About Me
Def Jam was founded by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin in Simmons' dorm room at the City College of New York. The first releases on Def Jam Recordings were LL Cool J's "I Need A Beat" and the Beastie Boys' "Rock Hard," both in 1984. The singles sold well, eventually leading to a distribution deal with Columbia/CBS Records the following year. The first full-length album released by Def Jam Recordings was LL Cool J's Radio in December of 1985. A year later, Def Jam created a subisdary label, OBR Records. The label was for R&B artists. It's first artist signed was Oran "Juice" Jones, who enjoyed success with his hit single "The Rain".Lyor Cohen became president of Def Jam in 1988, after winning a power struggle with Rubin, who would shortly thereafter leave the company to form Def American in 1989. CBS Records, meanwhile, was sold to electronics giant Sony as the decade ended and by 1991 had been was re-christened into Sony Music Entertainment.Despite multi-platinum selling releases from LL Cool J., Beastie Boys Public Enemy and EPMD, Def Jam ran into severe financial troubles in the early 1990s and was faced with folding. Savior came in 1994, however, when PolyGram purchased Sony's 50% stake in Def Jam Recordings — subsequently bringing the label into their fold. Following PolyGram's acquisition of the company, Def Jam released Warren G's Regulate…G Funk Era, which went triple platinum and effectively revived the label.Def Jam remained in the black, as its veteran star LL Cool J released his widely successful album Mr. Smith album in 1995. The label later signed a then-teenaged Foxy Brown, whose debut album Ill Na Na became a platinum seller in 1997. The same year, Def Jam struck up a distribution deal with Damon Dash's Roc-A-Fella Records, and soared to even greater heights with its central star, Jay-Z as the decade drew to a close.PolyGram acquired an additonal 10% in Def Jam Recordings in 1996, further strengthening their ownership of the company. In 1998, PolyGram itself was purchased by Seagrams and absorbed into its Universal Music Group, becoming the largest record label in the world. Following Universal Music Group's buyout of PolyGram, it purchased the remaining interest of Def Jam Recordings, and soon after merged it with Island Records to form The Island Def Jam Music Group. Inspite of the formation of IDJMG, Def Jam (and Island) continued to run as its own label underneath the bigger umbrella. In 1999, Def Jam created an R&B spin-off label called "Def Soul". Island's urban artists -- Dru Hill and Kelly Price -- were moved over to Def Soul, which also issued recordings by Musiq, Montell Jordan, Case, 112, Patti LaBelle, and The Isley Brothers.Today, The Inc. Records, Slip-N-Slide Records, and Disturbing Tha Peace Records are among the independent labels distributed by Def Jam. Roc-A-Fella Records was sold to the company by Dash in 2004, upon his stepping down from the label. Roc-A-Fella co-founder Jay-Z, meanwhile, was subsequently appointed President and CEO of Def Jam by Island Def Jam chairman L. A. Reid.From a business perspective, many present labels are part of the "Big Four" record companies which hold over 75% of the market share ($25 billion market). (Compare with the "Big Six" film companies.) These are:*Universal Music Group ($7 billion revenue), which includes A&M, Decca/London, Deutsche Grammophon, Geffen, Interscope, Island Def Jam, Motown, Philips, Rampagge, Universal, and others;*Sony BMG Music Entertainment ($5 billion), which includes: Arista, (American) Columbia, Epic, J, Jive, LaFace, Ravenous, RCA and others;*EMI Group ($4 billion), which includes Angel, Blue Note, Capitol, European Columbia, Elektrola, Odeon, Parlophone, Pathé Marconi, Positiva, Virgin and others;
Warner Music Group (a.k.a. WEA) ($2.5 billion), which includes Asylum, Atlantic, Elektra, Erato, Heiress, Reprise, Rhino, Rykodisc, Sire, Sub Pop (49% Warner ownership), and others.
