Arista Records
| Arista Records | |
|---|---|
 Logo of the label |
|
| Parent company | Sony Music Entertainment |
| Active years | 1974-2011 |
| founder | Clive Davis |
| Seat |
 United States
|
| Website | rcamusicgroup.com |
| Label code | LC 03484 |
| Genre (s) | Various |
Arista Records is a record label founded in 1974 by the recently fired Columbia Records boss Clive Davis , as a sub-label of Columbia Pictures (which have nothing to do with Columbia Records), who hired him as a consultant. He united in it the previous Columbia Picture sub-labels Bell Records (Arista continued to use this name until 1975 and the British sub-label even longer), Colpix Records , Colgems Records. Davis himself held a small stake in Arista. The focus in jazz was initially on fusion and avant-garde jazz. Reissues of the Savoy label also appeared there . It was bought by Ariola in 1979 and is now part of Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
Over the years, Arista has acquired Northwestside Records , Deconstruction Records , First Avenue Records, and Dedicated Records . Arista took over LaFace Records in 1999 from Antonio "LA" Reid , who became CEO in 2000, and started a Bad Boy Records joint venture with P. Diddy . It was for the distribution of Heavenly Recordings . “LA” Reid brought Avril Lavigne to the label, among others , but also made high expenses for artists and promotion, so that in 2003 the label made heavy losses. It was discontinued in 2004 when it merged with Sony. Sony BMG handed over the management of the label to J Records in 2005 , whose CEO is now Clive Davis.
Arista had the following artists under contract: Al Stewart , Aretha Franklin , Pink , Barry Manilow , Billy Ocean , Toni Braxton , Whitney Houston , Alicia Keys , Carly Simon , Annie Lennox , Prince , Dionne Warwick , Patti Smith , Manfred Mann , Alan Jackson , The Alan Parsons Project , The Kinks , Bay City Rollers, and Usher .