Jive Records

JIVE Records (stylized as JIVE) was an American record label under the RCA Music Group formed in 1981 by Zomba Records. Formerly headquartered in New York City, known for a string of successes with hip hop artists in the 1980s, and also in teen pop and boy bands during the late 1990s/early 2000s.

JIVE Records operated as an independently managed label until 2003, when Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) acquired the remainder of its parent company Zomba for US $2.74 billion, which at the time was the largest-ever acquisition of an independent label with major-label distribution. JIVE's best-selling artists worldwide were the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears.

History

In 1971, South African musicians Clive Calder and Ralph Simon began a publishing and management company. It was named Zomba Records and relocated to London, England, four years later; their first client was a young Robert "Mutt" Lange. Zomba originally wanted to avoid record labels, choosing instead to focus on their songwriters and producers while allowing other established labels to release the material. Later that decade, the company opened offices in the US, where Calder began a business relationship with Clive Davis, whose Arista Records began releasing material by Zomba artists. In 1981, Zomba formed JIVE Records, whose operations began with the release of British dance and pop music such as Q-Feel, A Flock of Seagulls, and Tight Fit. Its name was inspired by township JIVE, a type of music that originated in South Africa. Davis had hoped that Zomba's connection with Mutt Lange would help alleviate the difficulties Arista was having finding potentially successful rock acts.