Universal Music Group Nashville

US record company; Universal Music Group's country music subsidiary

Record label

Universal Music Group Nashville

Parent company| Universal Music Group
Founded|

* MCA Nashville (1 January 1945; 80 years ago (1945-01-01))
* Mercury Nashville (1 January 1945; 80 years ago (1945-01-01))
* Capitol Nashville (1 January 1950; 75 years ago (1950-01-01))

Distributor(s)| Universal Music Distribution
Genre| Country
Country of origin| United States
Location| Nashville, Tennessee
Official website| umgnashville.com

Universal Music Group Nashville is Universal Music Group's country music subsidiary. It was officially opened on New Year's Day 1945 as MCA Nashville and Mercury Nashville which opened on New Year's Day 1950 as Capitol Nashville. Some of the labels in this group include MCA Nashville Records, Mercury Nashville Records, Lost Highway Records, Capitol Records Nashville and EMI Records Nashville. UMG Nashville not only handles these imprints, but also manages the country music catalogues of record labels Universal Music and predecessor companies acquired over the years including ABC Records, Decca Records, Dot Records, DreamWorks Records, Kapp Records, MGM Records and Polydor Records.[1]

## Capitol Records Nashville

[edit]

Main article: Capitol Records Nashville

Capitol Records Nashville is a major United States–based record label located in Nashville Tennessee operating as part of the Capitol Music Group. Capitol Nashville was formerly known as Liberty Records from 1991 until 1995 when it was changed back to Capitol. In 1993, Liberty opened a sister label, Patriot Records, but it was closed in 1995. In 1999, EMI launched Virgin Records Nashville but by 2001 Capitol absorbed the short-lived label. Capitol Nashville remained a stand-alone label until 2010 when it launched EMI Nashville. Capitol Nashville is also home to several successful comedy artists who remain on its roster today. On March 23, 2011, Alan Jackson signed with Capitol's EMI Nashville division in conjunction with his own ACR Records label. In 2013, Capitol Records Nashville became part of Universal Music after the latter bought and subsequently broke up EMI.

Current Artists

Dierks Bentley
Luke Bryan
Carter Faith
Mickey Guyton
Caylee Hammack
Hootie & The Blowfish
Hot Country Knights
Little Big Town
Jon Pardi
Darius Rucker
Carrie Underwood
Keith Urban
Timothy Wayne

## EMI Records Nashville

[edit]

EMI Records Nashville was formed in 2010 and served as a sister label to Capitol Records Nashville. Its flagship artist was Troy Olsen. Other artists signed to EMI include Eric Church and Alan Jackson (in a shared agreement with his own ACR Records). Universal Music Group acquired EMI in 2013. EMI is currently a part of UMG along with sister label Capitol Records Nashville.

Current Artists

Brothers Osborne
Eric Church
Tyler Hubbard
Alan Jackson
Brad Paisley
Tucker Wetmore[2]
Anne Wilson

## MCA Nashville

[edit]

MCA Nashville started out as the country music division of Decca Records in 1945, founded by Paul Cohen[3] in New York. In 1947, Cohen hired Owen Bradley as his assistant working in Nashville. The country music division moved to Nashville in 1955 as much of the country music recording business was locating there.[4] Bradley succeeded Cohen as head of Decca's Nashville division in 1958[5] and developed Decca into a country music powerhouse. Decca Nashville was renamed MCA Nashville in 1973.

In 1979, MCA Nashville absorbed the country music roster (including Roy Clark, Barbara Mandrell and The Oak Ridge Boys) and back catalogue of ABC Records including the Dot Records catalogue. In the early 1980s, MCA Nashville signed Reba McEntire[6] and George Strait,[7] two of the greatest selling artists of all time and the mega stars on the record label.

In the 1990s, MCA Nashville briefly revived the Decca label for country music releases, but closed the label after Universal Music absorbed PolyGram and chose to reserve the Decca name for classical music releases. While Decca resumed issuing country music in February 2008, the current Decca country music department has no connection with UMG Nashville. However, MCA Nashville continues to reissue past country releases from Decca, as well as those on the Kapp label.

With the absorption of MCA Records into Geffen Records in 2003, and in 2021 where UMG legally changed the name for its Philippine division, MCA Nashville is now the only unit of UMG to still use the MCA name. It is now distributed by Decca and Interscope Records.

Current Artists

Kassi Ashton[8]
Jordan Davis
Vince Gill
Sam Hunt
Vincent Mason[9]
Parker McCollum
Reba McEntire
Kacey Musgraves
Catie Offerman
George Strait
Josh Turner

## Mercury Nashville

[edit]

The still active Mercury Records was formed in Chicago in 1945 issuing recordings in a variety of genres including country music.[10] The Nashville office of Mercury began as a joint venture between Mercury and "Pappy" Daily's established country music record label Starday Records in January 1957. In July 1958, the Mercury/Starday joint venture was dissolved, and Starday record producer Shelby Singleton stayed on with Mercury in Nashville, becoming head of Mercury's Nashville office by 1961. Singleton left Mercury in 1966 to form his own company which bought Sun Records in 1969.[11]

In 1986, American country music singer and songwriter Johnny Cash, after being dropped by Columbia Nashville, signed with Mercury Nashville. His first album for the label was Johnny Cash Is Coming to Town, and Cash made several albums from 1987 to 1991 with Mercury Nashville. In 1997, PolyGram, which owned Mercury, consolidated all its Nashville operations under the Mercury name.

When PolyGram was purchased by MCA (now Universal Music) in 1999, the resulting record label consolidations left Mercury under The Island Def Jam Music Group umbrella, making Mercury in the US dormant until recently, but still active internationally. The consolidations in Nashville that created UMG Nashville kept the Mercury Nashville imprint active.

Most reissues of country music recordings first issued on the MGM, Polydor, and other former PolyGram labels bear the Mercury Nashville imprint.

Current Artists

Priscilla Block[12]
Billy Currington
Dalton Dover
Luke Grimes
Bryce Leatherwood
Maddie & Tae
Josh Ross
Chris Stapleton
The War and Treaty[12]
Sam Williams

## Lost Highway Records

[edit]

Lost Highway Records was formed by Luke Lewis in 2000. Lost Highway Records operates as a country music label, based out of Nashville. The label also issues music by alternative rock and alternative country artists such as Morrissey and Ryan Adams. The label operates as an imprint of Island Records, formerly a division of The Island Def Jam Music Group. Lost Highway released the soundtracks of O Brother, Where Art Thou? Deadwood, and Open Season by Paul Westerberg. It has also acted as distributor for albums from Johnny Cash and Hank Williams.

## Buena Vista Records

[edit]

Formed in April 2017, Buena Vista Records is a partnership between Disney Music Group and Universal Music Group Nashville.

Current Artists

CB30

## Artists

[edit]

Main article: List of Universal Music Group Nashville artists

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* Capitol Records Nashville
* EMI Records Nashville
* MCA Records Nashville
* Mercury Records Nashville

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "americanchronicle.com". www.americanchronicle.com. Archived from the original on February 5, 2006. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
2. ^ Tucker Wetmore - UMG Nashville
3. ^ "PAUL COHEN". www.rockabilly.nl. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
4. ^ "Dugg Collins Legends of Music Page". Dugg Collins. Archived from the original on March 3, 2009. Retrieved January 11, 2023.
5. ^ "Owen Bradley Heads Decca C&W Division". Billboard. April 21, 1958. p. 18\. ISSN 0006-2510.
6. ^ "Reba McEntire". Country Music Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
7. ^ "George Strait Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
8. ^ Kassi Ashton - UMG Nashville
9. ^ Vincent Mason - UMG Nashville
10. ^ "Venerable Music - 78rpm Vintage Record Auctions & Sales". vmauctions.com. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
11. ^ "Take Note 243". www.talentondisplay.com. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
12. ^ a b "UMG Nashville | Labels | Mercury Nashville". Archived from the original on October 28, 2014.

* v
* t
* e

Universal Music Group

People|

* Lucian Grainge
* Sherry Lansing
* James Mitchell
* Manning Doherty
* Bill Ackman
* Philippe Flageul
* Jody Gerson
* Boyd Muir

Interscope Capitol Labels Group|

| Capitol Music Group|

* Capitol Records
* Blue Note Records
* Astralwerks
* Harvest Records
* Capitol Christian Music Group
* ForeFront Records
* Motown Gospel
* Sparrow Records
* Priority Records

|

Interscope Geffen A&M Records|

* Interscope Records
* Geffen Records
* A&M Records
* Interscope Films
* Aftermath Entertainment
* Darkroom
* Dreamville Records
* Kidinakorner
* LVRN Records
* Mad Love and Friends Keep Secrets Records
* Shady Records
* Cinematic Music Group
* Downtown Records

|

Verve Label Group|

* Deutsche Grammophon
* Decca Records
* Decca Classics
* Mercury KX
* Impulse! Records
* Verve Records
* Verve Forecast Records

Republic Corps|

* Republic Records
* Motown
* Quality Control Music
* Rowdy Records
* Mercury Records
* Cash Money Records
* Young Money Entertainment
* SRC Records
* American Recordings
* Boominati Worldwide
* Brushfire Records
* Casablanca Records
* Federal Films
* Lava Records
* Universal Arabic Music
* XO
* Def Jam Recordings
* Island Records

Virgin Music Group|

* Virgin Records
* Caroline Records
* Fontana Records
* V2 Records
* PIAS Group

UM Latin Entertainment|

* Capitol Latin
* Disa Records
* Fonovisa Records
* Machete Music
* Universal Music Latino
* Universal Music México

UMG Nashville|

* MCA Nashville
* Mercury Nashville Records
* Lost Highway Records
* Capitol Records Nashville
* EMI Records Nashville

UM Australia|

* Island Records Australia
* Golden Era Records
* Modular Recordings
* Mercury Records Australia
* EMI Music Australia

UM Japan|

* Polydor Records
* EMI Records
* Universal D
* Virgin Music
* Def Jam Recordings
* Mercury Tokyo
* Universal Classics

UM UK|

* EMI Records
* Capitol UK
* Island UK
* Motown UK
* Polydor Records
* 0207 Def Jam
* Universal Music On Demand

UM Greater China|

* Capitol Records China
* EMI China
* PolyGram Records China
* Republic Records China
* Universal Music China
* Universal Music Hong Kong
* Universal Music Taiwan

UM France|

* Capitol Music France
* Decca Records France
* Island Def Jam France
* MCA France
* Polydor France
* Romance Musique
* PIAS France
* Virgin Records France

UM Philippines|

* Def Jam Philippines
* EMI Records
* Island Philippines
* Republic Records Philippines
* UMG Philippines

Universal Music Africa|

* U-Live Africa
* Motown Gospel Africa
* Def Jam Recordings Africa
* Universal Music Group Nigeria
* Universal Music South Africa
* Blue Note Records Africa
* Virgin Music Africa

Other UMG labels|

* Universal Music Enterprises
* Hip-O Records
* Universal Music Indonesia
* Universal Music Malaysia

Publishing division|

* Universal Music Publishing Group
* Universal Production Music

Film/TV units|

* Eagle Rock Entertainment
* PolyGram Entertainment
* Vevo

Non-UMG distributed labels|

* Big Machine Label Group
* Disney Music Group
* Hollywood Records
* S-Curve Records
* Walt Disney Records
* Roc Nation
* ECM Records
* Dew Process
* Nickelodeon Records
* Red Bull Records
* Because Music
* London Recordings
* Ed Banger Records

| International third-party licensees|

* Dreamus (South Korea (JYP Entertainment))
* Helicon (Israel)
* Tuff Gong (Caribbean)
* YG Plus (South Korea (HYBE Labels))
* Musica Studios (Indonesia)

|

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz label

|

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template