| rdfs:comment | - Geffen Records é un selo discográfico estadounidense, propiedade de Universal Music Group, fundado no ano 1980 polo empresario David Geffen.
- Geffen would build their reputation throughout the 80's as a major pop label by signing the likes of Elton John, Kylie Minogue, Peter Gabriel, Joni Mitchell, Sonic Youth and Neil Young (who ultimately went back to Reprise Records). By the end of the decade the label became most famous for being a rock label by signing acts such as Guns N' Roses, Whitesnake and Aerosmith's comeback era. This lead to Geffen founding DGC Records to hold their more experimental rock groups (just in time for Alternative Rock to emerge).
- Geffen Records was founded in 1980 by music industry businessman David Geffen who, in the early 1970s, had founded Asylum Records. Geffen stepped down from Asylum after being diagnosed with a cancerous cyst, but following confirmation that the growth was benign, he returned to work and struck a deal with Warner Bros. Records to create Geffen Records. Warner provided 100 percent of the funding for the label's operations, while Geffen retained 50 percent of the profits, and distributed its records. (International distribution outside the US and Canada, meanwhile, moved from WEA in 1982 to CBS until 1990.)
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| abstract | - Geffen Records was founded in 1980 by music industry businessman David Geffen who, in the early 1970s, had founded Asylum Records. Geffen stepped down from Asylum after being diagnosed with a cancerous cyst, but following confirmation that the growth was benign, he returned to work and struck a deal with Warner Bros. Records to create Geffen Records. Warner provided 100 percent of the funding for the label's operations, while Geffen retained 50 percent of the profits, and distributed its records. (International distribution outside the US and Canada, meanwhile, moved from WEA in 1982 to CBS until 1990.) Geffen Records' first signee was disco superstar Donna Summer, whose gold-selling album The Wanderer became the label's first release in 1980. The label followed it up with Double Fantasy by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. It was Lennon's first album of all-new material in several years. Two days after it entered the charts, Lennon was assassinated in New York City. Subsequently, the album went on to sell millions and gave Geffen its first number-one album and single (the rights to the album are now owned by EMI). Geffen Records also had early success with several big 80s acts including Quarterflash, Oxo, Asia, Wang Chung, and a pre-Van Halen Sammy Hagar. As the 1980s progressed, Geffen Records continued to sign a handful of established music icons, including Elton John, Cher, Don Henley, Wang Chung, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, and Jennifer Holliday. Toward the end of the decade, the company also began making a name for itself as an emerging rock label, thanks to the success of Whitesnake (US only), Guns N' Roses, Tesla and the mainstream comeback of '70s era rockers Aerosmith. This prompted Geffen to create a subsidiary label, named DGC Records in 1990, which focused on more progressive sounds and would later embrace the emergence of alternative rock. Geffen also distributed the first incarnation of Def American Recordings through Warner Bros. from 1988 to 1990.
- Geffen Records é un selo discográfico estadounidense, propiedade de Universal Music Group, fundado no ano 1980 polo empresario David Geffen.
- Geffen would build their reputation throughout the 80's as a major pop label by signing the likes of Elton John, Kylie Minogue, Peter Gabriel, Joni Mitchell, Sonic Youth and Neil Young (who ultimately went back to Reprise Records). By the end of the decade the label became most famous for being a rock label by signing acts such as Guns N' Roses, Whitesnake and Aerosmith's comeback era. This lead to Geffen founding DGC Records to hold their more experimental rock groups (just in time for Alternative Rock to emerge). Geffen's contract with Warner ended in 1990, with the label being sold to Universal (called MCA Records at the time). David Geffen, made a billionaire from stock and Panasonic's brief acquisition of Universal, decided to step down from his position in 1995 to focus on DreamWorks. During this time Geffen was one of the strongest independently managed labels of the time. With Universal's acquisition of PolyGram in 1999, which lead them to pull in and reorganize their labels (independently operated included), Geffen was merged with A&M Records to form Interscope Records (interestingly, Interscope would later acquire Dream Works records who had been handling Geffen's distribution as a subsidiary up to that point). Geffen still operates as a separate entity, though much smaller to suit Interscope's needs. Since Geffen still had steady business, the Universal Music Group decided to fold MCA Records' artists into Geffen, diversifying their roster (Mary J. Blige, Blink 182, Common, etc.). Around the same time Dream Works Records also folded, with the majority of its signees being moved to Geffen. Needless to say, the roster had moved from pop-rock to everything. Geffen decided to go with this, signing the likes of Ashlee Simpson and Snoop Dogg. With all this new-found diversity, Geffen found themselves standing on the same level as Interscope. Many industry insiders thought Geffen would go back to independence within UMG. Yet by 2007 Interscope had absorbed Geffen even more.
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