Yann Tiersen

Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Simple... Minds, Lenny Kravitz, The Smashing Pumpkins, Mike Oldfield, and more on their list of artists. It was later sold to Thorn EMI in 1992. Its American operations were merged with Capitol Records in 2007 to create the Capitol Music Group. Branson and Powell had initially run a small record shop called Virgin Records and Tapes on Notting Hill Gate, London, specialising particularly in "krautrock" imports, and offering bean bags and free vegetarian food for the benefit of customers listening to the music on offer. After making the shop into a success, they turned their business into a fully fledged record label. The name Virgin, according to Branson , arose from Tessa Watts, a colleague of his, when they were brainstorming business ideas. She suggested Virgin - as they were all new to business - like "virgins".
more

ANTI- is an American record label founded in 1999 as a sister label of Epitaph Records. While Epitaph's focus has shifted over the last decade from mostly punk rock, nowadays ANTI- has a more diverse roster, ranging from country , hip hop , reggae , Soul , folk , rap-rock , indie rock and Tom... Waits. Headed by Andy Kaulkin, ANTI- first gained attention by releasing Tom Waits' Grammy award winning Mule Variations in 1999. Along with Waits, several veteran recording artists such as rhythm and blues singers Solomon Burke and Bettye LaVette, and Marianne Faithfull have signed onto ANTI- after leaving other major labels.
more

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.
more