Epic Records

Epic Records is an American record company. A division of Sony Music Entertainment, Inc., Epic was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical music label in 1953. It later expanded its scope to include diverse musical genres including pop, R&B, rock and hip hop. Over the years, the label has housed popular acts such as Boston, Celine Dion, Dave Clark Five, Fiona Apple, Gloria Estefan, Jennifer Lopez, Michael Jackson, Pearl Jam, Sade, Shakira, and Sly & the Family Stone.

Along with Columbia and RCA Records, Epic is one of Sony Music Entertainment's three main record labels. L.A. Reid has served as chairman and CEO of Epic since July 2011. Sylvia Rhone was appointed president in March 2014.

History

Beginnings

Epic Records was launched in 1953 by Columbia Records for the purpose of marketing jazz, pop and classical music that did not fit the theme of its more mainstream Columbia Records label. Initial classical music releases were from Philips Records which distributed Columbia product in Europe. Pop talent on co-owned Okeh Records were transferred to Epic which made Okeh a rhythm and blues label. Epic's bright-yellow, black, and blue logo became a familiar trademark for many jazz and classical releases. This has included such notables as the Berlin Philharmonic, Charles Rosen, the Juilliard String Quartet, Antal Doráti conducting the Hague Philharmonic and George Szell conducting the Cleveland Orchestra.

Google Play

Google Play or Google Play Store, and originally the Android Market, is a digital distribution platform operated by Google. It serves as the official app store for the Android operating system, allowing users to browse and download applications developed with the Android SDK and published through Google. Google Play also serves as a digital media store, offering music, magazines, books, movies, and television programs. It previously offered Google hardware devices for purchase until the introduction of a separate online hardware retailer, Google Store, on March 11, 2015.

Applications are available through Google Play either free of charge or at a cost. They can be downloaded directly to an Android or Google TV device through the Play Store mobile app, or by deploying the application to a device from the Google Play website. Many applications can be targeted to specific users based on a particular hardware attribute of their device, such as a motion sensor (for motion-dependent games) or a front-facing camera (for online video calling).

Jidenna

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Jidenna Theodore Mobisson (born May 4, 1985), known professionally as Jidenna, is a Nigerian-American recording artist signed to Wondaland Records. In 2015, Jidenna released two singles, "Classic Man" and "Yoga", promoting the label's compilation EP The Eephus.

Early life and education

Jidenna was born in Tamai, Italy to Tama Mobisson, an accountant, and Oliver Mobisson, a Nigerian Igbo academic. Jidenna grew up in Nigeria, where his father was a professor of computer science at Enugu State University. Jidenna's name in the Igbo language means to "embrace the father."

The family moved to Boston, Massachusetts in 1995. Jidenna graduated from Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts, in 2003. He founded a rap group while in high school when he began producing, arranging and writing. Jidenna attended Stanford University, first studying sound engineering but eventually switching his major to "ritualistic arts." After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2008, he pursued his music career full-time, moving between Los Angeles, Oakland, Brooklyn and Atlanta.

Sony Music Entertainment

Sony Music Entertainment Inc. (sometimes known as Sony Music or by the initials, SME) is an American music corporation managed and operated by Sony Corporation of America (SCA), a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony Corporation. In 1929, the enterprise was first founded as American Record Corporation (ARC) and, in 1938, was renamed Columbia Recording Corporation, following ARC's acquisition by CBS. In 1966, the company was reorganized to become CBS Records. In 1987, Sony Corporation of Japan bought the company, and in 1991, renamed it SME. It is the world's second largest recorded music company, after Universal Music Group.

In 2004, SME and Bertelsmann Music Group merged as Sony BMG Music Entertainment. When Sony acquired BMG's half of the conglomerate in 2008, Sony BMG reverted to the SME name. The buyout led to the dissolution of BMG, which then relaunched as BMG Rights Management. Out of the "Big Three" record companies, with Universal Music Group being the largest and Warner Music Group, SME is middle-sized.

Amazon Music

Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is an online music store and music locker operated by Amazon.com. Launched in public beta on September 25, 2007, in January 2008 it became the first music store to sell music without digital rights management (DRM) from the four major music labels (EMI, Universal, Warner Music, and Sony BMG), as well as many independents. All tracks were originally sold in 256 kilobits-per-second variable bitrate MP3 format without per-customer watermarking or DRM; however, some tracks are now watermarked. Licensing agreements with recording companies restrict the countries in which music can be sold: Amazon.com only sells music to US customers while Amazon.co.uk only sells music to UK customers.

After the United States, Amazon MP3 was launched in the United Kingdom on December 3, 2008, in Germany on April 1, 2009, and in France on June 10, 2009. The German edition has been available in Austria and Switzerland since December 3, 2009. The Amazon MP3 store was launched in Japan on November 10, 2010. The Spanish and Italian editions were launched on October 4, 2012.