Strand Records

 Strand Records was originally distributed by Decca. Strand released records from 1959-1965. The releases were on thick vinyl and typically had imperfections. Jackets were also generally made of cheap paper typical of budget labels. First pressings and New York labels will be orange with black print but later releases and re-issues were on blue labels.

International Artists Records

Relic Records

Acta Records

The American Breed was an American rock band that was formed in 1966 and disbanded in 1969, later evolving into Rufus.

Royal Roost Records

Decanter Records

Little Star Records

Post Records

Press Records

Crimson Records

Crimson Records was a reissue record label founded by Jerry Greene in the early 1960s, and was a sister label of Lost Nite Records. Disc jockey Jerry Blavat was a co-owner of the label until the late 1960s. The label was known for releasing rare and hard-to-find doo-wop and R&B records. During its existence, Crimson released two LPs and approximately 18 singles. The most popular single released by the label was "Expressway to Your Heart" by The Soul Survivors.

London Records

London Records, referred to as London Recordings in logo, is a record label headquartered in the United Kingdom, originally marketing records in the United States, Canada and Latin America from 1947 to 1979, then becoming a semi-independent label.

London arose from the split in ownership between the British branch of Decca Records and that same company's USA branch; the American London label released British Decca records in the USA, since it could not use the "Decca" name there. They were noted for their classical albums made in then state-of-the-art stereophonic sound. Such artists as Georg Solti, Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti made many, if not all, of their recordings for the company.
The London name was also used by British Decca in the UK market to release American labels which British Decca licensed, such as Imperial, Chess, Dot, Atlantic, Specialty and Sun, as well as the first two UK releases from Motown. In the sixties more licensing deals were made with Big Top, Monument, Parrot, Philles and Hi, and London Atlantic, London Monument and London Dot became subsidiaries. (An unusual feature was the letter code in the numbering system: see Catalog numbering systems for single records.) The label bore the logo "London American Recordings", and on Radio Luxembourg it was known as "London American".


In America, the label was best known as the American imprint of the pre-1971 recordings of The Rolling Stones (now owned by ABKCO). The label also originally issued some early LPs and singles by Texas-based band ZZ Top (whose catalog went to Warner Brothers when the band moved there).

Vertigo Records (UK)

Vertigo Records was the name Philips Records chose in the late 1960s for its record sub-label to counter the progressive labels of its rivals EMI with Harvest Records and Decca Records with Deram Records.

Some of the first artists to sign included Ian Matthews, Juicy Lucy, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Rod Stewart, Mike Absalom, Dr. Z, Catapilla, Cressida, Colosseum, Gentle Giant, Jade Warrior, Metallica, Nirvana (UK band), Kraftwerk, Ben, Keith Tippett Group, Tudor Lodge, Streetwalkers, Lucifer's Friend and Magna Carta.

After Philips Records was renamed to Phonogram Records in 1972 and released albums in Europe by bands including, Streetwalkers, Status Quo, Beggars Opera, Switzerland's Flame Dream, Thin Lizzy, Dire Straits and Tears for Fears.
Vertigo later became the European home to various hard rock bands signed to Mercury in North America, such as Bon Jovi, Rush and Kiss.

Kirshner Records

Don Kirshner (April 17, 1934 – January 17, 2011) known as "The Man With the Golden Ear", was an American music publisher, rock music producer, talent manager, and songwriter. He was best known for managing songwriting talent as well as successful pop groups, such as The Monkees, Kansas, and The Archies.

^{Kirshner had three record labels. The first was Chairman Records, a subsidiary of London Records. Although he was responsible for scores of hits in the 1960s, he was only to have one on the Chairman label – 1963's "Martian Hop" by The Ran-Dells – which reached #16 nationally. Kirshner later had two other record labels: Calendar Records, which had early hits by The Archies; and the Kirshner label, which had later hits by The Archies and Kansas. Calendar/Kirshner recordings were first distributed by RCA Records, then CBS Records. He was also involved in Dimension Records.}

Bally Records

Bally Records was a small record label located at 203 N. Wabash Ave. in Chicago, Illinois. Its proper name was Bally Recording Corporation and it was a subsidiary of slot machine and pinball maker Bally Manufacturing. The parent company saw and filled a need to supply records to the coin operated phonograph (Juke Box) industry. The record division was launched in 1955 with much publicity, in such publications as Billboard Magazine but it was short-lived and the last records were produced in 1957. Records were issued in three speeds: 33⅓, 45, and 78 rpm. The best known record issued on Bally is "I Dreamed" by Betty Johnson (Bally 1020), which peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at #9 early in 1957.

RCA Records

The 1950s

In 1950, realizing that Columbia's LP format had become successful and fearful that RCA was losing market share, RCA Victor began issuing LPs themselves. Among the first RCA LPs released was a performance of Gaîté Parisienne by Jacques Offenbach, played by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra, which had actually been recorded in Boston's Symphony Hall on June 20, 1947; it was given the catalogue number LM-1001. Non-classical albums were issued with the prefix "LPM." When RCA later issued classical stereo albums (in 1958), they used the prefix "LSC." Non-classical stereo albums were issued with the prefix "LSP."
In the 1950s, RCA had three subsidiary or specialty labels: Groove, Vik and "X". Label "X" was founded in 1953 and renamed Vik in 1955. Groove was an R&B specialty label founded in 1954.
Through the 1940s and 1950s, RCA was in competition with Columbia Records.
In September 1954, RCA introduced "Gruve-Gard" where the center and edge of a disc are thicker than the playing area, reducing scuff marks during handling and when used on a turntable with a record changer. Most of RCA Victor Records' competitors quickly adopted the raised label and edges.
In 1955, RCA purchased the recording contract of Elvis Presley from Sun Records for the then astronomical sum of $35,000. Elvis would become RCA's biggest selling recording artist. His first gold record was Heartbreak Hotel, recorded in January 1956.
In 1957, RCA ended its 55-year association with EMI and signed a distribution deal with Decca Records, which caused EMI to purchase Capitol Records. Capitol then became the main distributor for EMI recordings in North and South America, with RCA distributing its recordings through Decca in the United Kingdom on the RCA (later RCA Victor) label. This had the lightning bolt logo instead of the His Master's Voice Nipper logo (now owned by HMV Group plc in the UK as EMI transferred trademark ownership in 2003). RCA set up its own British distribution in 1971.
Also in 1957, RCA opened a state-of-the-art recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee, which recorded hit after hit for RCA and other labels for 20 years and is now open for tours as RCA Studio B. Elvis Presley made most of his recordings in this studio.

The 1960s

In 1960, RCA announced the Compact 33 double and singles. In January 1961, these discs hit the market. The Compact 33 discs were released simultaneously with their 45 rpm counterparts. The long-term goal was to phase out the 45 rpm. This campaign eventually failed by early 1962.
In 1963, RCA introduced Dynagroove which added computer technology to the disc cutting process, ostensibly to improve sound reproduction. Whether it was actually an improvement or not is still debated among audiophiles.
In September 1965, RCA and Lear Jet Corp. teamed up to release the first stereo 8-track tape music Cartridges (Stereo 8) which were first used in the 1966 line of Ford automobiles and were popular throughout the late 1960s and 1970s. (The initial release comprised 175 titles from RCA Victor and RCA Camden's catalog of artists.)
In late 1968, RCA modernized its image with a new futuristic-looking logo (the letters RCA in block modernized form), replacing the old lightning bolt logo, and the virtual retirement of both the Victor and Nipper trademarks. The background of the labels, which had always been black for its regular series (as opposed to its Red Seal line), switched to bright orange (becoming tan later in the early 1970s). In 1976, RCA Records reinstated Nipper to most of its record labels in countries where RCA had the rights to the Nipper trademark. The famous "shaded" label used on RCA's "Living Stereo" albums was revived in the 1990s for a series of CDs devoted to the historic triple-track stereophonic recordings.

In late 1969 RCA introduced a very thin, lightweight vinyl LP known as Dynaflex. This type of pressing claimed to overcome warping and other problems in conventional thicker pressings, but it had a controversial reputation in the industry. At about the same time John Denver recorded his first RCA LP: Rhymes And Reasons.