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Harvest Records

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Harvest Records
Parent company
Founded1969
Founder
StatusActive
Distributor(s)
Genre
Country of originUnited Kingdom
LocationHollywood, Los Angeles, California
Official websiteharvestrecords.com

Harvest Records is a British-American record label belonging to Capitol Music Group, originally created by EMI in 1969.

History

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Harvest Records was created by EMI in 1969 to market progressive rock music,[1] and to compete with Philips' Vertigo and Decca's Deram labels, and the independent Island label. Harvest was initially under the direction of Malcolm Jones,[1] and was distributed in North America by EMI's US affiliate, Capitol Records. They were the European licensee for the American label Blue Thumb Records from 1969 to 1971.

In the 1970s, the label primarily released progressive rock recordings by British acts including Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, Kevin Ayers, The Move, Roy Wood, Barclay James Harvest, Be Bop Deluxe and Deep Purple.[1] Most acts on the Harvest roster were British; two notable exceptions were Australian progressive band Spectrum (whose first two LPs were issued on Harvest) and Spectrum's successor Ariel, whose first two LPs also came out on the label. The Danish musician Sebastian had three albums released in Denmark on the Harvest label between 1972 and 1974.[2][3][4]

The focus of the label changed slightly as the 1970s drew to a close, with the signing of post-punk groups Wire, Australian band the Saints and the Banned.[1] New wave artist Thomas Dolby released his debut album and fellow new wave act Duran Duran released its first two albums on the label in North America. Australian soft rock band Little River Band and English heavy metal band Iron Maiden's first three albums were also released in the US by the label. Pink Floyd switched to Columbia Records in the US after the release of The Dark Side of the Moon in 1973.

In the United States, Capitol initially treated Harvest as a separate label that they expected big sales from. After only a few issues, they had few sales to show for their effort and consequently only issued a few releases and numbered them within their standard Capitol LP series (mostly using Harvest for Pink Floyd releases). After this initial short-lived series, Capitol passed on most of the UK Harvest artists.

In 1975, a reissue sub-label was launched called Harvest Heritage. This new label largely compiled material that had been previously released on Harvest from 1969 onward. However, Harvest Heritage also reissued music from late 1960s EMI bands that had never recorded for the label, such as the Gods, Love Sculpture and Tomorrow. Heritage also occasionally released new music, such as Four Rock 'n' Roll Legends, a recording of a 1977 concert by rockabilly veterans Charlie Feathers, Buddy Knox, Jack Scott and Warren Smith.

Most of Harvest's European back catalog (including Pink Floyd [see exception below], Deep Purple [pre-1971], Duran Duran, and Iron Maiden) were divested by Universal Music after its takeover of EMI, as part of the Parlophone Label Group. Warner Music Group would buy that part of the catalog in February 2013.[5] Rights to the Australian Harvest recordings, including those from the Saints and Little River Band, were ceded to Universal's EMI Recorded Music Australia imprint.[6]

Pink Floyd Records controls the Pink Floyd catalog which licensed the catalog for manufacture and distribution by Warner Music Group for the UK and European markets and by Sony Music Entertainment for North America and the rest of the world.[7]

Capitol Music Group announced its relaunch of the label on 25 February 2013, with former Warner Bros. Records and Dangerbird Records executive Piero Giramonti at the helm.[8] Giramonti is tasked with running the label as an independent label, with the support of Capitol Music Group and Caroline Distribution for distribution, radio promotion and licensing. As of 2013, the Harvest roster consists of TV on the Radio, Arthur Beatrice, Babes, Death Grips, the Olms, Together Pangea, White Lies and Young & Sick.[9]

On 15 January 2014, it was announced that Morrissey[10] and Charlotte OC[11] had signed to Harvest Records.

Discography

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References and notes

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  1. ^ a b c d Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 1099/1100. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
  2. ^ a b "Sebastian - Den store flugt". Discogs. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Sebastian - Over havet under himlen". Discogs. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  4. ^ a b "Sebastian - Blød lykke". Discogs. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  5. ^ "Warner Music Group to Acquire the Parlophone Label Group". Warner Music Group. 7 February 2013. Archived from the original on 17 August 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  6. ^ "Universal Absorbs EMI And Then There Were Three". Noise11. 31 January 2013.
  7. ^ "Pink Floyd: For The First Time In Over Two Decades The Complete Pink Floyd Catalog To Be Available". PRNewswire. 6 May 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  8. ^ "Piero Giramonti Named GM of Harvest Records". Billboard.com. 25 February 2013. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  9. ^ "Harvest Records homepage". Harvestrecords.com. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  10. ^ "MORRISSEY SIGNS WORLDWIDE RECORDING AGREEMENT WITH HARVEST RECORDS". Prnewswire.com. 15 January 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  11. ^ "Confirms First NYC Show At Slipper Room (9/11) And Second LA Show For School Night At Bardot (9/08)". Shorefire.com. 12 August 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  12. ^ Janus: Gravedigger at Discogs
  13. ^ With Waters' move to Sony Music subsequent releases of this album were on CBS (originally outside Europe) and Columbia Records
  14. ^ featuring tracks by Idle Race, The Move and Electric Light Orchestra
  15. ^ Remastered and expanded edition of the 1971 album
  16. ^ "It's Not All That Bad by The Greeting Committee on iTunes". Itunes.apple.com. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
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