Depeche Mode

Mute is an independent record label based in the UK. It was founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller and featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Goldfrapp, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure, Fad Gadget and Grinderman. During 1978, Daniel Miller began recording music using synthesisers... under the name The Normal. He recorded the tracks "T.V.O.D." and "Warm Leatherette", and distributed them through Rough Trade Shops under the label name Mute Records. The label was formed initially just to release the one single. "T.V.O.D."/"Warm Leatherette" became a cult hit ensuring the future of the label. "Warm Leatherette" was later covered by Grace Jones and Chicks on Speed. After meeting Robert Rental , Miller began recording and playing live as Robert Rental & The Normal. In 1979 they went on tour supporting the punk band Stiff Little Fingers, who had just released an album that was being distributed by Rough Trade. In 1980, Miller released the single, "Kebabtraume", by the German band Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft , who had recently moved to London.
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Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Records. The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a record label... were issued in 1968, distributed by London Records. From the beginning, Sire introduced underground, progressive British bands to the American market. Early releases included the Climax Blues Band, Barclay James Harvest, Tomorrow, Matthews Southern Comfort and proto-punks The Deviants. The label was distributed by Polydor Records from 1970 until 1971, during which time the now-famous logo was introduced, and then by Famous Music from 1972 to 1974, during which the progressive rock band Focus charted with their 1972 hit "Hocus Pocus". In the seventies, Sire released a number of compilation LPs, including the 3 volume "History Of British Rock" series, and diverse artists such as The Turtles, Duane Eddy, The Small Faces and Del Shannon. ABC Records inherited Sire's distribution contract when it acquired Famous Music in 1974.
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EMI Records, also called Evergreen Music Recordings is the flagship record label founded by the EMI company in 1972 and launched in January 1973 as the successor to its Columbia label. The EMI label was launched worldwide. The global success that EMI had enjoyed in the 1960s exposed the fact that... the company only had the rights to some of its trademarks in some parts of the world, most notably His Master's Voice and Columbia, with RCA Victor Records and the American Columbia Records owning the rights to these trademarks in North America. Complicating matters was the formation by American Columbia of its own operations in the UK by purchasing Oriole Records and changing its name to that of its then parent company CBS , and becoming highly successful, a serious rival to EMI, in the UK.
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