MCA Inc.
The Music Corporation of America ( MCA Inc. legal name ) was a U.S. media company. It was mainly active in the music and television industries.
MCA Records was the well-known label of the company, the MCA was in the name. The company is now part of Universal Music Group (a subsidiary of the media group Vivendi ). It was merged in 2003 with Geffen Records where only the name Geffen remained as a brand.
History
Foundation
MCA was founded in Chicago in 1924 by Jules Stein and managed originally bookings of musicians and bands. With the advent of sound film, the MCA also began to represent an actor.
From 1948
The legal destruction of the old Hollywood studio system in 1948 dissolved the contract requirement for an actor who could now decide from film to film for which studio they wanted to work - the MCA thereby gained in influence, as they now represented countless actors over the studios. The ensuing crisis in the film studios, triggered by the battered old structures and the new medium of television, MCA used around 1958 1.5 km ² backlot Universal City from the financially strapped Universal Pictures for 11 million U.S. dollars to buy. Although MCA only the site, but did not have the film studio, they exerted a strong influence on Universal by modernized the Universal backlot and took in return MCA clients under contract.
From 1962
1962 MCA increased with the acquisition of American Decca Records Inc., a former branch of the British Decca Records, in a record shop. With this purchase you bought at the same time the film studio Universal - International Pictures Inc., which owned Decca Records Inc. since 1953. The name of the studio was changed with the takeover again in Universal Pictures, the parent company, the studio, production and distribution controlled, was renamed MCA / Universal Pictures Inc..
Since Decca Records USA only had the naming rights to Decca in the United States, one published outside the United States under the labels Brunswick Records and Coral Records. The MCA was formed in 1968 because of the label MCA Records in which the label Brunswick and Coral were assembled. In 1973, the name Decca through the MCA was abandoned in favor of MCA Records in the United States.
1975, the book publisher GP Putnam 's Sons was connected to the company.
1979 to today
From 1979 Advanced MCA 's music division with the acquisition of ABC Dunhill Records, Chess Records (1985) and the legendary Motown Record Company (1988). 1990 was followed by GRP Records and Geffen Records.
In 1990, the entire MCA Holding was acquired for 6.1 billion U.S. dollars from the Japanese electronics giant Matsushita - like it had made rival Sony with other U.S. media companies.
When the Canadian conglomerate Seagram in 1995 by Matsushita for 5.7 billion U.S. dollars 80 % of MCA acquired, the new owners changed the name immediately: from MCA Inc. was Universal Studios Inc., while the music business from MCA Music Entertainment Group in Universal Music Group has been renamed.
Motown was sold to Polygram in 1993.
In spring 2003, the label MCA Records was merged with Geffen Records. The Country music label MCA Nashville Records, as a last MCA Records label still active.