took a 25% commission as Dylan's manager, and he structured Dylan's publishing deal so that he received 50% of Witmark's share of Dylan's publishing income^[19] -- a tactic that was later emulated by other leading artist managers such as David Geffen.

Meanwhile, the label enjoyed further success with comedy recordings. Allan Sherman's LP My Son, the Folk Singer, which satirised the folk boom, became a huge hit, selling over a million copies. Bill Cosby broke through soon after and he continued the label's dream run with comedy LPs into the late 1960s, releasing a string of highly successful albums on Warner Bros. over the next six years, alongside his groundbreaking career as a TV actor.

The label's fortunes had finally turned around by 1962 thanks to the Everly Brothers, Newhart, Peter, Paul & Mary and Allan Sherman, and Warner Bros. Records ended the financial year 1961-62 in the black for the first time since its foundation.^[20]

Warner/Reprise 1963-67[link]

In August 1963 Warner Bros. made a "rescue takeover" of Frank Sinatra's ailing Reprise Records as part of a deal to acquire Sinatra's services as a recording artist and as an actor for Warner Bros. Pictures. The total deal was valued at around US$10 million and it gave Sinatra a one-third share in the combined record company and a seat on the Warner-Reprise board; Warner Bros. records head Mike Maitland became the president of the new combine and Mo Ostin was retained as manager of the Reprise label.^[17][21]

Reprise was heavily in debt at the time of the takeover, and the Warner Records management team was reportedly dismayed at their balance sheet being pushed back into the red by the acquisition, but they were given no choice in the matter—Ben Kalmenson, a Warner Bros. company director and close aide to Jack Warner, summoned the label's directors to a meeting in New York and explicitly told them that both he and Warner wanted the deal and that they expected them to vote in favor of it.^[22]

Despite these misgivings, the purchase ultimately proved very beneficial to the Warner group. Reprise flourished in the late 1960s thanks to Sinatra's famous "comeback" and the hits by Sinatra and his daughter Nancy, and the label also secured the U.S. distribution rights to the recordings of Jimi Hendrix. Most importantly for the future of the company, the merger brought Reprise manager Mo Ostin into the Warner fold and "his ultimate value to Warner Bros. would dwarf Sinatra's".^[23] Ostin's business and musical instincts and his rapport with artists were to prove crucial to the success of the Warner labels over the next two decades.

In 1964, Warner Bros. would start Loma Records, which was meant to focus on R&B acts. The label, run by former King Records promotion man Bob Krasnow, would release over 100 singles and five albums, but saw only limited success and was wound down in 1968.^[24]

An important addition to the Warner Bros. staff in this period was Ed Thrasher who moved from Columbia Records in 1964 to become Warner-Reprise head art director. Among his credits for the Warner family of labels were the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s Are You Experienced, Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, the Grateful Dead’s Anthem of the Sun, the Doobie Brothers’ Toulouse Street, Tiny Tim’s God Bless Tiny Tim and Joni Mitchell's Clouds, which started a trend for musicians to create the art for their own records. In 1973, when Frank Sinatra emerged from retirement with his comeback album, Thrasher shot candid photographs for the cover and also devised the album title Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back, which was widely used to promote Sinatra’s return to recording and touring. Besides his work on album covers, Thrasher art-directed many of Warner Bros. ads and posters from 1964 to 1979.^[25]

In 1964, Warner Bros. successfully negotiated with French label Disques Vogue and Warner Bros.' British distributor Pye Records for the rights to distribute Petula Clark's recordings in the US. Clark soon scored a #1 US hit with "Downtown" and she enjoyed consistent chart success in the USA over the next four years with hits such as "My Love", "I Know A Place", "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love", "This Is My Song" and "Don't Sleep In The Subway". Warner also released other Pye artists in the U.S. market such as The Kinks.

Another significant development in the label's history came in 1966 when Ostin hired young independent producer Lenny Waronker as an A&R manager, beginning a strong and enduring mentor/protege relationship between the two. Waronker, the son of Liberty Records founder Simon Waronker, had previously worked as an assistant to Liberty producer Snuff Garrett.^[26] Later he worked with the small Los Angeles label Autumn Records, founded by disc jockeys Tom Donahue, Bobby Mitchell and Sylvester Stewart (who later became famous as Sly Stone). Waronker had been hired as a freelance producer for some of Autumn's acts including The Tikis (who later became Harpers Bizarre), The Beau Brummels and The Mojo Men and for these recording sessions he brought in several musician friends who were then becoming established on the L.A. music scene—pianists Randy Newman (a childhood friend), Leon Russell and Van Dyke Parks. Together they became the foundation of the creative circle that centred on Waronker at Warner Bros. and which, with Ostin's continuing support, became the catalyst for Warner Records' subsequent success as a rock music label.^[27] Initially, Waronker looked after the acts that Warner Bros. took over when they bought Autumn Records for $10,000, but during the year he also avidly pursued rising Los Angeles band Buffalo Springfield although, much to his and Ostin's chagrin, the band was ultimately signed by Atlantic Records, which was soon to be purchased by Warner Bros. Records.

In 1967 Warner Bros. took over Valiant Records, and this added harmony pop group The Association to the Warner roster.^[28] During the year the label also took its first tentative step into the burgeoning rock market, signing leading San Francisco psychedelic rock group The Grateful Dead. Warner Bros. threw the band a release party at the Fugazi Hall in San Francisco's North Beach. During the concert Warner A&R manager Joe Smith took the stage and announced "I just want to say what an honor it is to be able to introduce The Grateful Dead and its music and its music to the world", which prompted a cynical Jerry Garcia to quip in reply: "I just want to say what an honor it is for The Grateful Dead to introduce Warner Bros. Records to the world."^[29]

Also in 1967, Warner/Reprise established its Canadian operation Warner Reprise Canada Ltd replacing its distribution deal with the Compo Company. This was the origin of Warner Music Canada.^[30]

1967-1969: Warner-Seven Arts[link]

In November 1966 the entire Warner group was taken over by and merged with Seven Arts Productions, a New York-based company owned by Elliot Hyman. Seven Arts specialized in syndicating old movies and cartoons to TV and had independently produced a number of significant feature films for other studios, including Stanley Kubrick's Lolita, as well as forging a successful production partnership with noted British studio Hammer Films. Hyman's purchase of Jack Warner's controlling share of the Warner group for US$32 million stunned the film world—Warner Records executive Joe Smith later quipped that it was

The newly merged group was renamed Warner Bros.-Seven Arts (often referred to in the trade press by the abbreviation it adopted for its new logo, "W7"). Although Warner Bros. Pictures was faltering, the purchase coincided with a period of tremendous growth in the music industry and Warner-Reprise was now on its way to becoming a major player in the industry. Hyman's investment banker Alan Hirshfeld, of Charles Allen and Company, urged him to expand the company's record holdings and arranged a meeting with Jerry Wexler and Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun, co-owners of leading independent label Atlantic Records, which eventually resulted in the purchase of Atlantic in 1968.

In June 1967 Mo Ostin attended the historic Monterey International Pop Festival, where The Association performed the opening set. Ostin had already acquired the US rights to the Jimi Hendrix Experience recordings, sight unseen, but he was reportedly unimpressed by Hendrix's now-famous performance. During his visit he met Andy Wickham, who had come to Monterey as an assistant to festival promoter Lou Adler. Wickham had worked as a commercial artist in London, followed by a stint with Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate Records before moving to Los Angeles to work for Adler's Dunhill label. Ostin initially hired Wickham as Warner's "house hippie" on a generous retainer of $200 per week. Hanging out around Laurel Canyon, Wickham scouted for new talent and established a rapport with the young musicians WBR was seeking to sign. Like Lenny Waronker, Wickham's youth, intelligence and hip attitude allowed him to bridge the 'generation gap between these young performers and the older Warner 'establishment'.^[32] He played a major role in signing Eric Andersen, Jethro Tull and Van Morrison and Joni Mitchell (who signed to Reprise), whom Wickham successfully recommended to Ostin in his first week with the company.^[33] Over the next thirty years Wickham became one of WBR's most influential A&R managers, signing such notable acts as Emmylou Harris, Buck Owens and Norwegian pop trio a-ha.

During this formative period WBR made several other notable new signings including Randy Newman and Van Dyke Parks. Newman would not make his commercial breakthrough until the mid-1970s but he achieved a high profile in the industry thanks to songs he wrote that were covered by other acts like Three Dog Night and Alan Price. Although Warner Bros. spent large sums on albums that sold poorly, and there were some missteps in its promotion strategy, the presence of unorthodox acts like the Dead and critically acclaimed 'cult' performers like Newman and Parks, combined with the artistic freedom that the label afforded them, proved significant in building Warner Bros' reputation and credibility. Bob Krasnow, who briefly headed Warner Bros.' short-lived 'black' label Loma Records later commented that the Dead " .... were really the springboard. People said 'Wow, if they'll sign the Dead, they must be going in the right direction.'"^[34]

Although not widely known to the general public at that time, Van Dyke Parks was a figure of high repute on the L.A. music scene thanks to his work as a session musician and songwriter (notably with The Byrds and Harper's Bizarre) and especially because of his renowned collaboration with Brian Wilson on the legendary unreleased Beach Boys album Smile. In 1967 Lenny Waronker produced Parks' Warner debut album Song Cycle, which reportedly cost more than $35,000 to record, making it one of the most expensive 'pop' albums ever made up to that time. It sold very poorly despite rave critical reviews, so publicist Stan Cornyn (who had helped the label to sign The Grateful Dead) wrote an infamous tongue-in-cheek advertisement to promote it. The ad cheekily declared that the label had "lost $35,509 on 'the album of the year' (dammit)", suggested that those who had purchased the album had probably worn their copies out by playing it over and over, and made the offer that listeners could send these supposedly worn-out copies back to Warner Bros, who would exchange it for two new copies, including one "to educate a friend with". Incensed by the tactic, Parks accused Cornyn of trying to kill his career. Cornyn encountered similar problems with Joni Mitchell—he penned an advertisement that was meant to convey the message that Mitchell was yet to achieve significant market penetration, but the tag-line -- "Joni Mitchell is 90% Virgin" -- reportedly reduced Mitchell to tears and Cornyn had to withdraw it from publication.^[35]

Warner Bros. also struggled with their flagship rock act The Grateful Dead who, like Peter, Paul & Mary, had negotiated complete artistic control over the recording and packaging of their music.^[34] Their debut album had been recorded in just four days, and although it was not a major hit, it cracked the US Top 50 album chart and sold steadily, eventually going gold in 1971. For their second album, the Dead took a far more experimental approach, embarking on a marathon series of recording sessions lasting seven months, from September 1967 to March 1968. They started the album with David Hassinger, who had produced their first album, but he quit the project in frustration in December 1967 while they were recording in New York City (although he is co-credited with band on the album). The group and their concert sound engineer Dan Healy then took over production of the album themselves, taking the unusual step of intermixing studio material with multitrack recordings of their concerts. Anthem of the Sun proved to be the least successful of the Grateful Dead's 1960s albums—it sold poorly, the extended sessions put the band more than $100,000 in debt to the label,^[35] and Warner Bros. executive Joe Smith later described it as "the most unreasonable project with which we have ever involved ourselves".^[36]

The Dead's relationship with Warner Bros. Records was stretched even further by the making of their third album Aoxomoxoa (1969), which also took around seven months to record and cost $180,000, almost twice as much as its predecessor. It sold poorly and took almost thirty years to be accredited with Gold Record status.^[37] There were further difficulties in 1969 when the band presented Warner Bros. with a planned live double-album that they wanted to call Skull Fuck, but Ostin handled the matter diplomatically. Rather than refusing point-blank to release it, he reminded the Dead that they were heavily in debt to WBR and would not see any royalties until this had been repaid; he also pointed out that the provocative title would inevitably hurt sales because major retailers like Sears would refuse to stock it. Realizing that this would reduce their income, the band voluntarily changed the title to Live/Dead.^[34]

Some of Warner Bros.' biggest commercial successes during this period were with "Sunshine Pop" acts. Harpers Bizarre scored a #13 Billboard hit in April 1967 with their version of Simon & Garfunkel's "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)"^[38] and a month later The Association scored a US #1 with "Windy" and they reached #8 on the album chart with their first WBR album Insight Out. Their next single "Never My Love" also topped the charts in autumn 1967 (#2 Billboard, #1 Cashbox) and now ranks as one of the most successful of all Warner Bros. recordings—it became a radio staple and is now accredited by BMI as the second most-played song on US radio in the 20th century, surpassing both "Yesterday" by The Beatles and "Stand by Me" by Ben E. King.^[39] The group's 1968 Greatest Hits album was also a major hit, reaching #4 on the US album chart. In 1968 Mason Williams' instrumental composition "Classical Gas" reached #2 on the Billboard chart, selling more than a million copies, and Williams won three Grammys that year.

Another notable Warner release from this period was Astral Weeks, the second solo album by Van Morrison (his first was on Bang), who signed with the label in 1968. Although it sold relatively poorly on its first release (and did not reach gold record status until 2001) it has been widely acclaimed by musicians and critics worldwide, has featured prominently on many "Best Albums of All Time" lists^[40] and has remained in release almost continuously since 1968.

During 1968, using the profits from Warner/Reprise, W7 purchased Atlantic Records for $17.5 million, including the label's valuable archive, its growing roster of new artists and the services of its three renowned executives, Jerry Wexler, Nesuhi Ertegun and Ahmet Ertegun. However, the purchase again caused rancour among the Warner/Reprise management, who were upset that their hard-won profits had been co-opted to buy Atlantic, and that Atlantic's executives were made large shareholders in Warner-Seven Arts—the deal gave the Ertegun brothers and Wexler between them 66,000 shares of Warner Bros.' common stock.^[41]

On 1 June 1968 Billboard announced that WBR's star comedy performer Bill Cosby had turned down a five-year, US$3.5 million contract renewal offer and would leave the label in August that year to record for his own Tetragrammaton Records label.^[42] Just over one month later (July 13) Billboard reported on a major re-organization of the entire Warner-Seven Arts music division. Mike Maitland was promoted to Executive Vice-President of both the recorded music and publishing operations, and George Lee took over from Victor Blau as operational head of the recording division. The restructure also reversed the reporting arrangement put in place in 1960 and from this point the Warner publishing arm reported to the record division under Maitland. The Billboard article also noted the enormous growth and vital significance of W7's music operations, which were by then providing most of Warner-Seven Arts' revenue—during the first nine months of that fiscal year, the recording and publishing divisions generated 74% of the corporation's total profit, with the publishing division alone accounting for over US$2 million of ASCAPs collections from music users.^[43]

1969-71: Kinney takeover[link]

In 1969 Warner-Seven Arts was taken over by the Kinney National Company, headed by New York businessman Steve J. Ross, who would successfully lead the Warner group of companies until his death in 1992. The US$400 million deal created a new conglomerate that combined the Warner film, recording and music publishing divisions with Kinney's multi-faceted holdings. Ross had started the company in the late 1950s while working in his family's funeral business—seeing the opportunity to use the company's cars, which were idle at night, he founded a successful hire car operation, which he later merged with the Kinney parking garage company. Ross took the company public in 1962 and from this base it expanded rapidly between 1966 and 1968, merging with National Cleaning Services in 1966 to form the Kinney National Company,^[44] and then acquiring a string of companies that would prove of enormous value to the Warner group in the years ahead -- National Periodical Publications (which included DC Comics and All American Comics), the Ashley-Famous talent agency and Panavision.^[45]

In the summer of 1969 Atlantic Records agreed to assist Warner Bros. Records in establishing overseas divisions but when Warner executive Phil Rose arrived in Australia to begin setting up an Australian subsidiary, he discovered that just one week earlier Atlantic had signed a new four-year production and distribution deal with local label Festival Records, without informing WBR.

During 1969 the rivalry between Mike Maitland and Ahmet Ertegun quickly escalated into an all-out executive battle, but Steve Ross favoured Ertegun and the conflict culminated in Maitland being dismissed from his position on 25 January 1970. He declined an offer of a job with Warner Bros. Pictures and left the company, subsequently becoming president of MCA Records. Mo Ostin was appointed as president of Warner Bros. Records with Joe Smith as executive vice-president.^[46]

1970-1979: The Ostin Era[link]

By 1970, "Seven Arts" was dropped from the company name and the WB shield became the Warner Bros. Records logo again. During 1971 a financial scandal in its parking operations forced Kinney National to spin off its non-entertainment assets, and the Warner recording, publishing and film divisions then became part of a new umbrella company, Warner Communications Inc..

In July 1970 the Warner recording group acquired another prestige asset with the purchase of Jac Holzman's Elektra Records for US$10 million. With three co-owned record companies, the next step was formation of the group's in-house distribution arm, initially called Kinney Records Distributing Corporation, to better control distribution of product and make sure records by breaking new acts are available.^[47]

Beginning in 1967 with the signing of The Grateful Dead, Warner Bros. Records steadily built up a diverse and prestigious lineup of rock and pop artists through the 1970s. Under the guidance of Edward West, Vice-President of Warner Bros. Records Inc in 1973 and its executives, A&R managers and staff producers, including Mo Ostin, Stan Cornyn, Lenny Waronker, Andy Wickham, Russ Titelman and ex-Warner Bros. recording artist (with Harpers Bizarre) Ted Templeman, sales grew streadily throughout the 1970s and by the end of the decade it had become one of the world's leading rock labels, with a star-studded roster that included Curved Air, Fleetwood Mac, James Taylor, Van Morrison, America, Alice Cooper, Van Halen, The Doobie Brothers, Little Feat, Bonnie Raitt, Seals & Crofts, Labelle and Rickie Lee Jones. This was augmented by lucrative licencing deals with American and international labels including Sire, Vertigo and Island Records (1975–1982) that gave WBR the American distribution rights for leading British and European rock acts including Deep Purple, Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath, Roxy Music, King Crimson and Kraftwerk. Aided by the growth of FM radio and the album oriented rock format, LPs became the primary vehicle of Warner Bros. sales successes throughout the 1970s, although artists such as the Doobie Brothers and America also scored many major US and international hit singles.

One of the first Warner Bros. albums to achieve both critical and commercial success in the early 1970s was Van Morrison's third solo LP Moondance (January 1970) which consolidated his distinctive blend of rock, jazz and R&B, earned glowing critical praise and sold well—it made the Top 40 album chart in both the US and the UK, the single "Come Running" was a US Top 40 hit (#39, Billboard) and the title track became a radio perennial. Like Astral Weeks, the LP still features prominently in many "Best Albums of All Time" listings^[48] and 40 years after its release it still ranks in the Top 20 in three major album sales categories on Amazon.com.^[49]

British group Black Sabbath were signed to Philips Records' progressive subsidiary Vertigo, which Warner Bros. Records distributed in the USA; Deep Purple were originally signed in the USA to the independent Tetragrammaton Records, which was distributed by Warner Bros., who acquired the label after it folded in 1970. Black Sabbath's eponymous debut album (recorded in just two days) reached #8 on the UK album chart, and #23 on the Billboard 200, where it remained for over a year,^[50][51] selling strongly despite some negative reviews.^[52] It has since been certified platinum in the US by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and in the UK by British Phonographic Industry (BPI).^[53][54] Sabbath's second album was to have been called War Pigs, but Warner Bros. Records changed the title to Paranoid fearing a backlash by consumers. It was a Top 10 hit on the US album chart in 1971, and went on to sell four million copies in the US alone^[55] with virtually no radio airplay.^[51]

In 1971 UK-based pop rock trio America were signed to the recently established British division of Warner Bros. Their debut album, released late in the year, at first enjoyed only moderate success, but in early 1972 their single "A Horse With No Name" became a major international hit, reaching #1 in the US. Warner hastily reissued the album with the song included and it too became a huge hit, reaching #1 on the US album chart and eventually earning a platinum record award. Although criticised for their similarity to Neil Young (indeed, rumours circulated around Hollywood that Young had cut the track anonymously^[56]), America scored five more US Top 10 singles over the next three years, including a second US #1 with "Sister Golden Hair" in 1975. Their albums performed very strongly in the charts—each of their first seven LPs were US Top 40 albums, five of these made the Top 10 and all but one (Hat Trick, 1973) achieved either gold or platinum status. Their 1975 Greatest Hits album became a perennial seller and is now accredited at 4x platinum.

In 1972, Dionne Warwick was signed to Warner Bros. Records after leaving Scepter Records in what was the biggest contract at the time for a female recording artist, although her five years at Warner Bros. were relatively unsuccessful in comparison to her spectacular hit-making tenure at Scepter.

After a slow start The Doobie Brothers proved to be one of Warner Bros.' most successful signings. Their debut album made little impact but their second album Toulouse Street (1972) reached #21 and spawned two US Top 40 singles, "Listen to the Music" and "Jesus is Just Alright", inaugurating a string of hit albums and singles over the next five years. Their third album The Captain and Me was even more successful, reaching #7 in the US and producing two more hit singles, "China Grove" (#15) and "Long Train Runnin'" (#8); it became a consistent seller and is now accredited 2x Platinum by the RIAA. What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits (1974) reached #4 and produced two more hits including their first US #1 single "Black Water" (1975). Stampede also reached #4, and producing another hit single with the Motown cover "Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)" (US #11).

Warner Bros. Records' reputation for nurturing new artists was demonstrated by the career of Alice Cooper (originally the name of the band, but later taken over as the stage name / persona of singer and main songwriter Vince Furnier). The Alice Cooper band recorded two unsuccessful albums for Frank Zappa's Warner-distributed label Straight Records before teaming with producer Bob Ezrin, who became a longtime collaborator. Their third LP Love it to Death (originally released on Straight and later reissued on Warner Bros.) reached #35 on the Billboard album chart and produced the hit single "I'm Eighteen", which reached #21. Following the runaway success of their 1971 European tour Warner Bros. Records offered the band a multi-album contract; their first Warner Bros. album Killer sold well, with the single "Halo of Flies" making the Top 10 in the Netherlands, but it was their next album School's Out (1972) that really put them on the map. The title song was a Top 10 hit in the US, reached #1 in the UK and became a radio staple, and the album went to #2 in the USA and sold more than a million copies. Billion Dollar Babies (1973) became their biggest success, going to #1 in both the US and the UK. The follow-up Muscle of Love (1973) was less successful, although the single "Teenage Lament '74" was a Top 20 hit in the UK. Furnier split from the band in 1974 and signed to Warner Bros.' sister label Atlantic as a solo artist, scoring further success with his solo albums and singles.

In 1973 Frank Zappa and manager Herb Cohen closed the Straight and Bizarre labels and established a new imprint, DiscReet Records, retaining their distribution deal with Warner Bros. Zappa's next album Apostrophe (') (1973) became the biggest commercial success of his career, reaching #10 on the Billboard album chart, and the single "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow" was a minor hit and (at the time) his only single to make the Hot 100 chart. Zappa also enjoyed moderate commercial success with the live double LP Roxy and Elsewhere (1974) and his next studio LP One Size Fits All (1975), both of which reached the Top 30 on the Billboard album chart.

WBR introduced a new label design for its LPs and singles in mid-1973. This design, which WBR would use until mid-1978, featured a multi-coloured, idealised view of a Burbank street lined by palms and eucalypts, and titled with the slogan "Burbank, Home of Warner Bros. Records".

After several years as a 'cult' artist, Randy Newman achieved his first significant commercial success as a solo artist with his 1974 album Good Old Boys which made the Top 40. His controversial 1977 single "Short People" was one of the surprise hits of the year, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. On October 12, 1974 WBR and Phil Spector established Warner-Spector Records, but the label was short-lived and folded in 1977; most of its releases were reissues Philles Records recordings from the 1960s and the only new material released was two singles by the disco group Calhoon^[57] and a single by Cher.^[58]

In 1975 Joe Smith was promoted to become President of the combined Elektra/Asylum label. At this time Warner Bros. began to wind down the Reprise label.^[59] In 1976-77 almost all Reprise acts, including Fleetwood Mac, Gordon Lightfoot, Ry Cooder and Michael Franks were transferred to Warner Bros, leaving only Neil Young (who refused to move) and founder Frank Sinatra. Apart from these artists and some reissues, the Reprise label was dormant until it was reactivated in 1986 with the issue of The Dream Academy's single "The Love Parade" on Reprise 28750.

By far the most successful of the Reprise acts who moved to Warner Bros. was Fleetwood Mac, whose massive success firmly established Warner Bros. in the front rank of major labels—although few would have predicted it from the band's tumultuous history. Between 1970 and 1975 there were multiple lineup changes (with only two original members remaining by 1974), their album sales declined drastically, and a legal battle over the group's name kept them off the road for over a year. However, just as Fleetwood Mac was switching labels in 1975, it was re-invigorated by the recruitment of new members Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. The 'new' Fleetwood Mac scored a string of US and international hits and their self-titled Warner Bros. debut album was a huge success, reaching #1 in the US, charting for more than 30 weeks and selling more than 5 million copies. In 1977 their now-legendary Rumours took both group and label to even greater heights—it generated a string of international hit singles and became the most successful album in the label's history; it is currently ranked the 11th biggest selling album of all time and as of 2009 was estimated to have sold than 40 million copies.^[60]

After a string of albums with The Faces and as a solo artist for Mercury Records in the early 1970s, British singer Rod Stewart signed with Warner Bros. in 1974, applied for American citizenship and moved to the USA. Launching a sustained run of success, his Warner debut album Atlantic Crossing (1975) was a major international success, reaching #9 on the Billboard album chart and #1 in Australia, and the single "I Don't Want to Talk About It" went to #1 in the UK. His second WBR album A Night on the Town (1976) went to #2 in the USA and #1 in Australia and produced three US Top 40 singles, including his first US #1 "Tonight's the Night". Foot Loose & Fancy Free (1977) reached #2 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart and #1 in Australia and again produced three US Top 40 singles, including "You're In My Heart", which reached #4. Blondes Have More Fun (1978) went to #1 in the USA and Australia, and produced two more Top 40 singles including his second US #1, "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" (although Stewart and co-writer Carmine Appice were later successfully sued for plagiarizing the song's catchy melody hook from "Taj Mahal" by Brazilian songwriter Jorge Ben). Stewart's Greatest Hits collection (1979) went to #1 in the UK and Australia, giving the singer a record-breaking five consecutive #1 albums in the latter country.

Warner Bros. Records also had unexpected success in the mid-70s with another 'heritage' act, veteran vocal group The Four Seasons. In early 1975 they signed with Curb Records (which was distributed by WBR) just as lead singer Frankie Valli scored a surprise hit with his independently released solo single "My Eyes Adored You". Soon after, Valli and the Four Seasons burst back onto the charts with the disco-styled "Who Loves You", which reached #3 in the US and sold more than a million copies, and the album Who Loves You sold more than 1 million copies. Their next single "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" topped the charts in both Britain and the US in early 1976, becoming the group's first US #1 since 1967. A remixed version was a hit again in 1994 and its total of 54 weeks in charts gives it the longest tenure of any song on the Billboard Hot 100.

By the time of The Doobie Brothers 1976 album Takin' It to the Streets founding member Tom Johnston had effectively left the band and he was replaced by former Steely Dan session man Michael McDonald, whose distinctive voice helped to propel the group to even greater success. The new album sold strongly, reaching #8 in the US, and the title track reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming a perennial on radio playlists. Warner Bros. also released the massively successful Best of the Doobies (1976), which has become one of the biggest-selling albums of all time and is currently accredited at 10x Platinum status. 1978's Minute by Minute marked the peak of their career—both the album and its lead single "What A Fool Believes" went to #1 in the US and the album's title track also made the US Top 20, although it was their last album with founding drummer John Hartman and longserving guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter.

During the late 1970s Warner Bros.' reputation as an "artists first" label was challenged by a bitter and long-running dispute with Frank Zappa. In 1976 Zappa's relationship with manager Herb Cohen ended in litigation. For Zoot Allures Zappa took his own copy of the master directly to Warner Bros. Records, who agreed to release the album, therefore bypassing Cohen and DiscReet. However, Warner Bros. changed their position following legal action from Cohen. Zappa was then obligated to deliver four more albums to Warner Bros. for release on DiscReet. Zappa sequenced a double live album and three studio albums, but Warner Bros. objected to some or all of these recordings and refused to reimburse Zappa for production costs as required by the DiscReet distribution contract. Zappa then re-edited the material into a 4-LP set called Läther (pronounced 'leather'). Zappa made a deal with Phonogram and scheduled the release of Läther for Halloween 1977. However, Warner Bros. threatened legal action and this forced Zappa to shelve the project. Infuriated, Zappa hosted a broadcast on KROQ-FM in Pasadena, California and played the entire Läther album. Zappa repeatedly criticized Warner Bros. and openly encouraged listeners to record the broadcast. Warner Bros. took further legal action against Zappa, preventing him from issuing material for over a year. During 1978 and 1979 Warner Bros. issued the disputed material as Zappa in New York (an edited and censored version of the original 1977 live double album), Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt and Orchestral Favorites. Zappa eventually won the rights to his Straight, Bizarre, DiscReet and Warner Bros. material, but remained trenchantly critical of his treatment by Warner Bros. for the rest of his life. Zappa's recordings were subsequently reissued on CD by Rykodisc, including Läther, which appeared posthumously in 1996.

Ry Cooder's first Warner Bros. release was the 1977 live album Showtime and he remained with the label until his contract expired in the late 1980s. His 1979 album Bop 'Til You Drop is notable the first major-label rock recording to be digitally recorded and it became the best-selling album of his career.

Thanks to its distribution deal with Curb Records, WBR scored the biggest hit single in the company's history in 1977. The ballad "You Light Up My Life" (written and produced by Joe Brooks) was originally recorded by the late Kasey Cisyk for the soundtrack to the film of the same name, in which actress Didi Conn lip-synched to Cisyk's recording. Teenager Debby Boone (daughter of actor-singer Pat Boone) was recruited to record a new version for single release, and this became a massive success, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for a record-setting ten consecutive weeks and earning a Platinum certification from the RIAA. It became the most successful single of the 1970s in the United States, setting what was then a new record for longest run at #1 in the US and surpassing Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog". Boone's success also earned her Grammy nominations for "Best Pop Vocal Performance Female" and "Record of the Year" and won her the 1977 Grammy for "Best New Artist" and the 1977 American Music Award for "Favorite Pop Single". The song also earned Joe Brooks the 1977 "Song of the Year" Grammy (tied with "Love Theme from "A Star Is Born" (Evergreen)") as well as "Best Original Song" at both the 1977 Golden Globe and Academy Awards. The single currently ranks at #7 on the Billboard All Time Hot 100.

Throughout the 1970s Warner Bros. also benefited from its US/Canada distribution deals with independent labels such as Straight Records, DiscReet Records, UK labels Chrysalis (1972–1976) and Island (1974–1982),^[61] Bizarre Records, Bearsville Records (1970–1984)^[61] and Geffen Records (which was sold to MCA in 1990).^[61]

Although primarily associated with mainstream 'white' acts in the Seventies, Warner Bros.' distribution deals with smaller labels also brought it some success in the disco, soul and funk genres in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Among the imprints it distributed that were notable in these fields were Seymour Stein's Sire Records (which Warner Bros. soon purchased), Curtis Mayfield's Curtom, Norman Whitfield's Whitfield Records, Quincy Jones' Qwest, Prince's Paisley Park, RFC Records (formed in December 1978 when Ray Caviano became the executive director of Warner's disco division), Tom Silverman's Tommy Boy Records (another label Warner Bros. eventually took over).^[61]

Until the late 1970s Warner Bros. itself still had very few African American music artists on its roster, but this began to change during with the singing of artists such as George Benson and Prince. Benson had risen to prominence in jazz in the 1960s but was still relatively little-known by the general public. However, his move to Warner Bros. in 1976 and the teaming with producer Tommy LiPuma enabled him to straddle genres and made him a popular and highly successful mainstream R&B and pop artist. His first Warner Bros. LP Breezin' (1976) became one of the most successful jazz albums of the decade and a major 'crossover' hit—it topped the American Pop, R&B and Jazz album charts and produced two hit singles, the title track (which became a jazz standard and a radio favourite) and "This Masquerade," which was a Top 10 pop and R&B hit. Benson enjoyed enormous success with his subsequent Warner albums. All of his Warner LPs made the Top 20 on the US jazz album chart and beginning with Breezin', he scored seven consecutive US #1 jazz albums; the first five of these were also Top 20 hits on both the Pop and R&B charts. His live version of Leiber & Stoller's "On Broadway" (from his 1978 live album Weekend in L.A.) outcharted the original version by The Drifters, reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, and gained further exposure thanks to its memorable use in the famous audition sequence in Bob Fosse's 1979 film All That Jazz. Benson's most successful single "Give Me The Night" (1980) became his first US #1 R&B hit, reached #4 on the Pop chart and also reached #2 on the Hot Disco Singles chart.

Precocious young Minneapolis-based singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Prince signed to Warner Bros. in 1977. His first album For You made little impact, although the single "Soft and Wet" reached #12 on the Billboard R&B chart. However, his second (self-titled) album (1979) fared considerably better, reaching #3 on the R&B album chart and earning a gold record award; the first single lifted from the album, "I Wanna Be Your Lover" became Prince's first crossover hit, reaching #1 on the R&B chart and #11 on the main pop chart, while the follow-up single "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" reached #13 on the R&B chart. Although he was still little known outside the USA at this stage, this early success set the stage for his major commercial breakthrough in the 1980s.

Another valuable late '70s discovery was metal-pop band Van Halen, who were spotted at a Hollywood club by Mo Ostin and Ted Templeman in 1977. Their self-titled debut album was a notable success, reaching #19 on the Billboard album chart, and their second album Van Halen II (1979) reached #6 and produced their first hit single "Dance the Night Away" (#19).

Warner Bros. also began to tentatively embrace the burgeoning New Wave movement in the late 1970s, signing cult alternative bands Devo and The B-52s. A crucial acquisition in this field—and one which would soon proved to be of enormous importance to the company—was the New York-based Sire Records, founded in 1966 by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer. Warner Bros. took over Sire's distribution from ABC Records in 1977 and bought the label in 1978, retaining Stein as its president. The addition of the Sire roster gave Warner Bros. an important foothold in this area (indeed, Stein is often credited with naming the genre to replace the term "punk", which he disliked); its American signings included The Ramones, The Dead Boys, and Talking Heads and most importantly of all, Madonna, who soon became the most successful female artist in music history, earning billions for Warner. Sire's distribution deals with British independent labels including Mute, Rough Trade, Korova and Fiction gave WEA the American rights to important UK-based New Wave bands including Depeche Mode, The Smiths, The Beat, Madness, Echo & the Bunnymen and The Cure. Into the 1990s, the label had continued success with Seal, k.d. lang, Tommy Page, Ice-T and Ministry.

In the late '70s Warner Bros. also scored mainstream pop hits with singer/actor Shaun Cassidy -- his version of "Da Doo Ron Ron" went to #1 in the US in 1977, his next two singles (both penned by Eric Carmen) were US Top 10 hits and Cassidy was nominated for a Grammy award. As the decade drew to a close there were more breakthroughs with new acts. Rickie Lee Jones' self-titled debut album went to #3 in the US, #1 in Australia and #18 in the UK and produced two hit singles, "Chuck E's in Love" (US #4) and "Young Blood" (US #40). Thanks to its American distribution deal with Vertigo, British group Dire Straits provided another sustained run of hit albums and singles in the late 1970s and 1980s. Their eponymous debut album (1978) was a surprise international hit, going to #2 in the USA and earning a gold record award from the RIAA, while the single "Sultans of Swing" went to #4 in the US. Their second album Communiqué (1979) made the Top 20 in many countries and earned another gold record award in the U.S. WBR also enjoyed renewed success with comedy recordings in this period, transferring Richard Pryor from Reprise and signing rising star Steve Martin, whose second Warner album A Wild and Crazy Guy (1978) became one of the label's biggest comedy hits—it reached #2 on the pop album chart, won the 1979 Grammy for 'Best Comedy Album', and Martin's novelty single "King Tut" was a US Top 20 hit.

1980–1988[link]

The 1980s was a period of unprecedented success for Warner Bros. Records. The golden decade began with the success of singer-songwriter Christopher Cross, whose self-titled debut album went to #6 in the US and produced four charting singles, including the #1 hit "Sailing". He also won five major categories at the 1981 Grammy Awards, becoming the only solo artist to date to win the "Big Four" awards in one year (Record, Song and Album of the Year, and Best New Artist) while his performance of "Arthur's Theme" from the Dudley Moore film Arthur, which also went to #1, won both the Oscar and the Golden Globe award for Best Original Song.

Warner Bros. scored an apparent coup in 1980 by luring Paul Simon away from Columbia Records. His first Warner album was One Trick Pony (1980), which accompanied the movie of the same name, which Simon wrote and starred in. The single "Late in the Evening" was a major hit (#6) but the album was not a big seller. His next album Hearts and Bones (1983) was well received by critics but neither it nor the lead single "Allergies" made the chart and Simon's career took a nosedive and it was several more years before the label's patience eventually paid off.

After two moderate-selling albums that established them as one of the most original American New Wave bands of the period, DEVO broke through to mainstream success in 1980 with their third album Freedom of Choice which reached #22 in the US. Thanks to its quirky music video, which was put on high rotation on MTV, the single "Whip It" reached #14 on the Billboard pop chart, becoming the group's biggest American hit. Their follow-up EP DEV-O Live (1981) was a surprise hit in Australia, topping the singles chart there for three weeks, but their subsequent albums and singles suffered from declining sales and the group was eventually dropped by the label after their 1984 album Shout.

Prince's 1980 album Dirty Mind was widely praised by critics, earning a gold record award, but his 1982 double-LP 1999 (1982) became his first major hit album, selling over three million copies^[62] and spawning three hit singles. The title track reached #12 in the US and provided his first international hit (#25 UK) and his next two singles, "Little Red Corvette" and "Delirious", were both US Top 10 hits.

Chicago were picked up by Warner Bros. in 1981 after being dropped by their former label Columbia, who believed the band was no longer commercially viable. After teaming with producer David Foster, they shot back into the charts in 1982 with the album Chicago 16, which reached #9 and produced two hit singles including the US #1 hit "Hard To Say I'm Sorry". Their second Warner album, Chicago 17, became the biggest seller of their career—it reached #4 in the US and produced four US Top 20 singles including the Top 5 hits "Hard Habit to Break" (#3) and "You're the Inspiration" (#3) and is currently accredited at 6× Platinum. Lead singer Peter Cetera left the group after this album but had continued success as a solo artist for Warner, scoring a #1 hit in 1986 with "The Glory of Love" (from the movie The Karate Kid), which also won a Grammy Award. His second solo album sold more than a million copies and produced another #1 hit, "The Next Time I Fall". His third solo album produced the Top 5 hit "One Good Woman" (1988) and "After All" reached #6.

After the end of his contract with RSO Records and Polydor, Eric Clapton signed to Warner Bros. in 1982. His first WBR album, Money and Cigarettes (1983), reached #16 on the Billboard album chart, and the single "I've Got A Rock'N'Roll Heart" reached #18 on the Billboard Hot 100. His next album Behind the Sun also fared well, reaching #34 and the hit single "Forever Man" went to #26, but he transferred to Reprise for his next release.

Another resurgent 1970s act who scored major success with Warner Bros. in this period was ZZ Top, who had previously been signed to London Records. During an extended break in the late '70s the group gained ownership of their London recordings and signed with Warner Bros, who also re-issued their back-catalogue. Their first two Warner albums Deguello (1979) and El Loco (1981) were moderately successful, but Eliminator (1983) became a major hit thanks to strong support for their music videos on MTV. They scored three US hit singles including "Legs" (US #8), while the album reached #9 on the Billboard 200 and sold in huge numbers, earning a Diamond record award in 1996. Afterburner (1985) went to #4 and produced seven hit singles, including "Sleeping Bag" (#8).

Sire artist Madonna shot to international prominence with her 1983 self-titled debut album and her first mainstream hit single "Holiday", which reached #16 in the US and became a hit in many other countries, including Australia and the UK, where it was Top 5. The album made the Top 20 in more than a dozen countries including the USA, where it has been certified at 5× Platinum status. It was quickly followed by Like A Virgin, which became her first US #1 album and was sold more than 21 million copies worldwide. The title track was also a huge international hit, going to #1 in Australia, Canada, Japan and the USA. Boosted by her well-received role in the film Desperately Seeking Susan, "Crazy For You" (1985) became her second US #1 hit, and the follow-up Material Girl reached #2 in the USA and was Top 5 in many other countries.

Prince's hugely successful 1984 film and album Purple Rain cemented his stardom, selling more than thirteen million copies in the U.S. and spending twenty-four consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, while the Purple Rain film won the Academy Award for "Best Original Song Score" and grossed more than $80 million in the US.^[63] Singles from the album became hits on pop charts around the world; "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy" both reached #1 and the title track reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. However, the sexually explicit album track "Darling Nikki" generated a major controversy that had lasting effects—when politician's wife Tipper Gore heard her 12-year-old daughter listening to the song and investigated the lyrics, her outrage led to the formation of the conservative lobby group Parents Music Resource Center. Their stance was vehemently opposed by former Warner Bros. artist Frank Zappa and others, but the PMRC's political clout eventually forced the US recording industry to adopt the compulsory practice of placing a "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics" sticker on records deemed to contain "offensive" content.

1984 also saw Van Halen break into the big league with the single "Jump" (their only US #1 hit) and the album 1984; it was a huge seller (earning Diamond album status in 1999) and reached #2 in the US, producing two more Top 20 hits. However, escalating friction between guitarist Eddie Van Halen and lead singer David Lee Roth reached breaking point soon after the album's release and Roth left the band, to be replaced by Sammy Hagar; 1984 was also the last time they worked with Ted Templeman, who had produced all their albums up to this point.

In 1985 Dire Straits' single "Money for Nothing" gained massive exposure on MTV thanks to its innovative computer-animated music video, propelling the single to #1 in the US. They scored two more US Top 20 hits with "Walk of Life" and "So Far Away" and the album Brothers in Arms was a phenomenal success—it went to #1 in the USA, Australia and most European countries and sold in colossal numbers—by 1996 it had been certified at 9× platinum in the USA and it is currently ranked at #25 in the list of best-selling albums of all time, with sales of more than 30 million copies worldwide.

The new incarnation of Van Halen bounced back in 1986, releasing the enormously successful 5150 album which went to #1 and produced two hit singles, "Why Can't This Be Love" (US #3) and "Dreams" (#22). Their four subsequent studio albums all reached #1 and the band scored 17 US Top 20 singles, including 1988's "When It's Love" (US #5), but their overall sales gradually declined, with each album selling less than its predecessor.

The same was true of Prince—he scored numerous hit albums and singles through the latter half of the 1980s, but his record sales declined and Warner Bros. executives became increasingly concerned that he was producing far more material than they could release. His image was also tarnished by the failure of his later film ventures, his embarrassing refusal to participate in the recording of "We Are The World" and his sacking of guitarist Wendy Melvoin and long-serving keyboard player Lisa Coleman. The 1985 album Around the World in a Day held the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 for three weeks and peaked at #5 in the UK. Parade (1986) served as the soundtrack for Prince's second film Under the Cherry Moon; although the movie was a critical and commercial failure, the album peaked at #3 in Billboard and #2 on the R&B album charts and his classic single "Kiss" was another big international hit, going to #1 in the US and becoming a radio staple.

Prince's next project had a long and complex evolution, beginning as a proposed concept double-album called Dream Factory; Prince then proposed a solo LP which he intended to issue under the pseudonym Camille, but he eventually combined elements from both to create the ambitious three-album set Crystal Ball. However, because of the relatively lower sales of his previous albums, Prince's manager Steve Fargnoli and Warner Bros. president Mo Ostin both doubted the commercial viability of releasing a 3-LP set, and after previewing Crystal Ball Ostin insisted that Prince pare it down to two records. Prince at first refused and a battle of wills ensued for several weeks, but he eventually backed down and removed seven tracks; the resulting double-album was released in March 1987 as Sign "☮" the Times. Despite Prince's bitterness over its forced reduction, it was very successful, peaking at #6 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and selling 3.2 million copies, while the title single "Sign O' The Times" reached #3 on the Hot 100. The follow-up single "If I Was Your Girlfriend" flopped (although it went to #12 on R&B chart) but he scored big hits with the next two singles, "U Got the Look" (#2 Hot 100, #11 R&B) and "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" (#10 Hot 100, #14 R&B).

1986–87 took Warner Bros. to even greater heights. Madonna's landmark album True Blue produced three US #1s and two Top 5 singles and the LP was an unprecedented success, topping the charts in more than 28 countries (a feat that earned her a place in the Guinness Book of Records), and to date it has sold 24 million copies. After several years in the doldrums, a reinvigorated Paul Simon burst back onto the music scene in late 1986 with Graceland. Warner Bros. were initially anxious about the commercial appeal of Simon's innovative fusion of rock with African styles but the album was a resounding success, topping the charts in many countries, reaching #3 in the US and producing two US Top 20 singles. It became the best-selling American album of 1987 and the most successful of Simon's solo career, selling more than 5 million copies, and winning the 1986 Grammy for 'Album of the Year'; the title track also won 'Song of the Year' in 1987. In jazz Warner Bros. scored another artistic coup by signing jazz legend Miles Davis after his break with longtime label Columbia. His comeback album Tutu (1986) was a major crossover hit, gaining rave reviews and winning a Grammy in 1987.

In the summer of 1986 Warner Bros. announced the reactivation of Reprise Records with its own separate promotions department, and former Warner Bros. Vice President of Promotion Richard Fitzgerald was appointed as label Vice President.^[64]

During 1987 Prince recorded a pared-down funk LP, The Black Album, but he withdrew it in December just before it was to be released (even though 500,000 copies had been printed). Its hastily recorded replacement Lovesexy (1988) was a moderate success, reaching #11 on the Billboard album chart although it reached #1 in the UK. However, he rebounded in 1989 with the soundtrack for the hugely successful Batman film, which sold more than four million copies, reached #1 on the Billboard album chart and produced four hit singles including "Batdance", which topped both the Hot 100 and R&B charts.

Like fellow Athens, Georgia natives The B-52s, R.E.M. was a 'cult' band who gradually built up a strong following in the USA and internationally during the 1980s (thanks in part to their innovative music videos). For most of the '80s they were signed to the independent label IRS Records and in 1987 they broke out to mainstream success with the album Document, their first to sell more than one million copies. However, they were frustrated by IRS's poor international distribution and when their IRS contract expired in 1988 they signed with Warner Bros. Their Warner debut Green established them as a major force, earning a platinum album and selling more than 4 million copies worldwide, and "Stand" became their first US hit single.

Lenny Waronker took over as President of WBR in 1989, and his first act was to sign Elvis Costello. Costello's first Warner album Spike featured his biggest American single, the Paul McCartney collaboration "Veronica", which was a US Top 20 hit. He recorded three more critically praised albums for Warner Bros., Mighty Like A Rose, Brutal Youth, and All This Useless Beauty, but he was dropped from the label after the major corporate shakeup in the mid-90s.

The same year, after an extended period of inactivity following the death of guitarist and main writer Ricky Wilson, The B-52s shot back to prominence with the album Cosmic Thing. It was a Top 5 hit in the USA (#4) and the UK (#2) and went to #1 in Australia, where the group had enjoyed a strong following since their debut single "Rock Lobster"; they also scored three consecutive hit singles with "Love Shack" (#3 US, #1 Australia), "Roam" (US #3) and "Deadbeat Club" (US #30).

Warner Bros' most successful decade yet closed in sensational fashion. In early 1989, Madonna signed an endorsement deal with Pepsi, who introduced her new single "Like a Prayer" in the lavish "Make A Wish" commercial—the first time a pop single had debuted in an advertisement and the first time such a commercial was given a worldwide satellite premiere.^[65] However Pepsi had no control over Madonna's own "Like A Prayer" music video, which debuted exclusively on MTV soon after—it generated heated criticism due to its provocative use of religious imagery and was condemned by the Vatican. As a result, Pepsi withdrew the advertisement and canceled the endorsement deal—although Madonna was allowed to retain her US$5 million fee—but the controversy only heightened interest in the single and the album (also titled Like A Prayer). The single became Madonna's seventh US #1 and topped the chart in more than 30 other countries, and the album also went to #1, sold seven million copies worldwide and produced two more US Top 5 singles, establishing Madonna as the most successful female artist of the '80s and one of the most successful musical performers of all time.

1989-2004: the Time Warner era[link]

In 1989 Time Inc. acquired Warner Communications and merged the two enterprises to create Time Warner in a deal valued at US$14 billion.^[66]

After a long period of relative stability that was notable in the cutthroat American music industry, the death of Steve Ross in late 1992 marked the start of a period of major upheaval at Warner Bros. Records.

R.E.M.'s second Warner album Out of Time (1991) consolidated their success, topping the charts in both the US and the UK and producing two major hit singles: "Losing My Religion" became their biggest American single (#4 on Billboard Hot 100) and a hit in numerous other countries, and "Shiny Happy People", a Top 10 hit in both the US and the UK,; the group also won three categories at that year's Grammy Awards.

Prince's fortunes in the Nineties were mixed; he scored more hits and renewed his contract in 1992, but his relationship with Warner Bros. Records soon soured, climaxing in a highly publicized legal battle and his eventual departure from the label. Although his fourth film, Graffiti Bridge was panned by critics and bombed at the box office^[67] the album of the same name was very successful—it reached #6 on both the Billboard Hot 200 and R&B album chart and produced two US Top 20 singles. Diamonds and Pearls (1991) became one of the biggest albums of his career, reaching #3 in the USA, #2 in the UK and #1 in Australia, with five of the six singles lifted from the album becoming hits in the US and other countries, including "Cream", which became his fifth US #1.

Prince was appointed a vice-president of Warner Bros. Records when he re-signed with them in 1992, but soon regretted his decision. His next album—identified by the cryptic symbol on the cover later defined as "The Love Symbol" -- was another solid hit, peaking at #5 on the Billboard 200^[68] and selling 2.8 million copies worldwide,^[69] but by now tensions were increasing. Warner Bros. wanted to release "7" as his next single, but Prince successfully pushed for "My Name Is Prince" and it was only a minor hit (#36 Hot 100, #23 R&B ); the follow-up "Sexy MF" was censored in the US because of the expletive in the chorus and did not even make the US Top 50 although it was a Top 5 hit in the UK and Australia. When eventually released, "7" became the only major US hit lifted from the album, peaking (appropriately) at #7.

Following the 3-disc compilation The Hits/The B-Sides (1993), Prince stopped using his first name and started using only with the "Love Symbol" -- a decision that drew considerable ridicule from the media.^[70] Because this sign has no verbal equivalent, he was often derisively referred to as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince". By 1994, relations between The Artist and his record label had reached an impasse—in February WEA cancelled its distribution deal with Paisley Park, effectively putting the label out of business.^[70] Although released by an independent distributor, his next single "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" reached #3 in the U.S. and topped the singles charts in the UK and Australia.

Prince had meanwhile prepared two new albums, Come and The Gold Experience; an early version of Come was rejected but Warner Bros. eventually accepted both albums, although they refused to issue them simultaneously. By this time Prince had launched a legal action to terminate his contract and gain ownership of his master recordings, and he publicised his views by appearing in public with the word "SLAVE" written across his right cheek. Come (1994) was moderately successful in the USA (#15, gold record) and the single "Letitgo" reached #10 on the R&B chart, although the album was a major hit in the UK, debuting at #1. In November Warner released a limited edition of The Black Album, but it was already widely bootlegged, sold poorly and was soon deleted. The Gold Experience (1995) was hailed by some reviewers as Prince's best effort since Sign o' the Times; it included "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" and produced two other charting singles, "I Hate U" (US #11 and "Gold" UK #10). Prince's remarkable career with Warner Bros. ended with Chaos and Disorder (1996), compiled expressly to end his contract. It was one of his least successful releases but still managed to reach #26 in the USA and #14 in the UK and produced one minor hit, "Dinner With Delores" (#36 UK). Prince subsequently released recordings on his own NPG label (via EMI) before eventually signing with Universal Music in 2005.

R.E.M.'s Automatic For The People (1992) cemented their status as one of the top bands of the period and was the most successful album of their career, reaching #1 in the UK and #2 in the US, selling more than 10 million copies worldwide and generating three US hit singles, "Drive", "Man on the Moon", and "Everybody Hurts".

During 1992 WBR faced one of the most serious controversies in its history over the provocative recording "Cop Killer" from the self-titled album by Body Count, a heavy metal/rap fusion band led by Ice-T. Unfortunately for Warner Bros., the song (which mentions the Rodney King case) came out just before the controversial acquittal of the police charged with King's beating, which sparked the 1992 Los Angeles Riots and the confluence of events put the song under the national spotlight. Complaints escalated over the summer—conservative police associations called for a boycott of Time Warner products, politicians including President George H. W. Bush denounced the label for releasing the song, Warner executives received death threats, Time Warner stockholders threatened to pull out of the company and the New Zealand police commissioner unsuccessfully tried to have the record banned there. Although Ice-T later voluntarily reissued Body Count without "Cop Killer", the furore seriously rattled Warner Music and in January 1993 WBR made an undisclosed deal releasing Ice-T from his contract and returning the Body Count master tapes to him.^[71] In the wake of the "Cop Killer" affair, Warner Bros. distanced itself from gangsta rap and in late 1995 it sold its 50% stake in Interscope Records and its controversial subsidiary Death Row Records (Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg) back to co-owners Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field.^[72] Iovine and Field quickly aligned Interscope with the Universal Music Group; the label, now known as Interscope-Geffen-A&M following the merger of several Universal imprints, is still run by Iovine today.

Some relief came later that year when comedian Jeff Foxworthy revived Warner Bros.' success with comedy recordings; his debut album You Might Be a Redneck If... was a major hit in the US and Canada, and both it and his follow-up album sold more than three million copies each.

End of an era: Ostin and Waronker depart[link]

During 1994-95 Warner Bros' successes and problems with its artists were overshadowed by a protracted period of highly publicized internecine strife, centering on Warner Music Group chairman Robert J. Morgado and his successor Michael J. Fuchs. In September 1993 Ostin began negotiations to renew his contract and it was at this point that Morgado unveiled his plan for major a corporate shakeup of the Warner group. This triggered a series of damaging corporate conflicts and in particular created a fatal rift between Morgado and Ostin. The first major casualty was Elektra chairman Bob Krasnow, who resigned abruptly in July 1994.^[73]

For many years Ostin had reported directly to Time Warner chairman Steve Ross (and then to Ross's successor Gerald Levin) but Morgado now insisted that Ostin should report to him, and he established a new division, Warner Music US, headed by Doug Morris, to oversee the three main record labels. Fearing the loss of autonomy and worried that he would be obliged to implement Morgado's "slash-and-burn" policy to streamline the label's staff and artist roster, he refused to carry out Morgado's orders and decided not to renew his contract. Ostin officially stepped down from Warner Bros. when his contract expired on 31 December 1994, although he stayed on as a senior consultant to Time Warner's chairman until August 1995.^[74] He later commented:

Ostin's departure sent shockwaves through the company and the industry, and elicited glowing tributes from colleagues and competitors like Joe Smith and Clive Davis, and musicians like Paul Simon and R.E.M.. It also triggered an exodus of Warner executives who had joined the company primarily because of Ostin. Next to go was Lenny Waronker—he was initially designated to succeed Ostin as chairman^[75] but he ultimately declined the job and left WBR soon after. After a period of uncertainty and speculation, the two joined forces to establish a new label, DreamWorks Records.^[74] Waronker was replaced by ex Atlantic Records president Danny Goldberg, but his tenure proved short. Long-serving WBR executive Russ Thyret, who had joined the label in 1971 and worked closely with Mo Ostin for many years, was promoted to Vice-Chairman in January 1995.^[76]

Gerald Levin forced Morgado to resign in May 1995 and he was replaced by HBO chairman Michael J. Fuchs. Fuchs sacked Morris a month later (sparking a US$50m breach of contract suit) and Warner Music US was dissolved.^[77] Morris' removal led to speculation that Ostin was being courted to return to WBR, but these reports proved unfounded, since Ostin and Waronker moved to DreamWorks soon after.^[78] Morris moved to MCA Records.

Despite his close ties to Morris, Danny Goldberg was initially told he could remain as WBR president but he left the company in August 1995 after negotiating a settlement with Time Warner to terminate his five-year, US$20 million contract, which still had four years to run. He was subsequently appointed president of Polygram subsidiary Mercury Records in October.^[79] Following Goldberg's departure Russ Thyret was promoted to Chairman, CEO and label president.^[80] Fuchs himself was forced out of Time Warner on November 1995. In May 1997 Phil Quartararo took over as president of WBR, only weeks after he had left EMI's Virgin Records following a management shake-up there.^[81]

The departure of the team led by Ostin and Waronker also meant that many of the Warner artists whose careers they had nurtured and curated over the previous 30 years were now deprived of their patronage. As a result, by the year 2000 many of the "flagship" Warner acts of the Ostin/Waronker years left the label as their contracts expired. Ry Cooder was dropped in 1995 and Randy Newman followed Ostin and Waronker to DreamWorks, departing with a wry comment on his own status and the recent turmoil at Warner Bros:

Although never rising beyond "cult" status in terms of his sales as a solo artist, one of the most notable survivors from the Ostin era was Van Dyke Parks, who continued to release albums on Warners Bros - Tokyo Rose (1989), the Brian Wilson collaboration Orange Crate Art (1995) and the live album Moonlighting: Live at the Ash Grove (1998). In 2004 Parks reunited with Brian Wilson to complete their long-shelved collaboration, Smile, which was released on the Nonesuch label to universal critical praise, winning a Grammy award, and making the Top 20 in the US and Top 10 in the UK, where it earned a gold record award.

In early 2001 there was a major restructure of the Warner Music Group; about 600 positions were eliminated across the three labels, and an executive reshuffle led to the departures of Thyret and Quartararo (as well as Reprise president Howie Klein) and the hiring of then-Interscope president Tom Whalley as head of Warner Bros. Records.^[83] In August Whalley appointed Jeff Ayeroff as Creative Director of Warner Bros. Records and Creative Consultant to Warner Music Group. Ayeroff had previously been WBR's Senior Vice-President and Creative Director from 1983–86, overseeing many successful album covers and music videos in that period.^[84]

2004-present: Warner Music Group[link]

In 2003, amid management disputes, sagging share prices and rising alarm about the impact of digital file sharing, Time Warner decided to unload its music operations. In March 2004, Time Warner's music assets were acquired by private equity group headed by Thomas H. Lee Partners, Lexa Partners (led by Edgar Bronfman Jr., who put up US$150 million drawn from his family's stake in Vivendi), Bain Capital and Providence Equity Partners. The deal set the group's value at around US$2.6 billion, payable in cash and other considerations, and it included an option that would allow Time Warner to buy back in if conditions proved favorable. Bronfman, Lee, Bain and Providence had reportedly recouped their investment by May 2006 through dividends, refinancing and a share offer floated in May 2005.

Today Warner Bros. Records remains one of Warner Music Group's dominant labels, with around 120 artists on its roster.

Despite the divestiture, WMG currently enjoys a royalty-free license from Time Warner for the use of Warner Bros. trademarks, although this could be revoked if WMG comes under control of a major motion picture studio.^[85]

In 2006 the Warner Music Group signed a licensing and revenue-sharing deal with internet video service YouTube. According to a New York Times report, this reflected ongoing efforts by YouTube to deal with the fact that many of its user-generated video clips include copyrighted music and images sourced from commercial TV and film productions. Under the agreement, YouTube would use special software to identify recordings used in videos posted by users and then offer the owner of the copyrighted content a percentage of the fee for advertising that would run alongside the clip. The deal also allowed the copyright owner to demand that YouTube remove the clip.^[86]

In October 2007 Madonna ended her 25-year association with Warner Bros., becoming the inaugural artist on a new label established by American concert promoter Live Nation.^[87] Under the terms of the new US$120 million, 10-year contract, which Warner was unable to match, Madonna reportedly received a signing bonus of about US$18 million and an approximate US$17 million advance for each of three albums, with Live Nation also agreeing to pay US$50 million in cash and stock to promote each Madonna tour. Madonna concluded her career with Warner Bros. through her last studio album Hard Candy (2008) and the greatest hits retrospective Celebration (2009). Even though the latter was to be the final release, she released her live album of the first concert tour through her Live Nation deal, Sticky & Sweet Tour (2010) on the former record label.^[88]

American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi was appointed to vice president of A&R in 2008.

In February 2010 Madonna’s long-serving publicist Liz Rosenberg, a 39-year veteran of WBR, left the label to start her own firm.^[89]

Affiliated labels[link]

Current[link]

• 1017 Brick Squad Records (2009–present)
• A&E Records (formerly Mushroom Records UK) (2003–present)
• Action Theory Records (2009–present)
• Asylum Records (2009–present)
• A Band Apart (1997–present)
• Beluga Heights (2008–present)
• Black Wall Street Records (2004–present)
• Blacksmith Records (2005–present)
• BME Recordings (2004–present)
• Brute/Beaute Records (2005–present)
• BTNH Worldwide (2009–present)
• Collective Sounds (2011–present)
• Doghouse Records (2004–present)
• Decaydance Records (2005–present)
• Festival Mushroom Records (2005–present)
• Heiress Records (2004–present)
• Jet Life Recordings (2011–present)
• Machine Shop Recordings (2002–present)
• Malpaso Records (1995–present; status unknown)
• Maybach Music Group (2011–present)
• Loveway Records (2009–present)
• Maverick Records (1991–present; status unknown)
• Nonesuch Records (2004–present) (marketing only. UPC prefix denotes a subsidiary of Elektra Records)
• No Limit Forever Records (2011–present)
• Perezcious Music (2009–present)
• Playmaker Music (2007–present)
• Public Broadcasting Service (1998–present; current status unknown)
• Record Collection (2003–present)
• Reprise Records (1963–present)
• RuffNation Records (1998–present; status unknown)
• Sire Records (1978–1995, 2003–present)
• Teleprompt Records (2003–present)
• Thee West Entertainment (2011–present)
• Word Records (2002–present)
• Young N Charge Inc (2011–present)
• Serjical Strike Records (2007–present)

Former[link]

• 4AD Records (1992–1998) (US only)
• American Recordings (1988–1997 [US], 2005–2007 [worldwide])
• Autumn Records (1963–1965)
• Bearsville Records (1970–1984)
• Capricorn Records (1972–1977), (1990–1995)
• Cold Chillin' Records (1987–1994)
• Dark Horse Records (1976–1992)
• ECM Records (?–1984)
• Extasy International Records (2000–2004)
• Full Moon Records (1974–1992)
• F-111 Records (1995–2001)
• Geffen Records (1980–1990)
• Giant Records and its subsidiaries the Medicine Label (1993–1995), Paladin, Revolution (1990–2001)
• Kwanza Records (1973–1974)
• Loma Records (1964–1968 and one boutique release in 2003)
• Luaka Bop Records (1988–2000)
• Metal Blade Records (1988–1993)
• Music for Little People (1990–1995)
• Opal Records (1987–1993)
• Paisley Park Records (1985–1994)
• Premeditated Records (middle 1990s)
• Raybaw Records (2005–2008)
• Qwest Records (1980–2000)
• Slash Records (1982–1996)
• Tommy Boy Records (1985–2002)
• Valiant Records (1960–1966)
• Warner Alliance (?–1998)

Artists[link]

See also[link]

• List of record labels
• List of Warner Bros. Records artists
• Reprise Records

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Edward West Vice President of Warner Bros. Records Inc 1973
• Video Interview with Bill Bennett – CEO & President of Warner Bros. Records Nashville
• The Warner Bros. Records Story from BSN Pubs. – includes links to comprehensive Warner Bros. album discographies, 1958–1983
• Warner Bros. Records's channel on YouTube
• Discography of Loma Records

Warner Bros. – First National Studios, Burbank, c. 1928.

Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. (though the name was occasionally given in full form as Warner Brothers during the company's early years), is an American producer of film, television, and music entertainment.

One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank, California and New York, New York. Warner Bros. has several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Home Video, New Line Cinema, TheWB.com, and DC Comics. Warner owns half of The CW Television Network.

Warner Bros. is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).^[1]

History[link]

1903–25: Founding[link]

The corporate name honors the four founding Warner brothers (born Wonskolaser [pron. WON Sko La' Ser] or Wonsal)^[2][3]—Harry (born Hirsz), Albert (born Aaron), Sam (born Szmul), and Jack (Itzhak or to some sources Jacob), whose Jewish parents had emigrated to North America from the part of Poland that had been subjugated to the Russian Empire following the 18th-century partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth near present-day Ostroleka, Poland. The three elder brothers began in the movie theatre business, having acquired a movie projector with which they showed films in the mining towns of Pennsylvania and Ohio. They opened their first theater, the Cascade, in New Castle, Pennsylvania in 1903. (The site of the Cascade later became the Cascade Center, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex honoring its Warner Bros. heritage, though in late 2010 all of the businesses have closed and the complex is currently for sale.)^[4] When this original theatre building in New Castle was in danger of being demolished, the modern Warner Bros. called the modern building owners, and arranged a 3 way in hopes of saving it, between three men, Warner Bros, and the modern owners. The owners noted the fact that they were taking phone calls from all over the country in reference to the historical significance of the humble building that should be saved historically.^[5]

In 1904, the Warners founded the Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Amusement & Supply Company,^[4] to distribute films. In 1912, Harry Warner hired an auditor named Paul Ashley Chase. By the time of World War I they had begun producing films, and in 1918 the brothers opened the Warner Bros. studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Sam and Jack Warner produced the pictures, while Harry and Albert Warner and their auditor and now controller Chase handled finance and distribution in New York City. It was during World War I and their first nationally syndicated film was My Four Years in Germany based on a popular book by former American Ambassador James W. Gerard. On April 4, 1923, with help from a loan given to Harry Warner by his banker Motley Flint,^[6] they formally incorporated as Warner Brothers Pictures, Incorporated. However, as late as the 1960s, Warner Bros. claimed 1905 as its founding date.^[7]

The first important deal for the company was the acquisition of the rights to Avery Hopwood's 1919 Broadway play, The Gold Diggers, from theatrical impresario David Belasco. However, what really put Warner Bros. on the Hollywood map was a dog, Rin Tin Tin,^[8] brought from France after World War I by an American soldier.^[9] Rin Tin Tin debuted in the feature Where the North Begins. The movie was so successful that Jack Warner agreed to sign the dog to star in more films for $1,000 per week.^[8] Rin Tin Tin became the top star at the studio.^[8] Jack Warner nicknamed him "The Mortgage Lifter"^[8] and the success boosted Darryl F. Zanuck's career.^[10] Zanuck eventually became a top producer for the studio^[11] and between 1928 and 1933 served as Jack Warner's right-hand man and executive producer, with responsibilities including the day-to-day production of films.^[12] More success came after Ernst Lubitsch was hired as head director;^[10] Harry Rapf left the studio and accepted an offer to work at MGM.^[13] Lubitsch's film The Marriage Circle was the studio's most successful film of 1924, and was on The New York Times best list for the year.^[10]

Despite the success of Rin Tin Tin and Lubitsch, Warners was still unable to achieve star power.^[14] As a result, Sam and Jack decided to offer Broadway actor John Barrymore the lead role in Beau Brummel.^[14] The film was so successful that Harry Warner agreed to sign Barrymore to a generous long-term contract;^[15] like The Marriage Circle, Beau Brummell was named one of the ten best films of the year by The New York Times.^[15] By the end of 1924, Warner Bros. was arguably the most successful independent studio in Hollywood,^[15] but it still competed with "The Big Three" Studios (First National, Paramount Pictures, and MGM).^[16] As a result, Harry Warner – while speaking at a convention of 1,500 independent exhibitors in Milwaukee, Wisconsin – was able to convince the filmmakers to spend $500,000 in newspaper advertising,^[17] and Harry saw this as an opportunity to finally be able to establish theaters in big cities like New York and Los Angeles.^[17]

As the studio prospered, it gained backing from Wall Street, and in 1924 Goldman Sachs arranged a major loan. With this new money, the Warners bought the pioneer Vitagraph Company which had a nation-wide distribution system.^[17] In 1925, Warners also experimented in radio, establishing a successful radio station, KFWB, in Los Angeles.^[18]

1925–35: Sound, Color, Style[link]

Warner Bros. was a pioneer of films with synchronized sound (then known as "talking pictures" or "talkies"). In 1925, at the urging of Sam, the Warners agreed to expand their operations by adding this feature to their productions.^[19] Harry, however, opposed it,^[20] famously wondering, "Who the heck wants to hear actors talk?" By February 1926, the studio suffered a reported net loss of $333,413.^[21]

Don Juan opens Warners' Theater

After a long period of denying Sam's request for sound, Harry now agreed to accept Sam's demands, as long as the studio's use of synchronized sound was for background music purposes only.^[19] The Warners then signed a contract with the sound engineer company Western Electric and established Vitaphone.^[22] In 1926, Vitaphone began making films with music and effects tracks, most notably, in the feature Don Juan starring John Barrymore. The film was silent, but it featured a large number of Vitaphone shorts at the beginning. To hype Don Juan's release, Harry Warner also acquired the large Piccadilly Theater in Manhattan, New York and renamed it the Warner Theater.^[23]

Don Juan premiered at the Warner Theater in New York on August 6, 1926.^[23] Throughout the early history of film distribution, theater owners hired orchestras to attend film showings and provide soundtracks. Through Vitaphone, however, Warner Bros. produced eight Vitaphone shorts (which aired at the beginning of every showing of Don Juan across the country) in 1926, and got many film production companies to question the necessity.^[24] While Don Juan was a success at the box office,^[25] it did not earn back its production cost^[25] and Lubsitch left Warner for MGM.^[14] By April 1927, the Big Five studios (First National, Paramount, MGM, Universal, and Producers Distributing) had put the Warner brothers in financial ruin,^[26] and Western Electric renewed Warner's Vitaphone contract with terms that allowed other film companies to test sound.^[26]

As a result of the financial problems the studio was having, Warner Bros. took the next step and released The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson. This movie, which has very little sound dialogue but does feature sound segments of Jolson singing, was a sensation. It signalled the beginning of the era of "talking pictures" and the twilight of the silent era. However, as Sam died, the brothers were at his funeral and could not attend the premiere. Jack became sole head of production.^[27] Sam's death also had a great effect on Jack's emotional state,^[28] as Sam was arguably Jack's inspiration and favorite brother.^[29] In the years to come, Jack ran the studio with an iron fist.^[28] Firing of studio employees soon became his trademark.^[30] Among those whom Jack fired were Rin Tin Tin (in 1929) and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. – who had served as First National's top star since the brothers acquired the studio in 1928—in 1933.^[30]

Thanks to the success of The Jazz Singer, the studio was suddenly flush with ash. Jolson's next film for the company, The Singing Fool was also a success.^[31] With the success of these first talkies (The Jazz Singer, Lights of New York, The Singing Fool, and The Terror), Warner Bros. became one of the top studios in Hollywood and the brothers were now able to move out from the Poverty Row section of Hollywood and acquire a big studio in Burbank, California.^[32] They were also able to expand studio operations by acquiring the Stanley Corporation, a major theater chain.^[33] This gave them a share in rival First National Pictures, of which Stanley owned one-third.^[34] In a bidding war with William Fox, Warner Bros. bought more First National shares on September 13, 1928;^[35][35] Jack Warner also appointed producer Darryl Zanuck as the studio's manager of First National Pictures.^[35]

In 1929, Warner Bros also bought the St. Louis-based theater chain Skouras Brothers. Following this take-over, Spyros Skouras, the driving force of the chain, became general manager of the Warner Brothers Theater Circuit in America. He worked successfully in that post for two years and managed to eliminate the losses and eventually even increase the profits. This was a welcome gain given the financial hardships occasioned by the Great Depression.

In addition, Harry Warner was also able to acquire a string of music publishers and form Warner Bros. Music. In April 1930, the Warner Bros. acquired Brunswick Records. Harry also obtained a string of radio companies, foreign sound patents, and even a lithograph company.^[35] After establishing Warner Bros. Music, Harry appointed his son, Lewis, to serve as the company's head manager.^[36]

In 1929, Harry was also able to produce an adaptation of a Cole Porter musical titled Fifty Million Frenchmen.^[37] Through First National, the studio's profit increased substantially.^[38] After the success of the studio's 1929 First National film Noah's Ark, Harry also agreed to make Michael Curtiz a major director at the Burbank studio.^[39] Mort Blumenstock, a First National screenwriter, became a top writer at the brothers' New York headquarters.^[40]

In the third quarter of 1929, Warner Bros. gained complete control of First National, when Harry purchased the company's remaining one-third share from Fox.^[35] The Justice Department agreed to allow the purchase if First National was maintained as a separate company.^[41] When the Great Depression hit, Warner asked for and got permission to merge the two studios; soon afterward Warner Bros. moved to the First National lot in Burbank. Though the companies merged, the Justice Department required Warner to produce and release a few films each year under the First National name until 1938. For 30 years, certain Warner productions were identified (mainly for tax purposes) as 'A Warner Bros. – First National Picture.'

In the latter part of 1929, Jack Warner hired sixty-one year old actor George Arliss to star in Disraeli,^[42] which was a surprise success.^[42] Arliss won an Academy Award for Best Actor and went on to star in nine more movies with the studio.^[42] In 1930, Harry acquired more theaters in Atlantic City, despite the beginning of the Great Depression.^[43] In July 1930, the studio's banker, Motley Flint, was murdered by a disgruntled investor in another company.^[44]

By 1931, however, the studio began to feel the effects of the Depression as the general public became unable to afford the price of a movie ticket.^[45] In 1931, the studio reportedly suffered a net loss of $8 million,^[45] and an additional $14 million the following year.^[45] In 1931, Warner Bros. Music head Lewis Warner died from an infected wisdom tooth.^[44]

Around that time, Warner Bros. head producer Darryl Zanuck hired screenwriter Wilson Mizner.^[46] While at the studio, Mizner had hardly any respect for authority and found it difficult to work with studio boss Jack Warner,^[46] but nevertheless became a valuable asset.^[46] As time went by, Warner became more tolerant of Mizner and helped invest in Mizner's Brown Derby restaurant.^[46] On April 3, 1933, Mizner died from a heart attack.^[47]

In 1928, Warner Bros. released Lights of New York, the first all-talking feature. Due to its success, the movie industry converted entirely to sound almost overnight. By the end of 1929, all the major studios were exclusively making sound films. In 1929, National Pictures released their first film with Warner Bros., Noah's Ark.^[48] Despite its expensive budget, Noah's Ark was profitable.^[49] In 1929, Warner Bros. released On with the Show, the first all-color all-talking feature. This was followed by Gold Diggers of Broadway which was so popular it played in theatres until 1939. The success of these two color pictures caused a color revolution (just as the first all-talkie had created one for talkies). Warner Bros. released a large number of color films from 1929 to 1931, including The Show of Shows (1929), Sally (1929), Bright Lights (1930), Golden Dawn (1930), Hold Everything (1930), Song of the Flame (1930), Song of the West (1930), The Life of the Party (1930), Sweet Kitty Bellairs (1930), Under A Texas Moon (1930), Bride of the Regiment (1930), Viennese Nights (1931), Woman Hungry (1931), Kiss Me Again (1931), Fifty Million Frenchmen (1931), and Manhattan Parade (1932). In addition to these, scores of features were released with Technicolor sequences as well as a numerous variety of short subjects. The majority of these color films were musicals.

Three years later, the audience had grown so tired of musicals, the studio was forced to cut the musical numbers of many of the productions and advertise them as straight comedies. The public had begun to associate musicals with color and thus the movie studios began to abandon its use. Warner Bros. had a contract with Technicolor to produce two more pictures in that process. As a result, the first horror films in color were produced and released by the studio: Doctor X (1932) and Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933). In the latter part of 1931, Harry Warner rented the Teddington Studios in London, England.^[50] The studio focused on making 'quota quickies' for the domestic British market^[51] and Irving Asher was appointed as the studio's head producer.^[51] In 1934, Harry Warner officially purchased the Teddington Studios.^[50]

In February 1933, however, Warner Bros. produced 42nd Street, a very successful musical^[52] that saved the company from bankruptcy.^[53] In the wake of 42nd Street's success, the studio produced further profitable musicals.^[54] These starred Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell and were mostly directed by Busby Berkeley.^[55] In 1935, the revival suffered a major blow when Berkeley was arrested after killing three people while driving drunk.^[56] By the end of the year, people again tired of Warner Bros. musicals,^[54] and the studio – after the huge profits made by the 1935 film Captain Blood – shifted its focus on producing Errol Flynn swashbucklers.^[57]

1931–1935: Pre-code realistic period[link]

The studio as seen in the trailer for The Petrified Forest (1936)

With the collapse of the market for musicals, Warner Bros., under production head Darryl F. Zanuck, turned to more socially realistic storylines, "torn from the headlines" pictures many in the media said glorified gangsters;^[58] Warner Bros. soon became known as a "gangster studio".^[59] The studio's first gangster film, Little Caesar, was a great box office success^[60] and Edward G. Robinson was a star in many of the subsequent wave of Warner gangster films.^[61] The studio's next gangster film, The Public Enemy,^[62] made James Cagney arguably the studio's new top star,^[63] and Warner Bros. was now convinced to make more gangster films.^[62]

Another gangster film the studio produced was the critically acclaimed I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, based on a true story and starring Paul Muni.^[64] In addition to Cagney and Robinson, Muni was also given a big push as one the studio's top gangster stars^[65] after appearing in the successful film,^[62] which got audiences to question the legal system in the United States.^[66] By January 1933, the film's protagonist Robert Elliot Burns – who was still imprisoned in New Jersey – and a number of different chain gang prisoners nationwide in the United States were able to appeal and were released.^[67] In January 1933, Georgia chain gang warden J. Harold Hardy – who was also made into a character in the film – sued the studio for displaying "vicious, untrue and false attacks" against him in the film.^[68] After appearing in the film The Man Who Played God, Bette Davis became a top star for the studio.^[69]

In 1933, relief for the studio came after Franklin D. Roosevelt became president and was able to stimulate the economy with the New Deal;^[70] because of this economic rebound, Warner Bros. again became profitable.^[70] The same year, long time head producer Darryl F. Zanuck quit. One reason was Harry Warner's relationship with Zanuck had become strained after Harry strongly opposed allowing Zanuck's film Baby Face to step outside Hays Code boundaries.^[71] Also, the studio reduced Zanuck's salary as a result of the losses as a result of the Great Depression,^[72] and Harry continued to refuse to restore it in the wake of the New Deal's rebound.^[73] Zanuck resigned^[74] and established his own company.^[73] In the wake of Zanuck's resignation, Harry Warner agreed to again raise the salary for studio employees.^[73]

In 1933, Warner was able to bring newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan films into the Warner Bros. fold.^[75] Hearst had previously been signed with MGM,^[76] but ended the association after a dispute with the company's head producer Irving Thalberg over the treatment of Hearst's long standing mistress, actress Marion Davies,^[77] who was struggling for box office success.^[77] Through his partnership with Hearst, Warner was able to sign Davies to a studio contract.^[75] Hearst's company and Davies' films, however, could not increase the studio's profits.^[76]

In 1934, the studio lost over $2.5 million,^[78] of which $500,000 was the result of a fire at the Burbank studio at the end of 1934, destroying 20 years worth of early Vitagraph, Warner Bros., and First National films.^[78] The following year, Hearst's film adaption of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) failed at the box office and the studio's net loss increased.^[79] During this time, Warner Bros. President Harry Warner and six other movie studio figures were indicted of conspiracy to violate the Sherman Antitrust Act,^[78] through an attempt to gain a monopoly over theaters in the St Louis area.^[80] In 1935, Harry was put on trial;^[78] after a mistrial, Harry sold the company's movie theaters, at least for a short time, and the case was never reopened.^[81] 1935 also saw the studio rebound with a net profit of $674,158.00.^[81]

By 1936, contracts of musical and silent stars were not renewed and new talent, tough-talking, working-class types, were hired who more suitably fit in with these sort of pictures. Stars such as Dorothy Mackaill, Bebe Daniels, Frank Fay, Winnie Lightner, Bernice Claire, Alexander Gray, Alice White, and Jack Mulhall that had characterized the urban, modern, and sophisticated attitude of the 1920s gave way to stars such James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Edward G. Robinson, Warren William, and Barbara Stanwyck who would be more acceptable to the common man. The studio was one of the most prolific producers of Pre-Code pictures and had a lot of trouble with the censors once they started clamping down on what they considered indecency (around 1934).^[82] As a result, Warner Bros. turned out a number of historical pictures from around 1935 in order to avoid confrontations with the Breen office. In 1936, following the success of The Petrified Forest, Jack Warner also signed Humphrey Bogart to a studio contract.^[83] Warner, however, did not think Bogart was star material,^[84] and decided to only cast Bogart in infrequent roles as a villain opposite either James Cagney or Edward Robinson over the next five years.^[83]

After Hal B. Wallis succeeded Zanuck in 1933^[85] and the Hays Code began to be enforced in 1935, the studio was forced to abandon this realistic approach in order to produce more moralistic, idealized pictures. The studio naturally turned to historical dramas which would not cause any problems with the censors. Other offerings included melodramas (or "women's pictures"), swashbucklers, and adaptations of best-sellers, with stars like Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Paul Muni, and Errol Flynn. In 1936, Bette Davis, by now arguably the studio's top star,^[86] was unhappy with the roles Warner was giving her. She fled to England and tried to break her contract with Warner Bros.^[86] Davis lost the lawsuit and soon returned to America.^[87] Although many of the studio's employees had problems with Jack Warner, they considered Albert and Harry fair.^[88]

Code era[link]

This period also saw the disappearance of a large number of actors and actresses who had characterized the realistic pre-Code era but who were not suited to the new trend into moral and idealized pictures. Warner Bros. remained a top studio in Hollywood since the dawn of talkies, but this changed after 1935 as other studios, notably MGM, quickly overshadowed the prestige and glamor that previously characterized Warner Bros. However, in the late 1930s, Bette Davis became the studio's top draw and was even dubbed as "The Fifth Warner Brother."^[89]

In 1935, Cagney sued Jack Warner for breach of contract.^[90] Cagney claimed Warner had forced him to star in more films than his contract required.^[90] Cagney eventually dropped his lawsuit after a cash settlement.^[91] Nevertheless, Cagney left the studio to establish an independent film company with his brother Bill.^[92] The Cagneys released their films though Grand National Films, however they were not able to get good financing for their productions^[92] and ran out of money after their third film.^[92] Cagney then agreed to return to Warner Bros., after Jack Warner agreed to a contract guaranteeing Cagney would be treated to his own terms.^[92] After the success of Yankee Doodle Dandy at the box office, Cagney again questioned if the studio would meet his salary demand^[93] and again quit to form his own film production and distribution company with his brother Bill.^[94]

Another employee with whom Warner had troubles was studio producer Bryan Foy.^[95] In 1936, Wallis hired Foy as a producer for the studio's low budget B-films leading to his nickname "the keeper of the B's".^[88] Foy was able to garnish arguably more profits than any other B-film producer at the time.^[88] During Foy's time at the studio, however, Warner fired him seven different times.^[95]

During 1936, the studio's film The Story of Louis Pasteur proved a box office success^[96] and Paul Muni, the film's star, won the Oscar for Best Actor in March 1937.^[96] The studio's 1937 film The Life of Emile Zola gave the studio its first Best Picture Oscar.^[96]

In 1937, the studio hired Midwestern radio announcer Ronald Reagan.^[97] Although Reagan was initially a small-time B-film actor,^[97] Warner Bros. was impressed by his performance in the final scene of Knute Rockne, All American,^[97] and agreed to pair him with Errol Flynn in their film Santa Fe Trail (1940). Reagan then returned to B-films.^[97] After his performance in the studio's 1942 Kings Row, Warner decided to make Reagan a top star and signed him to a new contract, tripling his salary.^[98]

In 1936, Harry Warner's daughter Doris read a copy of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind and was interested in making a film adaptation.^[99] Doris then offered Mitchell $50,000 for the book's screen rights.^[99] Jack, however, refused to allow the deal to take place, realizing it would be an expensive production.^[99]

Another studio actor who proved to be a problem for Jack Warner was George Raft.^[100] Warner had signed Raft in 1939, hoping he could substitute in gangster pictures when either Robinson or Cagney were on suspension.^[100] Raft had difficulty working with Bogart and refused to co-star in any film with him.^[101] Eventually, Jack Warner agreed to release Raft from his contract.^[102] Following Raft's departure, the studio gave Bogart the role of Roy Earl in the 1941 film High Sierra,^[102] which helped establish him as one of the studio's top stars;^[103] following High Sierra, Bogart was also given a role in John Huston's successful 1941 remake of the studio's 1931 failure, The Maltese Falcon.^[104]

1930: Birth of Warner's cartoons[link]

Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig are three of the animated cartoon characters that have become central to the corporate image of Warner Bros.

Warner's cartoon unit had its roots in the independent Harman and Ising studio. From 1930 to 1933, Disney alumni Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising produced a series of musical cartoons for Leon Schlesinger, who sold the shorts to Warner. Harman and Ising introduced their character Bosko in the first Looney Tunes cartoon, Sinkin' in the Bathtub, and created a sister series, Merrie Melodies, in 1931.^[105]

Harman and Ising broke away from Schlesinger in 1933 due to a contractual dispute, taking Bosko with them to MGM. As a result, Schlesinger started his own studio, Leon Schlesinger Productions, which continued with Merrie Melodies while starting production on Looney Tunes starring Buddy, a Bosko clone. By the end of the decade, a new Schlesinger production team, including directors Friz Freleng, Tex Avery, Robert Clampett, and Chuck Jones was formed. Schlesinger's staff developed a fast-paced, irreverent style that made their cartoons immensely popular worldwide.

In 1936, Avery directed a string of cartoons, starring Porky Pig, which established the character as the studio's first bona fide star.^[106] In addition to Porky Pig, Warner Bros. cartoon characters Daffy Duck (who debuted in the 1937 short Porky's Duck Hunt) and Bugs Bunny (who debuted in the 1940 short A Wild Hare) also achieved star power.^[107] By 1942, the Schlesinger studio had surpassed Walt Disney Studios as the most successful producer of animated shorts in the United States.^[108]

Warner Bros eventually bought Schlesinger's cartoon unit in 1944 as a division, renamed it as Warner Bros. Cartoons. Unfortunately, the unit was indifferently treated by senior management, beginning with the installation of Edward Selzer as senior producer, whom the creative staff considered an interfering incompetent. Furthermore, Jack Warner, who had little regard for his company's short film product, reputedly was so ignorant of his animation division that he was mistakenly convinced that the unit produced cartoons of Mickey Mouse, rival company Walt Disney Pictures' flagship character.^[109] Furthermore, he sold off the unit's pre-1948 library for a mere $3000 each, which proved a short sighted transaction in light of the considerable long term value that the company's animation product proved to have.^[110]

Warner Brothers Cartoons continued, with intermittent interruptions, until 1969 when it was dissolved when the parent company ceased film short production entirely. Regardless of this treatment, its characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Sylvester, and Porky Pig became central to the company's image in subsequent decades. Bugs in particular remains a mascot to Warner Bros.' various divisions and Six Flags (which Time Warner previously owned). In fact, it was the success of the compilation film, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie in 1980, featuring the archived film of these characters that prompted Warner Brothers to organize Warner Brothers Animation as a new production division to restart production of original material.

World War II[link]

According to Jack Warner in his autobiography, prior to the United States entering World War II, the head of Warner Bros. sales in Germany, Philip Kauffman, was murdered by the Nazis in Berlin in 1936.^{[111][112][113]} Harry Warner produced the successful anti-German film The Life of Emile Zola (1937).^[114] After that, Harry supervised the production of several more anti-German films, including Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939),^[115] The Sea Hawk (1940), which made King Phillip II an equivalent of Hitler,^[116] Sergeant York,^[116] and You're In The Army Now (1941).^[116] After the United States officially entered World War II, Harry Warner decided to focus on producing war films.^[117] Also, one-fourth of the studio's employees, including Jack Warner and his son Jack Jr., were drafted or enlisted.^[117]

Among the films the studio made during the war were Casablanca, Now, Voyager, Yankee Doodle Dandy (all 1942), This Is the Army, and Mission to Moscow (both 1943),^[118] the latter became controversial a few years afterwards. At the premieres of Yankee Doodle Dandy (in Los Angeles, New York, and London), audiences purchased $15.6 million in war bonds for the governments of England and the United States.^[118] By the middle of 1943, however, it became clear audiences were tired of war films.^[118] Despite the growing pressure to abandon production of war films, Warner continued to produce them, losing money in the process.^[118] Eventually, in honor of the studio's contributions to the war cause, the United States Government named a Liberty ship after the brothers' father, Benjamin Warner, and Harry Warner was given the honor of christening the ship.^[118] By the time the war ended, $20 million in war bonds were purchased through the studio,^[118] the Red Cross collected 5,200 pints of plasma from studio employees,^[118] and 763 of the studio's employees served in the armed forces, including Harry Warner's son-in-law Milton Sperling and Jack's son Jack Warner Jr.

Following a dispute over ownership of Casablanca's Oscar for Best Picture, head producer Hal B. Wallis broke with Warner and resigned. Thomas After Casablanca made Bogart one of the studio's top stars,^[94] Bogart found his relationship with Jack Warner deteriorating.^[94] In 1943, Olivia de Haviland (whom Warner was now loaning to different companies) sued Warner for breach of contract.^[119]

Warners cut its film production in half during the war, eliminating its B Picture unit in 1941. Bryan Foy was quickly snapped up by 20th Century Fox.^[120]

De Haviland had refused to accept an offer to portray famed abolitionist Elizabeth Blackwell in an upcoming film for Columbia Pictures.^[119] Warner responded by sending 150 telegrams to different film production companies, warning them not to hire her for any role.^[119] Afterwards, de Haviland discovered employment contracts in the United States could only serve a duration of seven years; de Haviland had been under contract with the studio since 1935.^[121] The court ruled in de Haviland's favor^[119] and she left the studio.^[119] Through de Haviland's victory, many of the studio's longtime actors were now freed from their contracts,^[119] and Harry Warner decided to terminate the studio's suspension policy.^[122]

The same year, Jack Warner also signed newly released MGM actress Joan Crawford, a former top star who found her career fading.^[123] Crawford's first role with the studio was 1944's Hollywood Canteen.^[124] Her first starring role at the studio, in the title role as Mildred Pierce (1945), revived her career^[124] and earned her an Oscar for Best Actress.^[125]

After World War II: changing hands[link]

The record attendance figures of the World War II years made the Warner brothers rich. The gritty Warner image of the 1930s gave way to a glossier look, especially in women's pictures starring Davis, de Havilland, and Crawford. The 1940s also saw the rise of Bogart. In the post-war years, Warner Bros. continued to create new stars, like Lauren Bacall and Doris Day. The studio prospered greatly after the war.^[126] By 1946, company payroll reached $600,000 a week^[127] and net profit $19.4 million.

One problem for Warner Bros., however, was Jack Warner's refusal to meet Screen Actors Guild salary demands.^[128] In September 1946, the employees engaged in a month-long strike.^[128] In retaliation, Warner-during his 1947 testmony before Congress, for making the 1942 Russian propaganda film Mission to Moscow – accused a number of studio employees of having ties to Communists.^[129] By the end of 1947, the studio reached a record net profit of $22 million.^[130] This dropped 50% the following year.^[130]

On January 5, 1948, Warner offered the first color newsreel, covering the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl Game. In 1948, Bette Davis, still the studio's top actress and now fed up with Jack Warner, was a big problem for Harry after she and a number of her colleagues left the studio after completing the film Beyond the Forest.^[131]

Warner was a party to the United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. anti-trust case of the 1940s. This action, brought by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission, claimed the five integrated studio-theater chain combinations restrained competition. The Supreme Court heard the case in 1948, and ruled in favor of the government. As a result, Warner and four other major studios were forced to separate production from exhibition. In 1949, the studio's net profit was only $10 million.^[130]

Warner Bros. set up two semi-independent production units that made films for the studio. One of these was Harry Warner's son-in-law Milton Sperling's United States Pictures.

Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

In the early 1950s, the threat of television had grown greatly, and in 1953, Jack Warner decided to take a new approach to compete with the rising threat.^[132] In the wake of United Artists successful 3D film Bwana Devil, he decided to expand into 3D films with the studio's 1953 film House of Wax.^[133] Unfortunately, despite the success of House of Wax, 3D films soon lost their appeal among moviegoers.^[134]

In 1952, Warner Bros. made their first film (Carson City) in "Warnercolor", the studio's name for Eastmancolor.

3D almost caused the demise of the Warner Bros. cartoon studio. Having completed a 3D Bugs Bunny cartoon, Lumber Jack-Rabbit, Jack Warner ordered the animation unit to be shut down, erroneously believing that all cartoons hence would be produced in the 3D process. Several months later, Warner relented and reopened the cartoon studio. Fortunately, Warner Bros. had enough of a backlog of cartoons and a healthy reissue program so that there was no noticeable interruption in the release schedule.

After the downfall of 3D films, Harry Warner decided to use CinemaScope in future Warner Bros. films.^[135] One of the studio's first CinemaScope films, The High and the Mighty (now owned by John Wayne's company Batjac), enabled the studio to show a profit.^[136]

Early in 1953, the Warner theater holdings were spun off as Stanley Warner Theaters; Stanley Warner's non-theater holdings were sold to Simon Fabian Enterprises,^[137] and its theaters merged with RKO Theatres to become RKO-Stanley Warner Theatres.^[138] By 1956, however, the studio was losing money.^[139] By the end of 1953, the studio's net profit was $2.9 million^[140] and ranged between $2 and $4 million for the next two years.^[141] In February 1956, Jack Warner sold the rights to all of the studio's pre-1950 films to Associated Artists Productions (which merged with United Artists Television in 1958).^[142][143]

In May 1956, the brothers announced they were putting Warner Bros. on the market.^[144] Jack, however, secretly organized a syndicate – headed by Boston banker Serge Semenenko^[139]– to purchase 800,000 shares, 90% of the company's stock.^[139] After the three brothers sold, Jack – through his under-the-table deal – joined Semenenko's syndicate^[145] and bought back all his stock, 200,000 shares.^[145] Shortly after the deal was completed in July,^[146] Jack – now the company's largest stockholder – appointed himself new president.^[147] By the time Harry and Albert learned of their brother's dealings, it was too late.^[146] Shortly after the deal was closed, Jack Warner announced the company and its subsidiaries would be "directed more vigorously to the acquisition of the most important story properties, talents, and to the production of the finest motion pictures possible."^[148]

Warner Bros. Television[link]

By 1949, with the success of television threatening the film industry more and more, Harry Warner decided to shift his focus towards television production.^[132] However, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would not permit it.^[132] After an unsuccessful attempt to convince other movie studio bosses to switch their focus to television, Harry abandoned his television efforts.^[132]

The other Warner brother, Jack, began his hatred of television with problems with Milton Berle being hired by the studio to make an unsuccessful film Always Leave Them Laughing during the peak of his television popularity. Warner felt that Berle was not strong enough as a lead to carry a film and that people would not pay to see the man they could see on television for free. However Jack Warner was pressured into using Berle, even replacing Danny Kaye with him.^[149] Berle's outrageous behaviour on the set and the film's massive failure proving Jack Warner right led to Jack Warner forbidding television sets appearing in the studio's film sets.^[150]

On March 21, 1955, the studio was finally able engage in television through the successful Warner Bros. Television unit run by William T. Orr, Jack Warner's son-in-law. Warner Bros. Television provided the ABC with a weekly show, Warner Bros. Presents; the show featured a rotating series of shows based on three of the studio's film successes, Kings Row, Casablanca and Cheyenne, followed by a promotion for one of Warner's big screen films.^[151][152] It was not a success.^[153] The studio's next effort, making a weekly series out of Cheyenne, would be.^[154] Cheyenne was television's first one hour Western with two episodes placed together for feature film release outside the United States. In the tradition of their B Pictures, the studio followed up with a series of rapidly produced popular Westerns, such as Maverick, Bronco, and Colt .45.^[154] The success of these series helped to make up for the losses on the film side.^[154] As a result, Jack Warner decided to emphasize television production.^[155] Warners then produced a series of popular private detective shows beginning with 77 Sunset Strip (1958–64) followed by Hawaiian Eye (1959–1963), Bourbon Street Beat (1960) and Surfside Six (1960–1962).

Within a few years, the studio, in a matter reminiscent of their problems with James Cagney and Bette Davis, provoked hostility among their emerging contract TV stars like Clint Walker and James Garner, who sued over a contract dispute^[156] and won. Edd Byrnes was not so lucky and bought himself out of his contract. Jack Warner was angered by the perceived ingratitude of television actors, who evidently showed more independence than film actors, and this deepened his contempt for the new medium.^[157] Many of Warners television stars appeared in the casts of Warner's cinema releases of the time. In 1963 as a result of a court decision Warners has to cease their contracts with their television stars, engaging them for specific series or film roles. In the same year Jack Webb took over the television unit and did not have any successes.

Warner Bros. Records[link]

Warner Bros. was already the owner of extensive music-publishing holdings, whose tunes had appeared in countless Warners cartoons (arranged by Carl Stalling) and television shows (arranged by Max Steiner^[158]).

In 1958 the studio launched Warner Bros. Records. Initially the label released recordings made by their television stars whether they could sing or not and records based on the soundtracks of favourite Warner Bros. Television shows.

In 1963, Jack Warner agreed to a "rescue takeover" of Frank Sinatra's Reprise Records.^[159] The deal gave Sinatra US$1.5 million and part ownership of Warner Bros. Records, with Reprise becoming a sub-label;^[159] most significantly for Warner Bros.'s future music operations, the deal also brought Reprise manager Morris "Mo" Ostin into the company. In 1964, upon seeing the profits record companies made from Warner film music, Jack Warner decided to claim ownership of the studio's film soundtracks and focus on making profits through Warner Bros. Records.^[160] In its first eighteen months, Warner Bros. Records lost around $2 million.^[161]

New owners[link]

Warner Bros. rebounded in the late 1950s, specializing in adaptations of popular plays like The Bad Seed (1956), No Time for Sergeants (1958), and Gypsy (1962).

With his health slowly recovering from a car accident whilst on holiday to France in 1958, Jack returned to the studio and made sure his name was featured in studio press releases.^[162] In each of the first three years of the 1960s, the studio's net profit was a little over $7 million.^[162] Warner paid an unprecedented $5.5 million for the film rights to the Broadway musical My Fair Lady in February 1962. The previous owner, CBS director William S. Paley, set terms including half the distributor's gross profits "plus ownership of the negative at the end of the contract."^[163] In 1963, the net profit dropped to $3.7 million.^[162] By the mid-1960s, motion picture production was in decline. There were few studio-produced films and many more co-productions (for which Warner provided facilities, money, and distribution), and pickups of independently made pictures.

With the success of the studio's 1965 Broadway play The Great Race,^[161] as well as its soundtrack,^[161] Warner Bros. Records became a profitable subsidiary. The studio's 1966 film Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? was a huge success at the box office.^[164]

In November 1966, Jack gave in to advancing age and the changing times,^[165] selling control of the studio and its music business to Seven Arts Productions, run by the Canadian investors Elliot and Kenneth Hyman, for $32 million.^[166] The company, including the studio, was renamed Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. Jack Warner did, however, remain studio president until the summer of 1967, when Camelot failed at the box office and Warner gave up his position to the studio's longtime publicity director, Ben Kalmenson;^[167] Warner did, however, remain on board as an independent producer and vice-president.^[166] With the success of the studio's 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde, Warner Bros was making profits once again.^[168]

Two years later, the Hymans, now fed up with Jack Warner,^[168] accepted a cash-and-stock offer from an odd conglomerate called Kinney National Company for more than $64 million.^[168] Kinney owned a Hollywood talent agency, Ashley-Famous,^[169] and it was Ted Ashley who led Kinney head Steve Ross to purchase Warner Bros. Ashley became the new head of the studio, and the name was changed to Warner Bros., Inc. once again. Jack Warner, however, was outraged by the Hymans' sale,^[168] and decided to retire.^[168]

Although movie audiences had shrunk, Warner's new management believed in the drawing power of stars, signing co-production deals with several of the biggest names of the day, among them Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand, and Clint Eastwood, carrying the studio successfully through the 1970s and 1980s. Warner Bros. also made major profits on films built around the characters of Superman and Batman, owned by Warner Bros. subsidiary DC Comics.

Abandoning the mundane parking lots and funeral homes, the refocused Kinney renamed itself in honor of its best-known holding, Warner Communications. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Warner Communications branched out into other business, such as its acquiring of video game company Atari, Inc. in 1976, and later the Six Flags theme parks.

From 1971 until the end of 1987, Warner's international distribution operations were a joint venture with Columbia Pictures, and in some countries, this joint venture also distributed films from other companies (like EMI Films and Cannon Films in the UK). Warner ended the venture in 1988 and joined up with Walt Disney Pictures; this joint venture lasted until 1993, when Disney created Buena Vista International.

In 1972 in a cost-cutting move, Warner and Columbia Pictures formed a partnership called The Burbank Studios in which they would share production facilities utilitizing the Warner lot in Burbank. The partnership ended in 1990 when Columbia moved into the former MGM studio lot in Culver City.

To the surprise of many, flashy, star-driven Warner Communications merged in 1989 with the white-shoe publishing company Time Inc. Though Time and its magazines claimed a higher tone, it was the Warner Bros. film and music units which provided the profits. The Time Warner merger was almost derailed when Paramount Communications (Formerly Gulf+Western, later sold to Viacom), launched a $12.2 billion dollar hostile takeover bid for Time Inc., forcing Time to acquire Warner for $14.9 billion dollar cash/stock offer. Paramount responded with a lawsuit filed in Delaware court to break up the merger. Paramount lost and the merger proceeded.

In 1992, the division Warner Bros. Family Entertainment was established to produce various family-oriented films.

In 1997, Time Warner sold the Six Flags unit. The takeover of Time Warner in 2000 by then-high-flying AOL did not prove a good match, and following the collapse in "dot-com" stocks, the AOL name was banished from the corporate nameplate.

Since 1995[link]

A panoramic view over today's studio premises.

In 1995, Warner and station owner Tribune Company of Chicago launched The WB Network, finding a niche market in teenagers. The WB's early programming included an abundance of teenage fare like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville, Dawson's Creek, and One Tree Hill. Two dramas produced by Spelling Television, 7th Heaven and Charmed also helped bring The WB into the spotlight, with "Charmed" lasting eight seasons and being the longest running drama with female leads and "7th Heaven" surviving eleven seasons and being the longest running family drama and longest running show for The WB. In 2006, Warner and CBS Paramount Television decided to close The WB and CBS's UPN and jointly launch The CW Television Network. In 1999, Terry Semels and Robert Daly resigned as heads of the studio after a career of 13 Oscar nominated films. Many of Warner's top stars were considering quitting because of their absence. Daly and Semels were said to popularize the modern model of partner financing and profit sharing for film production. In the late 1990s, Warner obtained rights to the Harry Potter novels, and released feature film adaptations of the first in 2001, the second in 2002, the third in June 2004, the fourth in November 2005, and the fifth on July 11, 2007. The sixth was slated for November 2008, but Warner moved it to July 2009 only three months before the movie was supposed to come out, citing the lack of summer blockbusters in 2009 (due to the Writer's Strike) as the reason.^[170] The decision was purely financial, and Alan Horn said, "There were no delays. I’ve seen the movie. It is fabulous. We would have been perfectly able to have it out in November.”^[171] This resulted in a massive fan backlash.^[172] The seventh and final adaptation was released in two parts: Part 1 in November 2010 and Part 2 in July 2011.

Over the years, Warner Bros. has had distribution and/or co-production deals with a number of small companies. These include (but are not limited to) Amblin Entertainment, The Zanuck Company, Morgan Creek Productions (now working with Universal Studios), Regency Enterprises (now working with 20th Century Fox), Village Roadshow Pictures, Icon Productions, Legendary Pictures, Heyday Films, Alcon Entertainment, Lakeshore Entertainment, Malpaso Productions, Virtual Studios, Silver Pictures (including Dark Castle Entertainment), The Ladd Company, Castle Rock Entertainment and The Geffen Film Company. Green Hat Films, Troublemaker Studios, DC Entertainment, Appian Way Productions, GK Films, Media Rights Capital, Syncopy Films, Cruel and Unusual Films and Spyglass Entertainment.