Johanna Kustannus Oy has been the name of two Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 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,...

s. Atte Blom has been a founding member for both companies, and Pekka Aarnio has also been involved with both. The first company using the name used the sublabel Johanna, while the second one used Pyramid and Megamania.

The first Johanna Kustannus Oy

The first Johanna Publishing started in 1978 with the publication of Juice Leskinen's, Dave Lindholm's and Kari Peitsamo's lyrics books. When Love Records

Love Records

Love Records was a record label from Finland, which released 384 LPs, 253 C-cassettes, 347 singles and 24 EPs. They were a pioneering label in Finnish rock music but also released jazz, political songs, ethnic music and so on....

 went bankrupt in 1979, Johanna Kustannus began publishing records. A majority of the bands signed with Love Records transferred over to Johanna Kustannus.

At first the company's name was Musiikki- ja kirjatoimisto P. Karhu, and the company also made a few releases under the sublabel Karhu. The first single released under the label Johanna was "Lontoon skidit" (JHNS 101) by Ratsia, and the first album "Kohdusta hautaan" (JHN 2001) by Tuomari Nurmio

Tuomari Nurmio

Tuomari Nurmio is the artist name of Hannu Juhani Nurmio , a Finnish rock singer and songwriter.-Work:Since his debut album, Nurmio has been regarded as one of the most original Finnish singer-songwriters. His lyrics are filled with peculiar and arresting metaphors and expressions, some of which...

 ja Köyhien Ystävät. At this time Johanna's releases were being published by Love Kustannus Oy. Johanna Kustannus began publishing its releases in 1981, and in 1982 the company was renamed to Johanna Kustannus Oy. Johanna Records released approximately 40 records in 1981.

Other companies behind Johanna-label

In Fall, 1982, the names of several other companies began to appear in Johanna's releases' production credits. This included such companies as Ralf Örn Pop and Rockadillo, until a new production company, A. A. B. Tuotanto Oy, was formed. The new company was partially under the same ownership as Johanna Kustannus, but also had ties with Polarvox and Finnvox.

A. A. B. Tuotanto released records in 1982-1984. During this time the company released approximately 30 albums by the same Johanna-artists as before. The last release by A. A. B. Tuotanto under the Johanna-label was "Rakkauden kiertokulku" (JHN 3039) by Rauli Badding Somerjoki.

Bankruptcy

Johanna Kustannus went bankrupt in October 1984. The last record released was "Tohtori Pöhön aerobix" (JHN 2512), a project by Sleepy Sleepers

Sleepy Sleepers

Sleepy Sleepers is a Finnish pop/rock/punk band. The band released 19 albums between 1975 and 1989. Sakke Järvenpää and Mato Valtonen were the main members of the band...

. Other records that had been completed by the time of the bankruptcy were released by Love Kustannus under the sublabel Beta. After the bankruptcy Atte Blom continued producing records with the company Megamania Musiikki Ky, releasing records under the sublabels Pyramid and Megamania. The bankcruptcy of Johanna Kustannus was finalised in 1989.

The second Johanna Kustannus Oy

When the first Johanna Kustannus' name was removed from the Finnish Trade Register

Finnish Trade Register

The Finnish Trade Register provides official information on businesses in the whole country, including data from current and old register entries, articles of association, partnership agreements or rules....

 in 1989, Blom immediately formed a second company under the same name. The company had three other owners besides Atte Blom. The new Johanna Kustannus continued in the spirit of the previous Megamania Musiikki Ky, and used the same sublabels Pyramid and Megamania. The company itself claims that the second Johanna Kustannus was formed in 1985, the time when Megamania Musiikki began operating.

The new Johanna Kustannus' capital dropped sharply in the fiscal year 2000, and in summer 2002 the majority of the company's shares were transferred to Love Kustannus Oy through a share offering. Blom resigned from the company in 2005. The current CEO is Sini Perho, who is also the CEO of Love Kustannus.

Currently the company is mainly releasing Finnish rock music

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

, releasing approximately twenty albums and singles yearly.

Artists

The first and second Johanna Kustannus shared many of their artists. After the first company went bankcrupt, many of the artists continued in the second, and the second company has been re-releasing some of the first company's original releases. The two companies had signed several bands notable in the Finnish music scene, including:

• 22-Pistepirkko
  22-Pistepirkko
  22-Pistepirkko is a Finnish popular music band formed in 1980. It was formed in a small rural village of Utajärvi in Northern Finland but moved to Helsinki, the capital of Finland, in 1985...
  
  
• Absoluuttinen Nollapiste
  Absoluuttinen Nollapiste
  Absoluuttinen Nollapiste is a pop/rock band originating from Rovaniemi, Finland. It is somewhat famous for combining catchy melodies and solid, slightly progressive songwriting with Tommi Liimatta's eccentric lyrics....
  
  
• Don Huonot
  Don Huonot
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• Hanoi Rocks
  Hanoi Rocks
  Hanoi Rocks was a Finnish rock band formed in 1979, whose most successful period came in the early 1980s. The band broke up in 1985 after the death of their drummer, Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley...
  
  
• Kotiteollisuus
  Kotiteollisuus
  Kotiteollisuus is a Finnish hard rock/heavy metal band that was formed in 1991 in Lappeenranta. The band released its first demo tape in 1993 under the name "Hullu ukko ja Kotiteollisuus" . The shortened name and current line-up was established in 1997.Kotiteollisuus is said to combine "furious...
  
  
• Leevi and the Leavings
  Leevi and the Leavings
  Leevi and the Leavings was a Finnish rock band that operated from 1978 to 2003.The band consisted of Gösta Sundqvist, Risto Paananen, Juha Karastie and Niklas Nylund. Sundqvist was the leader of the band, he composed and wrote all the band's songs as well as being the vocalist...
  
  
• Leningrad Cowboys
  Leningrad Cowboys
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• Juice Leskinen
  Juice Leskinen
  Juhani Juice Leskinen , better known as Juice Leskinen , was one of the most prominent Finnish singer-songwriters of the late 20th century. From the early 1970s onward he released nearly 30 full-length albums, as well as writing song lyrics for dozens of Finnish artists...
  
  
• Andy McCoy
  Andy McCoy
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• Pelle Miljoona
  Pelle Miljoona
  Pelle Miljoona, real name Petri Samuli Tiili is a Finnish punk rock musician, who assembled his first band in 1977. His biggest hit was in 1980 with Moottoritie on Kuuma . Another well-known song is Tahdon rakastella sinua...
  
  
• Peer Günt
• Raptori
  Raptori
  Raptori is a rap group, formed 1989 in Hyvinkää, Finland. They were pioneers of Finnish rap music.Raptori were both aggressive and humoristic at once, and often used counter-intuitive rhymes. During the last years of 1990s dozens of new Finnish rap groups appeared but Raptori was among the first...
  
  
• Rinneradio
  RinneRadio
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• Sleepy Sleepers
  Sleepy Sleepers
  Sleepy Sleepers is a Finnish pop/rock/punk band. The band released 19 albums between 1975 and 1989. Sakke Järvenpää and Mato Valtonen were the main members of the band...
  
  
• Rauli Badding Somerjoki
• Ultra Bra
  Ultra Bra
  Ultra Bra was a Finnish band, formed in 1994 by Olli Virtaperko and Kerkko Koskinen, and disbanded in 2001. Throughout the 1990s, the band was very popular in Finland, but never spread to other countries.-Band history:...