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DreamWorks Records
American record label From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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DreamWorks Records (often referred in copyright notices as SKG Music, LLC) was an American record label founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Mo Ostin, his son Michael Ostin and Lenny Waronker as a subsidiary of DreamWorks Pictures.[1] The label operated until January 9, 2005, when it was sold to Universal Music Group.[2] The label itself also featured a Nashville, Tennessee-based subsidiary, DreamWorks Nashville, which specialized in country music and was shut down in 2005 then moved to MCA Nashville. The company's logo was designed by Roy Lichtenstein and was his last commission before his death in 1997.[3] DreamWorks Pictures's DreamWorks Records catalogue is managed by Music Corporation of America, while its DreamWorks Nashville catalogue is managed by MCA Nashville.
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In October 1994, four years after David Geffen sold his former record label Geffen Records to MCA Music Entertainment, he joined Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg to form DreamWorks SKG.[4] SKG stood for Spielberg, Katzenberg & Geffen.[5] The three partners, mainly Geffen along with Mo Ostin, his son Michael, and Lenny Waronker, later launched the subsidiary record label DreamWorks Records in early 1996.[5] Rufus Wainwright was the first artist to be signed to the new record label, in early 1996. The label was presided over by Lenny Waronker and Mo Ostin – who ran Warner Bros. Records until the mid-1990s – and Michael Ostin, who served as the president of DreamWorks. Ostin stated at the time: "What you find in the record business is there is more and more a trend toward corporate control, corporate values, and here you’re dealing with a creatively oriented operation."[6]
The logo for the label was the last project completed by artist Roy Lichtenstein. The distinctive design, incorporating a musical note in the artist's trademark "dream balloon," debuted on the packaging for Beautiful Freak, the first album from Los Angeles-based band Eels, and the second release from the record company.[7] The record label's first release, George Michael's Older album, had featured DreamWorks' more well-known logo of a boy fishing and sitting on a moon crescent. This moon logo has been used for non-music divisions of DreamWorks, and was later turned into a 25 second long CGI opening logo, when the main division DreamWorks Pictures began releasing films in late 1997.[8]
Henry Rollins (both as a spoken-word artist and with Rollins Band), Alien Ant Farm, comedian/actor Chris Rock, Elliott Smith, Jimmy Eat World, Morphine, Nelly Furtado, Papa Roach, Powerman 5000, Sleepy Brown and Tamar Braxton were among some of the notable acts signed to the label in the 1990s and early 2000s.[9] By the time the first DreamWorks Pictures film The Peacemaker was released on September 26, 1997, the label had released 12 albums by George Michael, Eels, Jonathan Larson, Powerman 5000, Morphine, Rollins Band, Chris Rock, Kool Keith, Forest for the Trees, Subcircus, Kim Fox and Hans Zimmer, with the Hans Zimmer album being a soundtrack score for The Peacemaker (released two weeks prior to the film).[10][11] In the lead up to the March 1997 release of Rollins Band's DreamWorks debut Come In and Burn, lead singer Henry Rollins and DreamWorks Records had been involved in a lawsuit with Rollins Band's previous label Imago.[12][13] At the time, the independent Imago had lost its distribution deal with major label BMG, leading Rollins to seek another label, with Rollins later being approached by DreamWorks to join their new label.[14] Shortly after Rollins signed to DreamWorks, Imago president Terry Ellis filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against both Rollins and DreamWorks, alleging breach of contract. Imago argued Rollins was still obligated to deliver more albums, under an eight-album deal Rollins Band had signed in 1991.[12] Rollins countersued, claiming fraud and deceit on Imago's part.[15] Rollins believed that the contract was no longer valid due to Imago’s financial instability and loss of major label backing, saying that the label would soon go out of business.[12] The lawsuit was still ongoing by the time Come In and Burn was released.[14]
Once DreamWorks Pictures launched in September 1997, the label started doing soundtrack compilation tie-ins (usually with several songs from artists signed to their label), such as for the DreamWorks films Almost Famous, American Beauty, Forces of Nature, Road Trip, Shrek, Small Soldiers and The Prince of Egypt. Additionally, between 1998 and 2000, the label released soundtrack compilations for three non-DreamWorks films; Dead Man on Campus, A Night at the Roxbury and The Ladies Man. All three of these films were owned by Paramount, who later acquired the rights to the live-action DreamWorks film library in February 2006.[16][17][18] After releasing The Peacemaker score in 1997, the label would occasionally release other background scores for DreamWorks films, including Randy Newman's score for Meet the Parents, Thomas Newman's score for American Beauty and John Williams' scores for Amistad, Catch Me If You Can, Minority Report and Saving Private Ryan. American Beauty was the only film to receive both a soundtrack score album and a soundtrack compilation album with songs from various artists. Certain DreamWorks scores were released by outside labels, including Mouse Hunt, which had its score released by Varèse Sarabande in December 1997.[19]
Some of the label's biggest hits came in 2000-2001, with Nelly Furtado's "I'm Like a Bird", Papa Roach's "Last Resort" and Alien Ant Farm's cover of Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" being released during those years.[20][6] Geffen Records distributed DreamWorks Records until 1999, when Interscope Records took over distribution duties (meanwhile, as Interscope and Geffen switched international distribution to Polydor Records, DreamWorks Records followed suit). It was announced on November 11, 2003, that Universal Music Group (the former MCA Music Entertainment, and parent of Interscope, Geffen, and Polydor) reached an agreement to acquire DreamWorks Records from DreamWorks for "about $100 million".[21] The purchase came at a time when the music business was "going through major changes" as it struggled to "counter falling sales and the impact of unofficial online music sales". Mo Ostin, the principal executive at DreamWorks Records, said: "Despite the challenges of the music business today, Universal is acquiring a wonderful asset and the sale will assure the strongest possible future for our artists".[22] Under the new deal, DreamWorks Records was placed within the Interscope Geffen A&M label, under the direction of Jimmy Iovine.[21] After the finalisation of the label's sale to UMG on January 9, 2005, 100 employees were laid off at DreamWorks, multiple bands were dropped, and several albums were cancelled as it was folded into Geffen Records.[23] Notably, the label's A&R staff were kept on to the label.[23] Polly Anthony joined Jordan Schur as Geffen co-head in 2004.[24]
Its country music division, DreamWorks Nashville, which began in June 1997, remained operational until September 1, 2005. It was shut down by Universal Music Group Nashville following the departure of the label's biggest star, Toby Keith.[25]
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DreamWorks Nashville
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Between 1997 and 2005, DreamWorks operated a division in Nashville, Tennessee for country music acts. Among the artists signed to the DreamWorks Nashville division were Jessica Andrews, Emerson Drive, Toby Keith, Mike Walker, Randy Travis, Jimmy Wayne, and Darryl Worley.[26] Their first release was You and You Alone, by Randy Travis, who was formerly signed to Warner Bros. Records. The division released one soundtrack album during its lifespan; for The Prince of Egypt.[27] This film had two other soundtrack releases on the main DreamWorks Records label; one focusing on songs from R&B/pop artists and the other focusing on songs from Christian/gospel artists The final release by DreamWorks Nashville was Hanna–McEuen's self-titled album, on August 16, 2005.[28] This was also the final release under any DreamWorks-branded record label.
After DreamWorks Records' dissolution, former executive Scott Borchetta formed Big Machine Records in late 2005, signing several country music acts to the label.[29] Borchetta also signed Show Dog Records in partnership with Toby Keith,[30] although Keith dropped his association with the latter label in 2005. Meanwhile, Borchetta signed Taylor Swift to Big Machine Records.[31] The latter label merged with Universal South Records to become Show Dog-Universal Music.[32]
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