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45-1071: It was founded in 1928 by Paramount’s predecessor, the Famous Players–Lasky Corporation , to publish music from its "talking pictures." Some of the classic songs in the Famous Music catalog that originated in motion pictures include " Thanks for the Memory " (from The Big Broadcast of 1938 ), " Mona Lisa " (from Captain Carey, U.S.A. ), " Silver Bells ", " Moon River " (from Breakfast at Tiffany's ), " Where Do I Begin? " (the theme from Love Story ), " Speak Softly, Love " (the theme from The Godfather ), " Up Where We Belong ", " Footloose " (from Footloose (film) , " Take My Breath Away " (from Top Gun ), and " My Heart Will Go On " (from Titanic (1997 film) . Famous Music additionally owned music and songs from television programs produced by Paramount until ownership of most of those songs

90-509: A boycott from the First National Exhibitions Circuit, a group that controlled nearly 600 theaters nationwide. The Circuit disagreed with the corporation's distribution practices, which required theaters to purchase large blocks of feature films, often sight-unseen. In addition to selling strategic blocks of features, theater owners were offered options such as "program distribution", in which the exhibitor booked

135-479: A brief period Famous Players–Lasky acted as a holding company for its subsidiaries- Famous Players, Feature Play, Oliver Morosco Photoplay, Bosworth , Cardinal, Paramount Pictures Corporation , Artcraft, and The George M. Cohan Film Corporation. However, on December 29, 1917, all of the subsidiaries were incorporated into one entity called the Famous Players–Lasky Corporation. However, Zukor

180-488: A distribution deal with Paramount Pictures Corporation (founded by William Wadsworth Hodkinson in 1914). Under the agreement Hodkinson would distribute the two companies' films through a 65/35 arrangement in which the producer agreed to take only 65% of film profits with 35% of the gross revenue going to Hodkinson's Paramount. While initially the agreement seemed like a good deal, Zukor and Lasky quickly realized that they could make much higher revenues if they could integrate

225-563: A five-year block booking deal with Famous Players–Lasky, the distributor used predatory tactics to run him out of business. The theater owner reportedly withstood threats and goon-squad intimidation that recalled the tactics of the former Edison Trust . When those tactics failed, the theater owner claimed Famous Players–Lasky built a movie house across the street from his theater in Middleton, and resorted to temporary price cutting and overbuying in order to destroy his business. After reviewing

270-547: A massive 17,000 pages of testimony and 15,000 pages of exhibits the FTC concluded in early 1927 that block booking was an unfair trade practice. On July 9, 1927, it ordered the Famous Players–Lasky Corporation to cease and desist block booking practices and reform its theater purchasing policies. The three respondents- Adolph Zukor, Jesse Lasky and the Famous Players–Lasky Corporation- were given 60 days to comply with

315-531: A number of marketing initiatives. The company planned to have writers create a broader music for the catalog market. Imprints Probe and Apt were relaunched, Probe as a label which held the international rights to ABC's albums and Apt as a label which released budget cassettes and 8-track tapes. Jazz dropped from Impulse!'s cover for a new slogan: "University Series of Fine Recordings" and two new series were launched: Audio Treasury and Westminster Gold for classic and youth fare, respectively. By May 1972, ABC formed

360-508: A number of years, Famous Music also had a record label group division that included Blue Thumb Records , Dot Records , Paramount Records , and Tumbleweed Records. In 1974, the division was acquired by ABC Records for $ 5.5 million, and most of the Famous labels were absorbed into ABC Records. Famous had distribution deals with Neighborhood Records and Sire Records , the latter of which was distributed by ABC until 1977. The catalogs of all

405-506: A reported $ 370 million. Famous Music was then renamed Sony/ATV Harmony and Sony/ATV Melody. In December 2012, Sony/ATV sold the Famous Music UK song catalogue (which included Placebo and The Kooks ) to BMG Rights Management . Paramount Pictures moved the administration of its music to Universal Music Publishing Group sometime in the late 2010s; Paramount Media Networks (excluding Showtime Networks ) followed suit in 2020. For

450-454: A reputation for innovative releases, including albums by John Coltrane from 1961 until his death in 1967. ABC created Bluesway for blues music. Tangerine was formed by Ray Charles to produce his albums and those he produced. ABC Records bought Dunhill in the summer of 1967, forming ABC Dunhill Records. It also bought Don Robey 's record labels, including Duke , Peacock , Back Beat , and Song Bird on May 23, 1973. In 1974 ABC bought

495-732: A separate division. MCA was absorbed by the Universal Music Group , which currently distributes recordings for ABC's current sister company, Disney Music Group , worldwide except for Russia. This is not the same ABC Records that operates in Australia, which is run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation , although the Ampar label was distributed in Australia in the 1950s and 1960s, first by W&G Records (1955–60) and then by Festival . Nor

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540-483: A single evening's worth of entertainment, and "star series" in which the exhibitor signed up for a given number of pictures per year featuring a particular star. "Selective Bookings" in which exhibitors were allowed to purchase a single film, made up only a small percentage of the corporation's offerings. The Circuit's protest of these practices and boycott of Famous Players–Lasky films put the corporation in desperate need of its own theaters. In 1919, Zukor began directing

585-503: Is it the sub-label of Voiceprint . The catalogs of ABC Records and its sub-labels are now controlled by Universal Music Group. UMG also distributes Disney Music Group, which is owned by ABC's current parent, The Walt Disney Company , with the following exceptions: The following labels manage different genres: These labels also produce releases from labels absorbed into ABC. For example, MCA Nashville's catalog includes country releases on Dot Records. Deutsche Grammophon's catalog includes

630-1157: The Clyde Otis Music Group , as well as for other Viacom divisions including MTV , Nickelodeon and BET . Starting mostly in the late 1980s and continuing until the company was sold in 2007, Famous Music was active in acquiring songs that did not originate in Paramount motion pictures or television programs. These included the purchase of many works from the Duke Ellington catalog, as well as acquisition or administration agreements with recording artists and producers such as Shakira , Eminem , Akon , She Wants Revenge , Boyz II Men , Paula Cole , The Cunninghams, Björk , Gavin Rossdale , Daniel Powter , Harvey Danger , Martika , KC Porter , Linda Perry , Kike Santander , Irv Gotti , Placebo , Modest Mouse , Jet and P.O.D. In May 2007, Viacom sold Famous Music to Sony Music Publishing (then Sony/ATV Music publishing), co-owned by Sony and Michael Jackson , for

675-609: The Famous Music record labels from Gulf and Western , the parent company of Paramount. This acquisition gave ABC Dot , Blue Thumb , and a distribution deal with Sire, which released the first album from the Ramones . ABC purchased all labels from Enoch Light in October 1959. It acquired Audition , Command , Colortone , and Waldorf Music Hall . In 1979, ABC was acquired by MCA for $ 30 million. It operated briefly as

720-923: The Paramount Publix Corporation . Financial problems within the movie industry as a result of the Great Depression pushed Paramount Publix Corporation, with $ 2,020,024 in debts but only $ 134,718 in assets, into receivership on August 3, 1933. On August 30, 1921, the Federal Trade Commission formally charged Famous Players–Lasky Corporation, Realart Pictures Corporation, The Stanley Company of America, Stanley Booking Corporation, Black New England Theaters, Inc., Southern Enterprises, Inc., Saenger Amusement Company, Adolph Zukor , Jesse L. Lasky , Jules Mastbaum , Alfred S. Black, S.A. Lynch , Ernest V. Richards, Jr., with restraint of trade as part of an investigation into

765-753: The Simi Hills is now within the Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve . The Astoria studio was designated a national historic district and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The district encompasses six contributing buildings. In 1914, film-production companies Famous Players Films (founded in 1912 by Adolph Zukor in partnership with the Frohman brothers ) and Jesse L. Lasky Feature Plays (founded in 1911) signed

810-404: The 1970s to save storage space. When these recordings were reissued on compact disc in the 1980s, CD versions were often taken from master copies which had less than optimal sound quality. The company's last president, Steve Diener, was named to that job in 1977 after serving as head of ABC Records' international division. Because of financial problems except for its Nashville office, ABC Records

855-549: The ABC Leisure Group, which included ABC Records, Anchor Records, and ABC Records and Tape Sales, plus a new retail record-store division. Lasker left ABC to join Ariola America Records in 1975. He was succeeded by Jerry Rubinstein, who served as company head until 1977. In November 1972, ABC bought country music company Cartwheel Records. In 1974, ABC switched British distribution from EMI to

900-530: The ABC/Famous Music labels are now owned by Universal Music Group , with some exceptions. For example, the 1968-1970 catalog of Stax Records , which during that period was owned by Famous, is owned by Concord Music Group , itself distributed by UMG. Various labels under Universal manage different parts of the catalog depending on the genre. Here are some examples: Famous Players%E2%80%93Lasky Corporation The Famous Players–Lasky Corporation

945-767: The EMI-distributed Anchor Records , allowing ABC recordings to be issued on the ABC label in the UK, and Anchor records to be distributed by ABC on the Anchor label in the US. Also in 1974, ABC acquired Famous Music Records Group including Nashville based Dot Records then began releasing ABC country music under the ABC/Dot label until January 1979. As a cost-cutting measure, ABC Records discarded many master tapes in

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990-758: The Elegants, released the same month. Chancellor Records had Am-Par Record Corporation handle its distribution starting in 1957 and started a trend. Chancellor had its first million-selling single in October 1958 with Lloyd Price's "Stagger Lee". Am-Par purchased Grand Award Records including the newly formed Command Records label, in 1959. The company started a second label for jazz, Impulse! Records , in November 1960. Impulse released its first four records in January 1961. The company had artists that earned three Grammy Awards in 1960. While in January 1961,

1035-919: The Famous Player-Lasky brand. ABC Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels before ABC was sold to MCA Records in 1979. ABC produced music in a variety of genres: pop , rock , jazz , country , rhythm and blues , soundtrack , gospel , and polka . In addition to producing records, ABC licensed masters from independent record producers, and purchased regionally released records for national distribution. The label

1080-574: The Famous Players–Lasky Corporation one of the biggest players of the silent film era. Famous Players–Lasky, under the direction of Zukor, is perhaps best known for its vertical integration of the film industry and block booking practices. On April 1, 1927, the company name was changed to Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation. In September 1927, the Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation studio in Astoria (New York City)

1125-549: The Paramount Theater in Times Square . American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres formed a records division, incorporating the Am-Par Record Corporation on June 14, 1955 with Samuel H. Clark as its first president. By August 1955, the unit was organized with AMPCO ( ASCAP ) and PAMCO ( BMI ) as subsidiary publishing units. Though the record label was established as Am-Par, no records were released until after

1170-402: The company had acquired Music Guild label and library for Westminster Records. In 1965, Clark was promoted to vice-president in charge of AB-PT's non-broadcast operations. National sales manager Larry Newton was named ABC-Paramount president. On January 4, 1965, vice-president in charge of sales Larry Newton was promoted to president of ABC-Paramount Records. The previous president, Sam Clark

1215-618: The company purchased Westminster Records, a classical label. Thus Am-Par Record had a label for each music genre. Am-Par Record Corporation was renamed to ABC-Paramount Records, Inc. on December 7, 1961. The company opened a Los Angeles office in January 1962. Ray Charles formed Tangerine Records in March 1962 and arranged for ABC-Paramount to distribute Tangerine's records. The company formed Jet Record Distributors based in Long Island City, N.Y. as its local distributor. Also in 1962,

1260-588: The division's name was changed to ABC-Paramount in September 1955. Eydie Gorme was the company's first signed artist. The company recorded its first single record, "Sincerely Yours" and "Come Home", both by Gorme. Alec Templeton's "Smart Alec" was the company's first LP recorded, also in September 1955. One of Gorme's singles was its first release in January 1956. " Chain Gang " by Bobby Scott in February 1956

1305-763: The industry practice of block booking . Describing the corporation as the "largest concern in the motion picture industry and the biggest theater owner in the world," the Federal Trade Commission accused Famous Players–Lasky and eleven other correspondents with "conspiracy and restraint of trade" in violation of the antitrust laws. In addition to block-booking charges, the case also accused Famous Players–Lasky of using theater acquisition to intimidate film exhibitors into agreeing to unwanted block booking deals. Several grievances were brought to court, including one from an independent theater owner in Middleton, New York, who claimed when his movie house rejected

1350-461: The mid-1920s, the Famous Players–Lasky Corporation was one of the largest theater owners in the world, with a controlling interest in the Rialto, Rivoli and Criterion theater chains. However, in 1921 the corporation hit a brief stumbling block when Zukor's practice of block booking films and buying up theatres led to an FTC antitrust suit. On April 24, 1930, Paramount-Famous Lasky Corporation became

1395-528: The presidency and replaced by Abrams, who won the seat by a single vote. After accepting the presidency, Abrams announced to the board, "On behalf of Adolph Zukor, who has purchased my shares in Paramount, I call this meeting to order." Within a week of removing Hodkinson, on July 19, 1916, Famous Players and the Lasky Feature Play Company merged to form Famous Players–Lasky, with Zukor as president and Jesse L. Lasky as vice president. For

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1440-487: The production and distribution of their films. Accordingly, less than a year into their distribution contracts the two men began looking for a way to buy Hodkinson out of Paramount and to incorporate the three companies. In late 1915 Zukor began buying as much Paramount stock as possible, including stock belonging to Hiram Abrams , a member of the Paramount board of directors. On July 13, 1916, at Paramount Corporation's annual board meeting, Hodkinson found himself ousted from

1485-587: The purchase of theater chains across the nation. In the Northeast, Zukor acquired Alfred Black's New England Theaters, Inc. and in the South, Zukor acquired S.A. Lynch 's Southern Enterprises, which owned approximately 200 theaters and was at the time the exclusive Paramount distributor in 11 Southern states. In order to weaken First National, Zukor also sent Lynch and Black to acquire theaters held by First National members, often employing heavy-handed tactics. By

1530-678: The report was rejected by the FTC. The corporation's non-compliance eventually led to the FTC taking antitrust action against the Paramount-Famous-Lasky Corporation. In part, the success of the Famous Players–Lasky Corporation can be attributed to Adolph Zukor 's adept handling of the star system . Celebrities such as Mary Pickford , Marguerite Clark , Rudolph Valentino , Gloria Swanson , Clara Bow , Nancy Carroll , Sessue Hayakawa , Mae Murray , opera singer Geraldine Farrar , Owen Moore , Thomas Meighan , Cleo Ridgely , and Ruth Chatterton helped to define

1575-417: The ruling. The corporation largely ignored the cease and desist order and stalled reforms. After the 60-day deadline arrived, they were granted two extensions. On April 15, 1928, the corporation, now the Paramount-Famous-Lasky Corporation, submitted a report of compliance to the FTC. The report disputed the charges, and denied that it practiced block booking. The defiance attracted negative press attention and

1620-531: Was an American motion picture and distribution company formed on June 28, 1916, from the merger of Adolph Zukor 's Famous Players Film Company  – originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays ;– and the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company . The deal, guided by president Zukor, eventually resulted in the incorporation of eight film production companies, making

1665-742: Was initially called Am-Par Records (1955), but quickly changed to ABC-Paramount Records (1955–1966), and then renamed ABC Records in 1966. In the 1940s and early 1950s, the Federal Communications Commission took action against the Anti-competitive practices of movie studios and broadcasting companies, forcing the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) to sell the Blue Network , the sister network of NBC Red Network , in 1943. The Blue Network

1710-406: Was not satisfied simply with consolidation. The cost of producing films was rising – screenplays cost more to purchase and the rise of the star system meant that celebrities were demanding higher salaries. Zukor needed to increase revenue, and he would do so over the next ten years by integrating film production, distribution and exhibition into one corporation. In 1919, Famous Players–Lasky faced

1755-477: Was promoted to director of theater operations for American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres. Newton's first action as president was to restart Apt Records as a teen-oriented West Coast base label under Irwin Garr. In June 1966, the label was renamed ABC Records, and the company acquired New Deal Record Service Corp., a rack-jobbing and record distribution company, along with its affiliates. In 1967, Dunhill Records

1800-605: Was purchased by Edward J. Noble , who changed the company's name to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in 1946. In 1953, ABC merged with United Paramount Theatres , the divested former exhibition/cinema division of Paramount Pictures , with the newly-merged corporation, American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres (AB-PT) chaired by former Paramount Theaters executive Leonard Goldenson and headquartered at 1501 Broadway in New York City, above

1845-487: Was purchased from Lou Adler . In 1970, ABC and Dunhill moved its headquarters to Los Angeles. Newton was promoted to vice-president in charge of ABC Pictures . Dunhill co-owner Jay Lasker was named president and referred to the combined operations as ABC/Dunhill. At that time ABC had another five labels: Westminster, Command, Probe, Impulse!, and Bluesway. At the August 29, 1970 Directors Guild meeting, ABC/Dunhill launched

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1890-546: Was sold on January 31, 1979 to MCA Records with ABC Records being its third label likely under a different name. Instead, MCA discontinued ABC Records on March 5, 1979 and albums in the ABC catalog still selling well were reissued on MCA. Diener died in April 2019, aged 80. ABC Records sub-labeled Apt to release singles. In the early 1960s, it bought Westminster , a classical music label. For jazz it created Impulse! . Led by Creed Taylor and Bob Thiele , Impulse! developed

1935-475: Was temporarily closed with the objective of equipping it with the technology for the production of sound films . The Balaban and Katz Historical Foundation now owns the Famous Players trademark. In 2017, Paramount started a secondary film division known as Paramount Players , which acknowledges their heritage under the Famous Players name. The former Famous Players–Lasky Movie Ranch at Lasky Mesa in

1980-683: Was the company's first national hit. George Hamilton IV's "A Rose and a Baby Ruth" single was Am-Paramount's first million-selling single in October 1956. In 1957, the company had two million-selling singles: in June with "Diana" by Paul Anka and in October with "At the Hop" by Danny & the Juniors. Am-Paramount Records in May 1958 debuted the Apt subsidiary label with its first million-selling single, "Little Star" by

2025-442: Was transferred to CBS in 2006 as part of Viacom 's split into two separate companies: CBS Corporation and "new" Viacom . These included the " Theme from Mission: Impossible " (ownership remained with Paramount), the " Theme from Star Trek ", and " Where Everybody Knows Your Name " (the theme from Cheers ). Famous Music also provided licensing and administration services for many prominent music catalog owners such as CBS and

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