Europa (record label)
Encyclopedia
Europa is a German record label
, originally owned by Miller International Records Company (Germany). It has since belonged to the Music Corporation of America
and Bertelsmann Music Group, and is now owned by Sony Corporation of America
. It was once well-known for its very successful radio plays for children and young people. The founder of Europa, American ex-pat David L. Miller, is best known outside of Germany for creating 101 Strings
.
of the label:
. At the beginning of 1990s, the two series The three investigators and TKKG were essentially all that Europa produced. However, from end of the 1990s, radio plays have experienced a renaissance. With the rise of the Internet
, there has been new interest in the old radio plays, and demand for new productions has also risen strongly. Increased sales of tapes and LPs provided a revenue stream which made a renewed radio play boom possible. Beginning in 2000, Europa presented the old radio plays under the slogan Rückkehr der Klassiker, which roughly means return of the classical authors. In addition there was a renewed interest in The three investigators, considered the label's flagship product. New series were produced, aimed at young listeners. In 2006, the series Teufelskicker was produced: an official licensed product of the Football World Cup.
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,...
, originally owned by Miller International Records Company (Germany). It has since belonged to the Music Corporation of America
Music Corporation of America
MCA, Inc. was an American talent agency. Initially starting in the music business, they would next become a dominant force in the film business, and later expanded into the television business...
and Bertelsmann Music Group, and is now owned by Sony Corporation of America
Sony Corporation of America
Sony Corporation of America , based in New York, is the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo. It is the umbrella company under which all Sony companies operate in the United States....
. It was once well-known for its very successful radio plays for children and young people. The founder of Europa, American ex-pat David L. Miller, is best known outside of Germany for creating 101 Strings
101 Strings
101 Strings Orchestra was a brand for a highly successful easy listening symphonic music organization, with a discography exceeding a hundred albums and a creative lifetime of roughly thirty years. Their LPs were individualized by the slogan "The Sound of Magnificence", a puffy cloud logo and...
.
History of the Europa label
- 1956: The Miller International Record Company is formed by David L. Miller, Wilhelm Wille and Andreas Erich Beurmann in QuickbornQuickbornQuickborn is a town in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approx. 17 km east of Elmshorn, and 20 km north of Hamburg.-International relations:Quickborn is twinned with:* Boxholm, Sweden...
near HamburgHamburg-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. They will create the label Europa. Their aim is to produce low-cost language courses, classical music and Background musicBackground musicAlthough background music was by the end of the 20th century generally identified with Muzak or elevator music, there are several stages in the development of this concept.-Antecedents:...
. They also produce an LPGramophone recordA gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
of fairy tales of the Brothers GrimmBrothers GrimmThe Brothers Grimm , Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm , were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who collected folklore and published several collections of it as Grimm's Fairy Tales, which became very popular...
, narrated by Hans PaetschHans PaetschHans Paetsch was a German film actor. He appeared in 52 films between 1939 and 2002.He was born in Altmünsterol, Germany and died in Hamburg, Germany.-Selected filmography:...
. This would become the foundation-stone of Europa's success as a record label. - 1958: Miller International inaugurates a stereo label, called Stereo-Fidelity.
- 1966: Europa-Kinderserie is born and the first radio plays are produced, featuring fairy tales and adventure stories. Such radio plays are rare at the time, and the label only has moderate success.
- 1980s: Europa produce H. G. FrancisH. G. FrancisHans Gerhard Franciskowsky was a German author of popular fiction, notably science fiction, and radio dramas. He wrote pseudonymously, most often as H. G. Francis, or as Hans G. Francis, H. G. Francisco, Gunther Frank, Peter Bars, R. C. Quoos-Raabe, Frank Sky, Hans G...
's films. Douglas Welbat is responsible for the film scripts of the series Macabros and Larry Brent.
Directors
There have been four directorsExecutive director
Executive director is a term sometimes applied to the chief executive officer or managing director of an organization, company, or corporation. It is widely used in North American non-profit organizations, though in recent decades many U.S. nonprofits have adopted the title "President/CEO"...
of the label:
- 1966-1968 - the era of Sieglinde Dziallas. Dziallas, was the friend of Berumann, the joint founder. He used the alias Claudius Brac during the first years. During Dziallas' tenure, Beurmann attracted many more Hamburg stage actors to record the radio plays, including Hans Paetsch, Benno Gellenbeck, Peter Folken, Horst Fleck and Marga Massberg.
- 1968-1972 - the era of Konrad Halver. In 1968, Dziallas suddenly died, and Beurmann withdrew from active production of the radio plays. Halver wrote and directedFilm directorA film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
films and produced radio plays of Karl MayKarl MayKarl Friedrich May was a popular German writer, noted mainly for adventure novels set in the American Old West, and similar books set in the Orient and Middle East . In addition, he wrote stories set in his native Germany, in China and in South America...
's WinnetouWinnetouWinnetou is a fictional Native American hero of several novels written by Karl May in German, including the sequels Winnetou I through Winnetou IV....
novels. Altogether Halver produced about 75 radio plays. - 1972-1973 - the era of Dagmar von Kurmin. In 1972, Halver left Europa, and for a short time von Kurmin oversaw the production of some 15 radio plays, including some by Karl May and Moby-DickMoby-DickMoby-Dick; or, The Whale, was written by American author Herman Melville and first published in 1851. It is considered by some to be a Great American Novel and a treasure of world literature. The story tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod,...
by Herman MelvilleHerman MelvilleHerman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....
. - 1973-present - the era of Heikedine Körting. Under Körting's direction many series have been produced, including Edgar WallaceEdgar WallaceRichard Horatio Edgar Wallace was an English crime writer, journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright, who wrote 175 novels, 24 plays, and numerous articles in newspapers and journals....
, The three investigators, TKKGTKKGThe Junior detective series TKKG is a German series of audio dramas and novels created by "Stefan Wolf", a pseudonym used by Rolf Kalmuczak.- The characters and their creator :...
, Sherlock HolmesSherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
, Commander PerkinsCommander PerkinsCommander Perkins is a German science fiction series by H. G. Francis, published partly as audio plays and partly as a series of novels.-Background:...
, Perry RhodanPerry RhodanPerry Rhodan is the name of a science fiction series published since 1961 in Germany, as well as the name of the main character. It is a space opera, dealing with several themes of science fiction. Having sold over one billion copies worldwide, it is the most successful science fiction book series...
, Die Funk-Füchse and Die Gruselserie. Since end of the 1990s, André Minninger has also produced the radio plays. Minninger is also the author of some of the German Three investigatorsThree InvestigatorsThe Three Investigators is an American juvenile detective book series first published as "Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators" but also expanded in Germany. It was created by Robert Arthur, Jr., who believed using a famous figure such as movie director Hitchcock would attract attention....
Novels. Some of the radio plays produced during Körting's tenure have received gold and platinum discsMusic recording sales certificationMusic recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
.
Carsten Bohn controversy
A further success guarantor was the music of Carsten Bohn. Bohn felt that he was not sufficiently paid for his compositions and a legal dispute ensued. As a consequence, the Europa label has been unable to use his compositions since the mid-1980s.Decline and renaissance
At the end of the 1980s, bad sales figures caused radio play production to slow down. The main reason cited for the declining sales was that children and young people were no longer interested in radio plays, preferring instead to play computer gamesComputer Games
"Computer Games" is a single by New Zealand group, Mi-Sex released in 1979 in Australia and New Zealand and in 1981 throughout Europe. It was the single that launched the band, and was hugely popular, particularly in Australia and New Zealand...
. At the beginning of 1990s, the two series The three investigators and TKKG were essentially all that Europa produced. However, from end of the 1990s, radio plays have experienced a renaissance. With the rise of the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, there has been new interest in the old radio plays, and demand for new productions has also risen strongly. Increased sales of tapes and LPs provided a revenue stream which made a renewed radio play boom possible. Beginning in 2000, Europa presented the old radio plays under the slogan Rückkehr der Klassiker, which roughly means return of the classical authors. In addition there was a renewed interest in The three investigators, considered the label's flagship product. New series were produced, aimed at young listeners. In 2006, the series Teufelskicker was produced: an official licensed product of the Football World Cup.