RSO records

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RSO records
Parent company Robert Stigwood Organization
Active years 1973-1983
founder Robert Stigwood
Seat London , New York
Label code LC 02970
distribution Polydor
Genre (s) Pop , rock , disco

RSO Records was a British / American independent record label founded in 1973 by Robert Stigwood and part of the Robert Stigwood Organization (RSO) (also: Robert Stigwood Organization ). It is one of the most successful independent labels.

prehistory

In 1966 Robert Stigwood founded his first record label in London. Together with the British Polydor , Cream's first two albums were released on Reaction Records . Also, The Who brought three singles and their album on the label of a quick one out. As part of a planned merger of the Robert Stigwood Organization with Brian Epstein's NEMS Enterprises , the label was discontinued and Stigwood's record productions with Cream, Blind Faith or the Bee Gees were distributed directly through Polydor. In the USA, the Atlantic sub-label Atco was responsible for this.

history

RSO Records moved into its offices at 46 Brook Street in London on January 1, 1973. Robert Stigwood was able to win 27-year-old David English, who had previously worked at Decca Records as an A&R manager, as President . In August 1974 he was replaced by Chris Youle.

In the USA, Bill Oakes took over the management of the label. As a distribution partner, RSO Records in Europe had entered into a collaboration with the British offshoot of Polydor, which had also marketed Stigwood's previous label Reaction Records in Europe. RSO records were manufactured in Germany by DGG and sold through Polydor. In North America, however, the RSO repertoire was distributed by Atlantic Records until 1975. In 1976, Robert Stigwood agreed with PolyGram as a new global sales partner. At the same time, PolyGram took a 50 percent stake in RSO Records. Freddie Gershon was named President of The Stigwood Group of Companies , now operating worldwide with offices in London, Amsterdam , Sydney , Los Angeles and New York , and assumed responsibility for RSO Records and RSO Films. Al Coury, who previously worked for Capitol Records , was added to President Bill Oakes.

In December 1977, RSO released Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track , the soundtrack for the feature film Saturday Night Fever . In the US, 750,000 copies of the album were sold between Christmas and New Years alone. The soundtrack hit the charts around the world and topped practically everywhere. The singles from the album by RSO artists Bee Gees and Yvonne Elliman also sold excellently. The immense success of the soundtrack made the independent label the most successful of the year, not only in the USA. In Germany the album occupied the top position for ten weeks from May to July 1978 and sold a total of 2.4 million copies. Such sales figures were new for an independently managed record label, a status that RSO retained when in 1978 PPI and DGG merged their operations and RSO Records was integrated into the PolyGram group.

1979 was still very successful for the label. They had agreed on a distribution contract with the soul label Curtom , which was founded in 1968 by Curtis Mayfield and manager Eddie Thomas. In addition, two new publications of the Bee Gees came on the market, Eric Clapton album Backless went very well and Bombs Away Dream Babies by John Stewart was a top 10 album in the US. In addition, there was Suzi Quatro and Smokie brought to RSO. On the flip side, the film's disastrous flop and soundtrack was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band , which cost the label several million dollars. In addition, the contracts with Eric Clapton and the Bee Gees - the label's revenue generators - expired.

In October 1980, the Bee Gees sued Robert Stigwood, RSO Records and PolyGram for the equivalent of more than € 200,000 in damages for insufficient or lost income, especially from record sales. In February 1981, RSO Records laid off about 80 percent of its employees. In the same month, the Bee Gees dispute with RSO was settled out of court. In addition to financial concessions for the contractually outstanding albums, it became clear that the Bee Gees refused to collaborate with RSO beyond these albums. The management contract was terminated, as was the contract with RSO Musikverlag.

In the same year, PolyGram RSO took over 100 percent and transferred the repertoire to Polydor. In 1982 and 1983, two compilations by Eric Clapton and Cream, as well as the soundtrack for the Star Wars episode The Return of the Jedi, were released . The last album, which was released on RSO in 1983, was the soundtrack of the Bee Gees to the movie Staying Alive .

At the end of 1983 RSO Records was finally dissolved and the repertoire was taken over by Polydor.

Sales figures

The following list is intended to illustrate how many physical recordings of the studio albums released by RSO in just four years have been sold in the USA to date. (The numbers on the far right show worldwide sales, if they can be determined.) These numbers should be treated with caution, as they only represent the numbers reported by the record company or the respective distributors. However, these can differ from the actual quantities. It was not uncommon for record companies to give lower numbers, for example to keep royalty payments low. In addition, one must consider that with double LPs, two recordings are always counted per unit .

  • Soundtrack 2LP Grease (1978) 16.5M (US) / 38.1M
  • Soundtrack 2LP Saturday Night Fever (1977) 16.2M (US) / 34.8M
  • Bee Gees - Spirits Having Flown (1979) 5.5 million (US) / 11.7 million
  • Bee Gees - 2LP Here At Last ... Live (1977) 3.2M (US)
  • Eric Clapton - Slowhand (1977) 3.0 million (US)
  • Bee Gees - Children Of The World 1.9M (US) / 2.8M
  • Bee Gees - Main Course (1975) 1.7 million (US) / 2.8 million
  • Eric Clapton - Backless (1978) 1.0 million (US)
  • Andy Gibb - Flowing Rivers (1977) 1.0 million (US)
  • Andy Gibb - Shadow Dancing (1978) 1.0 million (US)

Artist

In 1973 RSO Records started with the handful of artists who were under contract with Robert Stigwood's management firm. In addition to the Bee Gees, this included all members of the band Cream, as well as the complete repertoire that the musicians had released before 1973 and that was re-released on RSO over the years, including the album by Blind Faith or Ginger Baker's Air Force .

With Yvonne Elliman, Bill Oakes brought his wife to RSO Records in 1975. Elliman had already recorded two albums in the early 1970s and worked as a singer in Eric Clapton's band. Elliman landed a hit in 1976 with the Bee Gees composition Love Me .

The blues guitarist and singer Freddie King was able to make his albums available to a worldwide audience for the first time through RSO. In 1976 he died suddenly at the age of 42. His third RSO album was released posthumously.

Jack Bruce released two highly acclaimed jazz / rock solo albums on RSO, while he brought out two studio albums and one live album with David English-supervised formation West, Bruce & Laing , which were only released on RSO in Europe.

Smokie and Suzi Quatro, on the other hand, only appeared in America on RSO, who released in Europe on the British label RAK and gained access to the American market through RSO.

Former Kingston Trio member John Stewart released three albums on RSO and had a number 5 hit in the US in 1979 with his single Gold .

In tow of the Bee Gees, the youngest of the Gibb brothers, Andy , got a contract with RSO in 1977. The albums and singles produced by Barry Gibb ranked just behind those of his brothers in the US charts. The Bee Gees, however, together with Eric Clapton, formed the commercial backbone of the label.

Discography

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Billboard Aug. 17, 1974, p. 56.
  2. ↑ freddiegershon.com
  3. ↑ billboard.com
  4. ↑ chartmasters.org
  5. ↑ bsnpubs.com
  6. ↑ spicksspecks-archiv.blogspot.com
  7. ↑ chartmasters.org
  8. ↑ riaa.com

literature

  • The Ultimate Bee Gees Biography: Stories of the Gibb Brothers by Melinda Bilyeu, Hector Cook, Andrew Môn Hughes, with Joseph Brennan and Mark Crohan. Starcluster Verlag, Balve, 2007, ISBN 978-3-925005-66-4 .
  • Mad Dogs & Englishman: Confessions of a Loon by David English, Virgin Publishing, London, 2002, ISBN 1-85227-944-3 .
  • Cowboys & Indies: An Adventurous Journey into the Heart of the Music Industry Paperback by Gareth Murphy, (Translator: Bernd Gockel), Heyne Verlag, 2017, ISBN 978-3-453-67704-3 .
  • The Making of a Music Multinational: The International Strategy of Polygram, 1945–1998, AFM Working Paper No. 12, Department of Accounting, Finance and Management, University of Essex, von Gerben Bakker, Summer 2003

Web links