DreamWorks Records
Encyclopedia
DreamWorks Records was an American
record label
. Founded in 1996 by David Geffen
, Steven Spielberg
and Jeffrey Katzenberg
as a subsidiary of DreamWorks SKG
, the label operated until 2005 when it was shut down. The label itself also featured a Nashville, Tennessee
based subsidiary, DreamWorks Nashville, which specialized in country music
and was also shut down in 2005. The company's logo was designed by Roy Lichtenstein
and was his last commission before his death in 1997.
to MCA Music Entertainment
, he joined Spielberg and Katzenberg to form DreamWorks SKG, which included the subsidiary DreamWorks Records. The label's logo was the last project completed by artist Roy Lichtenstein
. The distinctive design, incorporating musical notes in the artist's trademark "dream balloon," debuted on the packaging for "Beautiful Freak," the first album from Los Angeles-based Eels
and the second release from the record company.
Geffen Records distributed DreamWorks until 1998, when Interscope Records
took over distribution duties (meanwhile, as Interscope and Geffen switched international distribution to Polydor Records
, DreamWorks followed suit). Rufus Wainwright
was the first to be signed to the new label in early 1996. Henry Rollins
(both as a spoken-word artist and with Rollins Band
), George Michael
, Randy Newman
, Morphine
, Eels
, comedian/actor Chris Rock
, and others were also signed to the label. The label was presided over by Lenny Waronker
and Mo Ostin
, who had run Warner Bros. Records
until the mid-1990s. In a quest to cut costs, DreamWorks SKG sold the label to Universal Music Group
(MCA's successor company) in October 2003. Despite high profile attention, the DreamWorks Records label ultimately failed to live up to full commercial expectation. With consistently lacking revenue, the label would eventually be dismantled, with much of its roster absorbed into Geffen Records in 2004 (other acts went to Interscope, while starting in 2007, many of the alternative groups once signed to DreamWorks moved to DGC Records
). Its country music division, meanwhile, remained operational until January 29, 2006, when it was shut down by Universal Music Group Nashville
.
, Emerson Drive
, Toby Keith
, Jeff Foxworthy
, Tracy Lawrence
, Randy Travis
, Jimmy Wayne
, and Darryl Worley
. After DreamWorks Records' dissolution, former executive Scott Borchetta formed Big Machine Records
in late 2005, signing several country music acts to the label. Borchetta also signed Show Dog Records in partnership with Toby Keith, although Keith dropped his association with the latter label in 2006.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
. Founded in 1996 by David Geffen
David Geffen
David Geffen is an American record executive, film producer, theatrical producer and philanthropist. Geffen is noted for creating Asylum Records in 1970, Geffen Records in 1980, and DGC Records in 1990...
, Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
and Jeffrey Katzenberg
Jeffrey Katzenberg
Jeffrey Katzenberg is an American film producer and CEO of DreamWorks Animation. He is perhaps most famous for his period as chairman of The Walt Disney Company's film division, and for producing DreamWorks animated films such as Shrek, Antz, The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Chicken...
as a subsidiary of DreamWorks SKG
DreamWorks
DreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...
, the label operated until 2005 when it was shut down. The label itself also featured a Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
based subsidiary, DreamWorks Nashville, which specialized in country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
and was also shut down in 2005. The company's logo was designed by Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein was a prominent American pop artist. During the 1960s his paintings were exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City and along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist and others he became a leading figure in the new art movement...
and was his last commission before his death in 1997.
History
In 1996, six years after Geffen sold Geffen RecordsGeffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
to MCA Music Entertainment
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
, he joined Spielberg and Katzenberg to form DreamWorks SKG, which included the subsidiary DreamWorks Records. The label's logo was the last project completed by artist Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein was a prominent American pop artist. During the 1960s his paintings were exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City and along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist and others he became a leading figure in the new art movement...
. The distinctive design, incorporating musical notes in the artist's trademark "dream balloon," debuted on the packaging for "Beautiful Freak," the first album from Los Angeles-based Eels
Eels (band)
Eels is an American indie rock band formed by singer/songwriter Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E...
and the second release from the record company.
Geffen Records distributed DreamWorks until 1998, when Interscope Records
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...
took over distribution duties (meanwhile, as Interscope and Geffen switched international distribution to Polydor Records
Polydor Records
Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
, DreamWorks followed suit). Rufus Wainwright
Rufus Wainwright
Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. He has recorded six albums of original music, EPs, and tracks on compilations and film soundtracks.-Early years:...
was the first to be signed to the new label in early 1996. Henry Rollins
Henry Rollins
Henry Rollins is an American singer-songwriter, spoken word artist, writer, comedian, publisher, actor, and radio DJ....
(both as a spoken-word artist and with Rollins Band
Rollins Band
Rollins Band was an American rock band led by singer and songwriter Henry Rollins.They are best known for the songs "Low Self Opinion" and "Liar", which both earned heavy airplay on MTV in the early 1990s...
), George Michael
George Michael
George Michael is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley...
, Randy Newman
Randy Newman
Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....
, Morphine
Morphine (band)
Morphine was an American alternative rock group formed by Mark Sandman and Dana Colley in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1989. They disbanded in 1999 after frontman Sandman died of a heart attack....
, Eels
Eels (band)
Eels is an American indie rock band formed by singer/songwriter Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E...
, comedian/actor Chris Rock
Chris Rock
Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer and director. He was voted in the US as the 5th greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central...
, and others were also signed to the label. The label was presided over by Lenny Waronker
Lenny Waronker
Lenny Waronker is a record producer for Warner Bros. Records.-Career:He produced recording sessions for Nancy Sinatra, The Everly Brothers, Van Dyke Parks, The Beau Brummels, Harpers Bizarre, Randy Newman, Ry Cooder, Arlo Guthrie, Maria Muldaur, Gordon Lightfoot, Rickie Lee Jones, James Taylor, ...
and Mo Ostin
Mo Ostin
Mo Ostin is a record executive who has worked for several companies, including Verve, Reprise Records, Warner Bros. Records, and DreamWorks. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 by Paul Simon, Neil Young, and Lorne Michaels...
, who had run Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
until the mid-1990s. In a quest to cut costs, DreamWorks SKG sold the label to Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
(MCA's successor company) in October 2003. Despite high profile attention, the DreamWorks Records label ultimately failed to live up to full commercial expectation. With consistently lacking revenue, the label would eventually be dismantled, with much of its roster absorbed into Geffen Records in 2004 (other acts went to Interscope, while starting in 2007, many of the alternative groups once signed to DreamWorks moved to DGC Records
DGC Records
DGC Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and currently operates as an auxiliary label of Interscope Records.-Company history:...
). Its country music division, meanwhile, remained operational until January 29, 2006, when it was shut down by Universal Music Group Nashville
Universal Music Group Nashville
Universal Music Group Nashville is Universal Music Group's country music subsidiary. Some of the labels in this group include MCA Nashville Records, Mercury Nashville Records, and Lost Highway Records...
.
DreamWorks Nashville
Between 1998 and 2005, DreamWorks also operated a division in Nashville, Tennessee for country music acts. Among the artists signed to the DreamWorks Nashville division were Jessica AndrewsJessica Andrews
Jessica Danielle Andrews is an American country music singer. At age 15 in mid-1999, she made her debut on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts with the single "I Will Be There for You", from her debut album Heart Shaped World, released in 1999 on DreamWorks Records Nashville.Andrews...
, Emerson Drive
Emerson Drive
Emerson Drive is a country music band founded in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada in 1995. The band is Brad Mates , Danick Dupelle , Mike Melancon , Dale Wallace , and David Pichette .Early on, the band found minor success in Canada, releasing two albums under the name of 12 Gauge, the first Open...
, Toby Keith
Toby Keith
Toby Keith Covel , best known as Toby Keith, is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer and actor. Keith released his first four studio albums — 1993's Toby Keith, 1994's Boomtown, 1996's Blue Moon and 1997's Dream Walkin, plus a Greatest Hits package for various divisions of...
, Jeff Foxworthy
Jeff Foxworthy
Jeffrey Marshall "Jeff" Foxworthy is an American comedian, television and radio personality and author. He is a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, a comedy troupe which also comprises Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall and Ron White. Known for his "you might be a redneck" one-liners, Foxworthy...
, Tracy Lawrence
Tracy Lawrence
Tracy Lawrence is an American country music artist. He started at a country music restaurant called "Live At Libby's" where owner Libby Knight would help local talent find their way into country music...
, Randy Travis
Randy Travis
Randy Travis is an American country music singer and actor. Since 1985, he has recorded 20 studio albums and charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, 22 of which were number one hits...
, Jimmy Wayne
Jimmy Wayne
Jimmy Wayne Barber is an American country music singer and songwriter. He released his self-titled debut album in 2003 on the DreamWorks Records label. Four singles were released from it, including "Stay Gone" and "I Love You This Much", which both reached Top Ten on the Billboard country charts...
, and Darryl Worley
Darryl Worley
Darryl Wade Worley is an American country music artist. Signed to DreamWorks Records Nashville in 2000, Worley released four albums for the label: Hard Rain Don't Last , I Miss My Friend , Have You Forgotten? , and Darryl Worley in 2004...
. After DreamWorks Records' dissolution, former executive Scott Borchetta formed Big Machine Records
Big Machine Records
Big Machine Records is an Independent American record label specializing in country music artists. It was launched in 2005 by former DreamWorks Records executive Scott Borchetta. The label was part of a joint venture between Borchetta and country singer Toby Keith, although Keith dropped his...
in late 2005, signing several country music acts to the label. Borchetta also signed Show Dog Records in partnership with Toby Keith, although Keith dropped his association with the latter label in 2006.