Interscope Records

Interscope Records is an American record label owned and operated by Universal Music Group.

History

The early days

Interscope was formed in 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field with financial support from Atlantic Records (which owned a 50% stake in the label). Upon its creation, it was initially distributed by Atlantic Records' subsidiary East West Records.

The label's first release was Latin-rapper Gerardo, who scored a top 5, gold hit with "Rico Suave" in the spring of 1991. More early success came later in the year when the label released the debut album from Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, which went platinum in early 1992. During this time, Interscope also signed rapper 2Pac, Primus, No Doubt and Nine Inch Nails.

Death Row Records and the rise of gangsta rap

Though Interscope seemed to be on a roll with its first few releases, the label was faced with criticism for manufacturing cookie-cutter hiphop that many didn't take seriously. That changed when in 1992, Iovine financially assisted Suge Knight and Dr. Dre in the creation of Death Row Records, and made a distribution deal with them through Interscope. The arrangement hit paydirt when Death Row and Interscope released The Chronic, the solo debut album from rapper/producer Dr. Dre. The album, released in December, became a seminal hit into the new year, eventually going triple platinum, and introduced the world to an up and coming Snoop Dogg — whose own debut album Doggystyle was released in late 1993 and became a monstrous success as well.

Following the success of Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, Death Row and Interscope became powerful labels in the industry, both collectively and respectively — with that, however, came criticism from various sources over the gangsta rap image that was being perpetuated. Feeling the heat from activist groups — Interscope's parent company, Time Warner, refused to distribute Death Row's next release, Dogg Food by Tha Dogg Pound, which was originally scheduled for release in June 1995. The album was subsequently pushed back, while Death Row and Interscope made an outside deal with Priority Records to distribute that album upon its release.

The controversy swirling around Death Row and Interscope made Time Warner's shareholders nervous, so much so that in late 1995, the company sold all of its stake in Interscope Records to MCA Music Entertainment (later renamed Universal Music Group). Not wanting to take on the scrutiny that plagued Time Warner, MCA too refused to distribute many of Interscope's Death Row releases — including 2Pac's much anticipated All Eyez On Me, his first release upon signing with Death Row, forcing Death Row and Interscope to strike a deal with Island Records to distribute that particular album outside of its home base. (Universal Music Group, however, would distribute later releases from 2Pac.)

Death Row began to collapse in 1996 following the death of Tupac Shakur, the incarceration of Knight, and departure of Dr. Dre. In August of 1997, Interscope (Under pressure from Universal Music Group) made the decision to sell off all of its share in the label. They, though, continue to join forces when it came to releasing posthumous albums by 2Pac.

Today

Though Interscope initially made a name for itself as a label dealing heavily in hip-hop, by the mid 1990s, its range began to expand and, subsequently, the company would eventually experience success with artists in all genres. In 1998, following UMG's acquisition of PolyGram — Geffen Records and A&M Records were merged into Interscope, making it the extremely powerful and leading unit at UMG that it is today. In 2005, Interscope launched a new imprint, Cherrytree Records for emerging artists, beginning with Oakland, CA's The Lovemakers.

Salaried artists

At the SXSW conference in 2006, Interscope lawyer Darryl Franklin said during a panel discussion, that the contract with the group The Pussycat Dolls is unique in that its members are actually salaried employees of the record label and, by design, completely interchangeable. This means that in addition to CD sales, the label also controls merchandise, web sites and all other commercial aspects of the group and their income, excluding songwriting.

External Links

Interview with Mark Williams, A&R at Interscope Records