Elektra

Elektra Records was formed in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt in Holzman's St. John's College dorm room. The name is taken from Electra, one of the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione in Greek mythology. Holzman found the 'C' in the original name "too soft" but liked the "solid bite" of the letter 'K', hence the spelling of the label name. During the 1950s and early 1960s the label concentrated on folk music recordings, releasing a number of best-selling albums by Judy Collins, Phil Ochs or Tom Paxton. In 1964, Elektra launched a classical budget label, Nonesuch Records , which became the best-selling budget classical label of the era. The profits from Nonesuch made it possible for Elektra to experiment with their pop releases by the mid-1960s. Elektra, along with its Nonesuch Records subsidiary, was acquired by Kinney National Company in 1970. Soon afterwards Kinney consolidated their label holdings under the Warner Communications umbrella. Holzman remained in charge of Elektra until 1972, when it merged with Asylum Records to become Elektra/Asylum Records. The label is still in business today, as an independent entity within Warner Music. second Elektra label (1956 - 1960) The Elektra label for the second half of the 1950s has the Atom logo and came in a large variety of colour variations. 2. Label Variation (II) second Elektra label (1956 - 1960) Shown here are green and red print on white background, but you can also find blue, brown and orange print, also silver print on a pink background. 3. Label Variation fourth Elektra label (1961 - 1966) For the remaining first half of the 1960s, the guitar player logo was moved to the top center on a gold background with teethed rim. 5. Label Variation (I) fifth Elektra label (1966 - 1969) Two versions exist, with or without the registered trademark sign (®) next to the logo. 5. Label Variation (III) fifth Elektra label (1966 - 1969) An obscure version with embossed 'THE CONNOISSEUR' in the top right quadrant, very similar in design and font to the slogan of competing folk label Vanguard . 6. Label Variation sixth Elektra label (1969 - 1970) The label colour was changed to red in 1969, still featuring the large 'E' logo. First this label, like all the previous ones, carried no rim text. 7. Label Variation seventh Elektra label (1969 - 1970) For the second version of the red label the address ' elektra records - 1855 broadway - new york city ' was added to the bottom rim. 8. Label Variation eighth Elektra label (1970 - 1979) The standard design for the 1970s was the familiar butterfly label . There have been many variations of this label over the decade, most notably the inclusion of the Warner Bros. reference and 'w' logo to the bottom rim text. 9. Label Variation ninth Elektra label (1979 - 1982) The red label re-appeared in 1979, but with a small 'E' logo and the usual bottom rim text, including Warner Bros. reference, that makes it easily distinguishable from the original red label at the beginning of the decade. There have been many variations of this label over the decade, most notably the inclusion of the Warner Bros. reference and 'w' logo to the bottom rim text. 10. Label Variation German Golden Elektra label (mid - late 1960s) 2. German Label Variation Australian Golden Elektra label (mid - late 1960s) 2. Australian Label Variation