WEA
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Profile
Headquarters: Burbank, CA
Founding: 1970
Closing: 2004
Parent Company: Warner Music Group
Warner Bros. Records began as a division of the Warner Brothers movie studio in 1958, after an actor under contract to the movie studio, Tab Hunter, had a hit for Dot Records, a subsidiary of the competing studio Paramount Pictures. They acquired Reprise Records in 1963, which then acted as a sub-label of Warner Bros. Records. In 1967, the whole operation was sold to Seven Arts Productions, and they purchased Atlantic (along with its subsidiary Atco). Two years later, Kinney National Company bought the Warner Bros.-Seven Arts conglomerate, rechristening it Warner Communications. In 1970, Elektra / Nonesuch was brought into the mix, and launching a name change to WEA, which stood for Warner-Elektra-Atlantic. Later that decade, the group was expanded, adding Asylum Records, which then acted as a sub-label of Elektra and Sire Records, which became a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Records. In 1972, Kinney changed their corporate name to Warner Communications. In 1987, the company merged with Time Inc. and the multi-media conglomerate Time Warner was formed. After a short sighted merger with AOL in 2000, AOL-Time Warner was forced to spin off the label group in an attempt to reduce its debt. A deal to sell the labels to a group of investors led by Edgar Bronfman for $2.6 billion was reached in February 2004. Shortly after the acquisition, restructuring by the Warner Music Group meant WEA would no longer market or distribute releases, instead leaving this to the labels.
Structure
- The Atlantic Group
- Elektra Entertainment Group
- Rhino Entertainment Group
- Warner Brothers Records Group
- Word Label Group