Uni Records
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Uni Records (short for the label's legal name Universal City Records) was a record label owned by MCA Inc. The brand, which long featured a distinct UNi logo, was established in 1966 by MCA executive Ned Tanen and developed by music industry veteran Russ Regan. Notable artists on Uni included Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Foundations, Hugh Masekela, Brian Hyland, Desmond Dekker, Bill Cosby, Elton John, Neil Diamond, Dave and Ansil Collins, Fever Tree and Olivia Newton-John. In 1971 Uni was merged with two other MCA subsidiaries, Kapp Records (a division of Universal City Records which MCA purchased in 1967) and the American Decca Records, to form MCA Records. The Decca, Kapp and Uni labels continued to be used for new releases for a short time, but in late 1972 new releases by their former artists began appearing on the MCA Records label; before long their back catalogs had been transferred to MCA as well.
In 1988, Uni was briefly revived by MCA Records as a niche label, with an artist roster of Transvision Vamp, Eric B. & Rakim, Swans, and Steve Earle. By the end of 1989 Swans had been dropped and the others had been returned to the MCA label.
In 1991, MCA revamped the Uni moniker once more when they changed the name of their music distribution network from MCA Music Distribution Corp to Uni Distribution Corp. In the wake of Seagram's purchase of MCA in 1996, it was renamed Universal Music & Video Distribution, Inc. In June 2001, it was renamed Universal Music & Video Distribution, Corp. It was changed again in 2006 to Universal Music Distribution.
Label variations
- 1967-1973: Mustard yellow label with lime green, blue and magenta swirls, followed by lime green colored Uni logo in yellow swirl and another lime green swirl. Many albums during this run were also pressed with custom labels.
- 1988-1989: Blue label with Uni logo in black at top
References
- Hall, Claude: "MCA Drops Vocalion, Decca, Kapp and Uni", Billboard, February 10, 1973
See also
