True North Records is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 independent record label

Independent record label

An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

. It was founded in Mississauga, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 in 1969

1969 in music

-Events:Perhaps the two most famous musical events of 1969 were concerts. At a Rolling Stones concert in Altamont, California, a fan was stabbed to death by Hells Angels, a biker gang that had been hired to provide security for the event...

 by Bernie Finkelstein

Bernie Finkelstein

Bernie Finkelstein is a leading figure in the Canadian music industry. In 1969, he founded True North Records. Finkelstein managed The Paupers from 1966–1967 and Kensington Market from 1967-1969...

. On December 17, 2007, True North was acquired by an investment group led by Linus Entertainment

Linus Entertainment

Linus Entertainment is a record label based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.The company was started by Geoff Kulawick, who previously was vice president of A&R at Virgin Records/EMI Music Canada....

. Bernie Finkelstein remains as Chairman..

Artists who have released albums on True North include Bruce Cockburn

Bruce Cockburn

Bruce Douglas Cockburn OC is a Canadian folk/rock guitarist and singer-songwriter. His most recent album was released in March 2011. He has written songs in styles ranging from folk to jazz-influenced rock to rock and roll.-Biography:...

, Stephen Fearing

Stephen Fearing

Stephen Fearing is a Canadian folk singer-songwriter.Fearing was born in Vancouver, British Columbia and raised in Dublin, Ireland. He returned to Canada in 1981 and began pursuing a career in music. In addition to his solo career, Fearing was one of the founding members of Blackie and the Rodeo...

, Rheostatics

Rheostatics

Rheostatics was a Genie Award-winning Canadian indie rock band, active from 1980 to 2007.Although they had only one Top 40 hit, "Claire" in 1995, they were simultaneously one of Canada's most influential and unconventional rock bands, a band whose eclectic take on pop and rock music has been...

, Colin Linden

Colin Linden

Colin Linden is a Canadian musician, songwriter and record producer. He has worked with a wide variety of artists including Bruce Cockburn, Lucinda Williams, T-Bone Burnett, Colin James, Leon Redbone, Rita Chiarelli, Chris Thomas King and The Band.Linden is primarily a electric blues guitarist,...

, Lynn Miles

Lynn Miles

Lynn Miles is a Canadian singer-songwriter and winner of the 2003 Juno Award.-Early life and education:Miles was born outside Montreal in the town of Sweetsburg, Quebec. Her father was a harmonica player and jazz fan while her mother listened to both opera and country music. Miles learned to...

, Howie Beck

Howie Beck

Howie Beck is a Canadian singer-songwriter and producer based in Toronto. His debut album, 1997's Pop and Crash, was recorded at home while Beck recovered from mononucleosis.Beck began to attract attention outside of Canada with 1999's Hollow...

, Murray McLauchlan

Murray McLauchlan

Murray McLauchlan, CM is a Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist, and harmonica player.-Biography:Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, he emigrated to Canada with his family when he was five years old...

, John Bottomley

John Bottomley

John Bottomley was a Canadian singer-songwriter. Bottomley was born in Toronto in 1960 and died in 2011 in Brackendale, British Columbia...

, Lighthouse

Lighthouse (band)

Lighthouse is a Canadian rock band formed in 1968 in Toronto which included horns, string instruments, and vibraphone; their music reflected elements of rock music, jazz, classical music and swing...

, 54-40

54-40

54•40 is a Canadian alternative rock group from Tsawwassen, British Columbia.The band takes their name from the slogan "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight!", coined to express the expansionist agenda of James K...

, The Guess Who

The Guess Who

The Guess Who are a Canadian rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Initially gaining recognition in Canada, they also found international success from the late 1960s through the mid-1970s with numerous hit singles, including "American Woman", "These Eyes" and "Share the Land"...

, The Paperboys

The Paperboys

The Paperboys are a Canadian folk music band from Vancouver that formed in 1991. The Paperboys blend Celtic folk with bluegrass, Mexican, Eastern European, African, zydeco, soul and country influences...

, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings

Blackie and the Rodeo Kings

Blackie and the Rodeo Kings are a Canadian folk rock/alternative country band with blues and country influences. The band was formed in 1996, in Hamilton, Ontario, by Tom Wilson, Stephen Fearing, and Colin Linden.-Early Period: 1990s:...

, David Wiffen

David Wiffen

David Wiffen is a Canadian folk music singer-songwriter. Two of his songs, "Driving Wheel" and "More Often Than Not", have become cover standards.- Career :...

, Rough Trade

Rough Trade (band)

Rough Trade was a Canadian new wave rock band in the 1970s and 1980s, centred on singer Carole Pope and multi-instrumentalist Kevan Staples. The band was noted for their provocative lyrics and stage antics; singer Pope often performed in bondage attire, and their 1981 hit "High School...

, Lorraine Segato

Lorraine Segato

Lorraine Segato is a Canadian pop singer-songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist for and a principal songwriter of new wave and pop rock group Parachute Club, with which she continues to perform.- History :...

, Gregory Hoskins and the Stickpeople

Gregory Hoskins and the Stickpeople

Gregory Hoskins and the Stickpeople were a Canadian folk rock band in the 1990s, best known for their 1991 single "Neighbourhood". The band consisted of vocalist and guitarist Gregory Hoskins, backing vocalist Lynn Simmons, keyboardist George Civello, saxophonist Colleen Allen, bass guitarist Mike...

, Scott B. Sympathy

Scott B. Sympathy

Scott Bradshaw, who records as Scott B. Sympathy, is a Canadian indie rock musician. He released several albums with his eponymously-named band in the 1990s, and subsequently became a member of Stratochief following the 1999 death of that band's singer Greg McConnell.The name "Scott B...

, Hunter Valentine

Hunter Valentine

Hunter Valentine is an alternative rock band formed in 2004 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Hunter Valentine is a girl band with a moderate fan base in southern Ontario.-History:...

, Joel Kroeker

Joel Kroeker

Joel Kroeker is Winnipeg-born, Vancouver-based Canadian singer/songwriter of Mennonite heritage. He is signed to the True North Records music label....

 and Randy Bachman

Randy Bachman

Randolph Charles "Randy" Bachman, OC, OM is a Canadian musician best known as lead guitarist, songwriter and a founding member for both the 1960s–70s rock band The Guess Who, and the 1970s rock band Bachman–Turner Overdrive...

.

The label has also been the Canadian distributor for albums by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and British

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 artists, including Bananarama

Bananarama

Bananarama are an English female pop duo who have had success on the pop and dance charts since 1982. Rather than relying on a two part harmony, the duo generally sings in unison, as do their background vocalists. Although there have been line-up changes, the group enjoyed their most popular...

, Tim Buckley

Tim Buckley

Timothy Charles Buckley III was an American vocalist, and musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years; his first album was mostly folk oriented, but over time his music incorporated jazz, psychedelia, funk, soul, avant-garde and an evolving "voice as instrument," sound...

, Shawn Colvin

Shawn Colvin

Shawn Colvin is an American singer-songwriter and musician.-Childhood and early career:Colvin was born in Vermillion, South Dakota. Her formative years were spent in the town of Carbondale, Illinois, where she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She learned to play guitar at the age...

, The Fixx

The Fixx

The Fixx is an English rock band formed in London in 1979. Their hits include "One Thing Leads to Another," "Red Skies," "Stand or Fall," "Saved by Zero," "Sign of Fire," "Are We Ourselves?," "Secret Separation," "Driven Out," "How Much Is Enough?," and "Deeper and Deeper," which was featured on...

, Stéphane Grappelli

Stéphane Grappelli

Stéphane Grappelli was a French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands....

, Hoodoo Gurus

Hoodoo Gurus

Hoodoo Gurus are an Australian rock band, formed in Sydney in 1981, by the mainstay Dave Faulkner and later joined by Richard Grossman , Mark Kingsmill , and Brad Shepherd...

, Janis Ian

Janis Ian

Janis Ian is an American songwriter, singer, musician, columnist, and science fiction author. Ian first entered the folk music scene while still a teenager in the mid-sixties; most active musically in that decade and the 1970s, she has continued recording into the 21st century...

, Joy Division

Joy Division

Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis , Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris .Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences...

, Killing Joke

Killing Joke

Killing Joke are an English post-punk band formed in October 1978 in Notting Hill, London, England; other sources report the band formed in early 1979.Related news articles: Founding members Jaz Coleman and Geordie Walker have been the only constant members.A key influence on industrial rock,...

, New Order

New Order

New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris...

, Harry Nilsson

Harry Nilsson

Harry Edward Nilsson III was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson...

, Mudhoney, Echo & the Bunnymen

Echo & the Bunnymen

Echo & the Bunnymen are an English post-punk band, formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas had joined as the band's drummer, and their debut...

, Rod Stewart

Rod Stewart

Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....

, The String Cheese Incident, Hanson

Hanson (band)

Hanson are an American pop rock band formed in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by brothers Isaac , Taylor , and Zac Hanson . They are best known for the 1997 hit song "MMMBop" from their major label debut album Middle of Nowhere, which earned three Grammy nominations...

, Lenny Breau

Lenny Breau

Leonard Harold "Lenny" Breau was a musician, guitar player, and music educator. He was known for blending many styles of music including: jazz, country, classical and flamenco guitar...

 and Richard Thompson.

True North Records is distributed by Universal Music in Canada and by Rounder Records

Rounder Records

Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...

 in the United States; Other distributors include Planet in Australia and New Zealand; IRD in Italy; GO! Entertainment in Holland, Belgium and Luxemburg; Alive AG in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland; Rootsy Music in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway; and Essential Music in the United Kingdom.

In Canada, True North distributes the following labels: Cooking Vinyl

Cooking Vinyl

Cooking Vinyl is a UK-based independent record company, founded in 1986. Its original orientation was toward contemporary folk music—notably Billy Bragg, and Michelle Shocked's Texas Campfire Tapes, recorded on a Sony Walkman, one of its first releases...

, Fuel 2000

Fuel 2000

Formed in 1994, Fuel 2000 Records, part of the Fuel Label Group, has amassed an amazing catalog over 20,000 master recordings making it one of the biggest independent labels specializing in current music and deep catalog...

, SCI Fidelity

SCI Fidelity

Formed in 1998, SCI Fidelity Records is an independent record label based in Boulder, Colorado. It is owned and managed by the jam band The String Cheese Incident....

 and Signature Sounds.

The company won a Juno Award in 1974

Juno Awards of 1974

The Juno Awards of 1974, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 25 March 1974 in Toronto at a ceremony at the Inn on the Park's Centennial ballroom hosted by George Wilson of CFRB radio's Starlight Serenade programme.No television broadcasts had yet...

for "Best Independent Record Company of the Year".

True North began operating a concert division, True North Concerts, in 2008.