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.

L.A. Reid

Antonio M. "L.A." Reid (born June 7, 1956) is an American record executive, musician, songwriter, record producer, former television music competition judge, and is currently the chairman and CEO of Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment.

A co-founder of LaFace Records, Reid's production and studio drumming skills have helped to bring numerous music figures to multi-platinum sales, including Bobby Brown, Johnny Gill, Boyz II Men, Outkast, Toni Braxton, TLC, Mariah Carey, Avril Lavigne, Paula Abdul, Pink, Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Kanye West, Usher, Ne-Yo, Rick Ross, Young Jeezy, Ciara, Kerli and Dido. He has won three Grammy Awards.

Reid is also the president and CEO of Hitco Music Publishing, based in Atlanta, and was the chairman and CEO of the Island Def Jam Music Group for six years until his move to Epic in 2011.

He appeared as a judge on the first two seasons of the U.S. version of the television show The X Factor, but in December 2012 announced he would not be back for the show's third season, saying he wanted to focus on his leadership at Epic Records.

Record

A recording, record, records or the record may mean:

An item or collection of data:

Epic

Epic or E.P.I.C. may refer to:

People

Art, entertainment, and media

Comics

Film

Gaming

Genres

Literature

Music

Groups and labels

Albums

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.