Ray J

Knockout Entertainment is singer Ray J's vanity label, founded in 2004. The label specializes in R&B, hip hop, and gospel. Originally released under Sanctuary Records, a press release in December 2007 announced a new partnership with E1 Records. The label's debut, Ray J's Raydiation... album—released September 2005—included the top twenty hit "One Wish" and went on to sell 1 million copies worldwide. Other releases include Willie Norwood's gospel album titled I Believe, which was not released in conjunction with any other label, and was only available as a digital download or through CD Baby and top-twenty albums Ray J's All I Feel and sister Brandy's Human.
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Koch Entertainment was a music, film and television distribution company. It was purchased by E1 Entertainment in 2005 and now operates under the name E1 Entertainment. The company began in 1975 as Koch International. Founded by Franz Koch, Koch International was an independent Austrian record... label and music distribution company that specialized in German and classical music recordings. For over 20 years, the company operated under the name Koch Entertainment, a music, film, and television distribution company that was started in 1987 by Franz's son Michael. By 1991, Koch had become one of the first national independent distributors of domestic labels in the U.S. by offering an alternative to the traditional system of regional independent distribution or national major label distribution. In 1992, Koch was ranked #315 on Inc. Magazine’s list of America’s 500 fastest-growing private companies, and has since grown into an entertainment conglomerate. It acquired the German label Schwann of Bill Schwann, renamed Koch Schwann. Koch expanded into the Canadian market in 1995 by forming the Toronto-based Koch Entertainment Canada.
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Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009. Elektra was formed in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt in Holzman's St. John's... College dorm room. Each invested $300. The usual spelling of the Greek mythological Pleiad Electra was changed. Holzman famously explained, “I gave her the ‘K’ that I lacked”. He found the 'C' in the original name "too soft" but liked the "solid bite" of the letter 'K', citing its use in the Kodak name. The first Elektra LP, New Songs , was a collection of Lieder and similar 'art' songs which sold few copies. During the Fifties and early Sixties the label concentrated on folk music recordings, releasing a number of best-selling albums by Theodore Bikel, Ed McCurdy, Oscar Brand, Judy Collins and protest singers such as Phil Ochs and Tom Paxton. Holzman also recorded Josh White, who was without a record deal as a result of McCarthyite blacklisting. In 1964, Elektra launched Nonesuch Records.
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Pop music is a genre of popular music which originated in its modern form in the 1950s, deriving from rock and roll. The terms popular music and pop... music are often used interchangeably, even though the former is a description of music which is popular , whilst the latter is a specific genre containing qualities of mass appeal. As a genre, pop music is very eclectic, often borrowing elements from other styles including urban, dance, rock, Latin and country; nonetheless, there are core elements which define pop. Such include generally short-to-medium length songs, written in a basic format , as well as the common employment of repeated choruses, melodic tunes, and catchy hooks. So-called "pure pop" music, such as power pop, features all these elements, utilising electric guitars, drums and bass for instrumentation; in the case of such music, the main goal is usually that of being pleasurable to listen to, rather than having much artistic depth.
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