Mainstream Records
Mainstream Records was an American indie record label, which released jazz, rock music, and soundtracks during the 1970s.
It was founded in 1964 by Bob Shad, and in its early history reissued material from Commodore Records and Time Records in addition to some new jazz material. The label released Big Brother & the Holding Company's first material in 1967, as well as The Amboy Dukes' first albums, whose guitarist, Ted Nugent, would become a successful solo artist in the 1970s. Mainstream acted as the distributing label for Bob Thiele's Flying Dutchman Records and continued issuing soundtracks and new jazz material through to 1978, when it ceased.
Shad died in 1985, and his daughter, Tamara Shad, licensed its back catalogue for reissues. In 1991 it was resurrected in order to reissue much of its holdings on compact disc and, in 1993, it was purchased by Sony subsidiary Legacy Records.
In 2012, a compilation of "Pop-Psych" tracks released on the label between 1966-1970, entitled All Kinds of Highs, came out in the UK on Big Beat.