Underworld

Wax Trax! Records was a record label in the United States. Wax Trax! began as a record shop in Denver, Colorado opened by Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher. They sold the store in 1978 and, in November of that year, opened a new one under the same name at 2449 North Lincoln Avenue in Chicago, Illinois.... This store would become the center of the New Wave, punk rock and industrial music scenes in Chicago. The record store became a record label slowly at first, initially releasing limited edition records such as Brian Eno's "Wimoweh/Deadly Seven Finns" seven inch[1]. The first official Wax Trax! release[2] was Strike Under's Immediate Action twelve inch EP in 1980[3], followed by Divine's Born To Be Cheap seven inch. But it was the release of Cold Life by Ministry — along with the licensing of Front 242's Endless Riddance EP — that set the stage for Wax Trax! to become America's preeminent industrial music and dance label of the 1980s and 1990s. Nash and Flesher licensed a number of recordings from Play It Again Sam of Belgium, and eventually opened a North American office for the label as a division of Wax Trax!. Play It Again Sam, in turn, oversaw the operation of Wax Trax! Europe, although it closed abruptly when the relationship between the labels ended acrimoniously in late 1990. Play It Again Sam U.S.A. was subsequently absorbed by Caroline Records. Following a bankruptcy filing, Wax Trax! was bought by New York-based TVT Records in 1992, with Nash and Flesher retaining creative control of the label.
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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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V2 Records is a record label that is owned by Universal Music Group as of October 2007. The label was founded in 1996 by Richard Branson, five years after he sold Virgin Records to EMI. Ultimately, the label was owned 95% by Morgan Stanley and 5% by Branson because Morgan Stanley was the chief... financier of the company. Over the years V2 acquired Gee Street Records, Junior Boy's Own, Blue Dog Records, and Big Cat Records. The label also distributed many labels, such as Wichita, Luaka Bop, City Slang, and Modular. V2 now operates in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States. It was distributed in the US by BMG; however it left for WEA shortly after the formation of Sony BMG. Its headquarters were located at 14 East 4th Street in Manhattan, the former US home of Island Records, which was in the same building as the former Greenwich Village branch of Tower Records.
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