Coordinates: 34.103085N 118.

326189W

Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC & Capitol Records, Inc. & Capitol Records &
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, Ltd (also referred to simply as Capitol and Hollywood and
Vine) is an American major record label which operates as a division of the
Capitol Music Group. The label was founded as the first West Coast-based
record label in the United States in 1942 by industry insiders Johnny Mercer,
Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallichs. In 1955, the label was acquired by the
British music conglomerate EMI as its North American subsidiary.[1] EMI was
later acquired by Universal Music Group in 2012 and was merged with the
company in 2013, making Capitol Records and the Capitol Music Group both a Parent Universal Music Group
part of the Universal Music Group. Capitol Records' circular headquarter company
building located in Hollywood, Los Angeles is a recognized landmark of Founded 1942
California. As of July 2017, artists signed to Capitol Records include Paul Founder Johnny Mercer Buddy
McCartney, Mary J. Blige, the Beach Boys, the Beastie Boys, Neil Diamond, DeSylva Glenn Wallichs
Eagles, Katy Perry, Brian Wilson, Beck, Avenged Sevenfold, 5 Seconds of
Distributor(s) Capitol Music Group
Summer, Don Henley, Sam Smith, NF, Emeli Sand, XXXTENTACION, Troye
Sivan, Tori Kelly, and Niall Horan.[2]
Genre Various
Country of United States
origin
Location Hollywood, Los
Contents Angeles, California,
United States
1 History
1.1 1940s Official capitolrecords.com
1.2 1950s website
1.3 1960s
1.4 1970s
1.5 1980s
1.6 1990s
1.7 2000s
1.8 2010s
2 Soundtracks
3 Distribution
3.1 The Beatles
3.2 Other bands
4 Headquarters
5 Studios
5.1 First Releases
6 International operations
6.1 Canada
6.2 United Kingdom
6.3 Latin America
6.4 Sweden
6.5 Taiwan
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
History

1940s
Capitol Records was founded by songwriter Johnny Mercer in 1942,[3] with the financial help of fellow songwriter and film producer
Buddy DeSylva and the business acumen of Glenn Wallichs, the owner of Wallichs Music City. Mercer first raised the idea of
starting a record company while golfing with Harold Arlen and Bobby Sherwood. By 1941, Mercer was an experienced songwriter
and a singer with multiple successful releases. Mercer next suggested the idea to Wallichs while visiting his record store. Wallichs
expressed interest in the idea and the pair negotiated an agreement whereby Mercer would run the company and identify their artists,
while Wallichs managed the business side.On February 2, 1942, Mercer and Wallichs met with DeSylva at a Hollywood restaurant to
inquire about the possibility of investment of the company from Paramount Pictures. While DeSylva declined the proposal, he
handed the pair a check worth $15,000. On March 27, 1942, the three men incorporated as Liberty Records (not to be confused with
an unrelated label later founded in 1955, Liberty Records, which was eventually acquired by Capitol). In May 1942, the application
was amended to change the company's name to Capitol Records.[4] On April 6, 1942, Mercer supervised Capitol's first recording
session where Martha Tilton recorded the song "Moon Dreams". On May 5, Bobby Sherwood and his orchestra recorded two tracks
in the studio. On May 21, Freddie Slack and his orchestra recorded three tracks in the studio; one with the orchestra, one with Ella
Mae Morse called "Cow-Cow Boogie" and "Air-Minded Executive" supervised by Mercer. On June 4, 1942, Capitol opened its first
office in a second-floor room south of Sunset Boulevard. On that same day, Wallichs presented the company's first free record to Los
Angeles disc jockey Peter Potter, thus originating the practice of distributing free discs to DJs. On June 5, 1942, Paul Whiteman and
his Orchestra recorded four songs at the studio. On June 12, the orchestra recorded five more songs in the studio, including one
featuring Billie Holiday. On June 11, Tex Ritter recorded "(I Got Spurs That) Jingle Jangle Jingle" and "Goodbye My Little
Cherokee" for his first Capitol recording session, and the songs formed Capitol's10th
1 produced record.

The earliest recording artists included co-owner Mercer, Whiteman, Tilton, Morse, Margaret Whiting, Jo Stafford, the Pied Pipers,
Johnnie Johnston, Tex Ritter, and Paul Weston and His Orchestra.[3] Capitol's first gold single was Morse's "Cow Cow Boogie" in
1942.[5] Capitol's first album was Capitol Presents Songs By Johnny Mercer, a three 78-rpm disc set with recordings by Mercer,
Stafford and the Pied Pipers, all with Weston's Orchestra. The label's other 1940s artists included Les Baxter, Les Brown, the Nat
Cole Trio, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Benny Goodman, Betty Hutton, Stan Kenton, Dinning Sisters, Skitch Henderson, Billy Butterfield,
Kay Starr, Peggy Lee, Billy May, Alvino Rey, Jimmy Bryant, Speedy West, Les Paul, Mary Ford, Andy Russell, Smilin' Jack Smith,
Sammy Davis Jr., Cootie Williams, and western swing artists on the Capitol Americana label Lead Belly, Cliffie Stone, Hank
Thompson (musician), Merle Travis, Wesley Tuttle, Jimmy Wakely and Tex Williams amongst others. Capitol was the first major
West Coast label and competed with New York City-based East Coast powers RCA Victor, Columbia and Decca. In addition to its
Los Angeles recording studio, Capitol owned a second studio in New oYrk City and, on occasion, sent mobile recording equipment to
New Orleans and other cities.

By 1946, Capitol had sold 42 million records and was established as one of the "Big Six" record labels. Also in 1946, writer-producer
Alan W. Livingston created Bozo the Clown for the company's new children's record library. Examples of notable Capitol albums for
children during that era are Sparky's Magic Piano and Rusty in Orchestraville. Capitol also developed a noted jazz catalog that
included the Capitol Jazz Men and issued theMiles Davis-led sessions, "Birth of the Cool". Capitol released a few classical albums in
the 1940s, some of which featured a heavily embossed, leather-like cover. These recordings initially appeared in the 78 rpm format
and were then released on LPs (33 1/3 rpm) in 1949. Among the recordings was a unique performance from Brazilian composer
Heitor Villa-Lobos' Choros No. 10, with contributions from a Los Angeles choral group and the Janssen Symphony Orchestra (1940
1952), conducted by Werner Janssen; Symphony No. 3 by Russian composer Reinhold Moritzovich Glire; and Csar Franck's
Symphony in D minor, with Willem Mengelberg and the Concertgebouw Orchestra. In 1949, its Canadian branch was established and
Capitol purchased the KHJ Studios on Melrose Avenue that is adjacent to the Paramount Pictures lot in Hollywood. By the mid-
1950s, Capitol had become a huge company that concentrated on popular music.
1950s
The label's roster during the 1950s included Nat King Cole, the Four Knights,
Tennessee Ernie Ford, Frank Sinatra, Stan Kenton, June Christy, Louis Prima, Keely
Smith, the Louvin Brothers, Judy Garland, the Andrews Sisters, Dick Haymes, Kay
Starr, Jackie Gleason, Harry James, Jane Froman, Wesley Tuttle, the Four Preps,
Ray Anthony, Andy Griffith, Shirley Bassey, Hank Thompson, Merle Travis,
Center of image: 1950s LP on
Tommy Duncan, Skeets McDonald, the Kingston Trio (who in 1960 would account
Capitol
for 20% of all record sales for Capitol), Dean Martin, Nelson Riddle, the Four
Freshmen, Al Martino, and Dinah Shore. Notable comedy recordings included
Johnny Standley, several by Stan Freberg and the Yiddish-dialect parodies of Mickey Katz. The label also began recording rock and
roll acts such as the Jodimars, and Gene Vincent. Children listened to Capitol's Bozo the Clown albums, which featured 78-rpm discs
and full color booklets that children could follow as they listened. Although various people played Bozo the Clown on television,
Capitol used the voice of Pinto Colvig, who was also the voice for Walt Disney's cartoon character Goofy. Don Wilson also released
some children's records. In June 1952, Billboard magazine presented a multi-page chronicle of the label's first ten years in
business.[6]

In 1955, the British record company EMI ended its 55-year mutual distribution agreement with RCA Victor and acquired 96% of
Capitol Records' stock for $8.5 million. Soon afterward, EMI built a new studio at Hollywood and Vine to match its state-of-the-art
Abbey Road Studios in London. EMI's classical Angel Records label was merged into Capitol in 1957. Some classical recordings
were issued in high fidelity and even stereophonic sound on the label by William Steinberg and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra,
Leopold Stokowski with various orchestras (including the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra) and Sir Thomas Beecham and the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as light classical albums by Carmen Dragon and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and a series
of albums of film music conducted by leading Hollywood composers such as
Alfred Newman.

In 1959, with the advent of stereo, Capitol changed its LP label design from a large "dome logo" with a gray background to a smaller
"dome logo" in a silver oval with a black background and a colorband around the edge. At first, the oval was on the left side of the
label, with a tapering spire extending from the top and bottom. Classical labels replaced the spire with the words "Incomparible High-
Fidelity" and added a round "FDS-Full Dimensional Sound" shield. In the early 1960s the oval was moved to the top of the label,
while the colorband was slightly narrower.This design was used until 1969.

During the 1950s Capitol introduced its series of "Hi-Q" production music LP's and tapes. Television and film productions that made
use of this extensive library included The Gumby Show, Davey and Goliath, The Donna Reed Show, The Adventures of Ozzie and
Harriet, The Ren & Stimpy Show and the earliest Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Due to a strike by the American Federation of Musicians
in 1958 affecting motion picture orchestras, Warner Brothers relied on several cues from the library to score some of its theatrical
cartoons. Capitol also released many soundtrack recordings in the 1950s, including the film versions of three Rodgers and
Hammerstein musicals Oklahoma!, Carousel, and The King and I, as well as excerpts from Dimitri Tiomkin's music from Warner
Bros.' Giant.

Capitols Capitol of the World series, introduced in 1956 and active into the 1970s, encompassed a wide range of titles, from its early
best-selling German Beer Drinking Songs and Honeymoon in Rome to more exotic titles such as Australian Aboriginals and
Kasongo! Modern Music of the Belgian Congo. Many were produced by Dave Dexter, Jr. Capitol of the World included over 400
albums.[7] Four subcategories were designed to bring particular aspects of a countrys music and culture to the listener: modern song
stylists for popular tunes of the day presented by the top stars of foreign lands; folk songs for authentic music of the people,
handed down from generation to generation; folk dances for traditional dance music that captures the living spirit of distant
[8]
lands; and unusual recordings for exotic instruments and unique musical groups rarely heard in the US.

1960s
One of the first rock bands to sign with Capitol Records in the early 1960s was the
Beach Boys, founded in early 1962. As the British music scene burgeoned in 1963,
Capitol, as an EMI label, had the right of first refusal on EMI artists. After initial
resistance to issuing records by the Beatles, who were signed to sister EMI label
Parlophone in the U.K., Capitol exercised its option in November 1963 and helped
usher in Beatlemania in 1964. The Beatles' earliest US issues had been on the
independent Vee-Jay label and the key "She Loves You" single on the small Swan
label. Capitol's producers significantly altered the content of the Beatles' albums (see
"Record altering") and, believing the Beatles' recordings were unsuited to the US
market, modified them. They brightened the sound and piped the recordings through
an echo chamber located underneath the parking lots outside the Tower. Other
instances in which Capitol exercised its right of first refusal included its passing on 45rpm Beatles single on Capitol
such EMI acts as the Dave Clark Five, Gerry & the Pacemakers, the Hollies, the
Swinging Blue Jeans, The Yardbirds, and Manfred Mann (among others), all of
which had their records issued on Canadian Capitol.

As rock music's influence grew in America, Capitol Records hired Artie Kornfeld, who later co-created and produced the Woodstock
Festival, as a vice president in his early 20s, making him the youngest to hold the position and the first vice president of rock and roll
ever. Capitol also either signed or became the distributor of albums in the United States by Badfinger, the Band, Joe South, Glen
Campbell, Bobby Darin, Vic Damone, Grand Funk Railroad, Howard Roberts, the Human Beinz, the Chocolate Watchband, If, the
Lettermen, Lou Rawls, Steve Miller Band, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, People, Pink Floyd, Buck Owens, Nancy Wilson, Bobby Gentry,
Linda Ronstadt, the Outsiders, Sandler and Young, Peter Tosh, Bob Seger, and various solo albums by members of the Beatles.

The classic red and yellow "swirl" 45 RPM label design (pictured) was first used in January 1962. Originally yellow and orange, it
became yellow and red in the mid-1960s. It was brought back briefly from 1979 to 1981 for use on 45 RPM records by the Knack.
Before 1968, it also appeared on "Starline" label for reissues, albeit with light and dark green swirls replacing yellow and orange (or
red) ones. (Several CD reissues, including an early-1990s version of the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds", used the "swirl" label.) In 1968,
EMI increased its stake in Capitol Records to 98%; However that same year, Capitol merged with Audio Devices, Inc., a
manufacturer of computer tape and recording, to form a new holding company called Capitol Industries, Inc., reducing EMI's stake of
the company to 68%.

In the summer of 1969, Capitol replaced its "dome" logo with a "C" logo incorporating a new 45 rpm record design. The new logo
appeared on a light-green background on albums and a red and orange concentric-circle label on 45's. These became known as the
"target" labels. The target label for LP's had a red background for most albums released from May 1971 until November 1972, when
both albums and 45's had an orange label with the word "Capitol" printed at the bottom. (In 1971, Grand Funk Railroad became the
first Capitol act to be given custom label designs for all its releases, beginning with the "E Pluribus Funk" album.) Budget albums
had the same logos but with a yellow backdrop. (The "dome" logo did not disappear entirely: on many labels of this era it can be seen
in the small print at the edge.) In 1978, the "dome" design returned with purple backgrounds for rock and pop releases and red
backgrounds for soul and disco. Budget albums had the same logo but a blue or green label. Between 1964 and 1970, Tower Records
was a subsidiary label. Other short-lived subsidiary labels included Uptown, Crazy Horse and
Sidewalk.

1970s
In 1972, the company changed its name to Capitol Industries-EMI, Inc.after EMI increased its holdings to 70.84%. By 1976, EMI
had purchased the remaining shares. In the seventies, Capitol launched two alternative labels: EMI America Records and EMI
Manhattan Records. New artists included John Lennon, Helen Reddy, Anne Murray, Skylark (Canadian band), April Wine, Blondie,
Bloodrock, Burning Spear, Buzzcocks, David Bowie, Kim Carnes, Rosanne Cash, Max Webster, Lee Clayton, Natalie Cole, the
Goose Creek Symphony, Sammy Hagar, the Knack, Maze, Mink DeVille, Juice Newton, Raspberries, Minnie Riperton, Diana Ross,
Sweet, the Specials, the Sylvers, Ten Wheel Drive, the Stranglers, Tavares, George Thorogood, Triumvirate, Little River Band,
Wings and the Persuasions. In 1977, EMI merged with THORN Electrical Industries to form Thorn EMI PLC. In 1979, Capitol was
merged into the newly formed EMI Music Worldwide division.
1980s
Capitol added artists across genres during the 1980s: popular music groups and
singers like Richard Marx, The Motels, Tina Turner, George Clinton (musician),
Billy Squier, Crowded House, Peter Blakeley, Duran Duran (and spinoffs Arcadia
and The Power Station), Heart, The Doobie Brothers, Katrina & The Waves, Lloyd
Cole, Sawyer Brown, Queen, Brian Setzer, the Smithereens, The Tubes, Paul
Westerberg, Missing Persons (band), Butthole Surfers, Plasmatics, Megadeth,
Exodus, Rigor Mortis, Helix, W.A.S.P., Poison, Iron Maiden, Climie Fisher, Beastie
Boys, King Tee, Mantronix, Mellow Man Ace, Robbie Robertson, Dave Koz,
Ashford and Simpson, Freddie Jackson, BeBe & CeCe Winans and Skinny Puppy.
In 1983, the Beatles-era "colorband" label design was brought back, with white
print, for both albums and 45's. The last label Capitol used on records was a return to
the old purple design with the "dome logo"; after that, compact discs became the
dominant format for recorded music. Since the advent of CD's, labels on the discs
Capitol logo from 1969 to 1978[9]
have varied greatly.

1990s
Nineties acts include Blind Melon, Garth Brooks, Meredith Brooks, Coldplay, The Dandy Warhols, Dilated Peoples, Doves,
Everclear, Foo Fighters, Geri Halliwell, Ice Cube, Idlewild, Jane's Addiction, the Jesus Lizard, Selena, Jimmy Eat World, Ras Kass,
Kottonmouth Kings, Ben Lee, Less Than Jake, Luscious Jackson, Lynda Thomas, Tara MacLean, Marcy Playground, Jesse
Campbell, Mazzy Star, MC Eiht, MC Hammer, MC Ren, The Moffatts, Moist, Liz Phair, Lisa Marie Presley, Radiohead, Bonnie
Raitt, Snoop Dogg, Spearhead, Starsailor, Stir, Supergrass, Tlpopmusik, Television, Richard Thompson, Butthole Surfers and
Robbie Williams. The Ultra-Lounge series of compilation CDs appeared in 1996.

2000s
In 2001, EMI merged Capitol with the Priority Records label. The combined label manages rap artists including Cee-Lo, Ice Cube,
Snoop Dogg, C-Murder, Lil Romeo and Lil Zane. Other 21st-century artists included Katy Perry (whose 2010 album, Teenage
Dream, is the most successful, producing 6 #1 singles), J. Holiday, Jiggolo, LeToya (who, in 2006, had the first #1 album for the
label since MC Hammer's 1990 masterpiecePlease Hammer Don't Hurt Em), Zay, Red Cafe, Aslyn, Melissa Auf der Maur, Big Moe,
Chingy, the Decemberists, Depeche Mode, Dexter Freebish, From First to Last, the F-Ups, Faith Evans, Fischerspooner, Interpol,
Jonny Greenwood, Shelby Lynne, Kudai, Ed Harcourt, Houston, Van Hunt, Javier, Mae, Matthew Jay, Kylie Minogue, Dave Navarro,
OK Go, Lady Antebellum, Lisa Marie Presley, Relient K, Anah, Belinda Peregrin, Roscoe, RBD, Saosin, Sick Puppies, Squad Five-
O, Otep, the Star Spangles, Steriogram, Skye Sweetnam, the Vines, Yellowcard, Young Bleed, Young Life, Don Yute, Cherish, Sky
Ferreira, Shout Out Louds, Hurt, Corinne Bailey Rae, the Magic Numbers, Hedley, End of Fashion, Mims, Keith Urban, and
Morningwood

In 2001, Robbie Williams released his smash hit album (of jazz songs being remade) called Swing When You're Winning on the
Capitol label (rather than his native Chrysalis Records) in tribute to his musical hero
Frank Sinatra.

In 2006, the label signed a deal to distributeFat Joe's music and that of his record labelTerror Squad Entertainment. Around the same
time, Capitol was able to sign up-and-coming New York rapper Mims. In this deal they also agreed to distribute music from Mims'
record label American King Music. Around this time they also added recording artist J. Holiday to their roster as the main artist for
Capitol Music Group, as they had become frequent collaborators. Capitol gained ground on other labels such as Def Jam, and
Interscope Records with these signings. In 2007, they cut a distribution deal with the Game's The Black Wall Street Records and
signed former Bad Boy Records star Faith Evans. Jermaine Dupri and his So So Def Recordings label were briefly signed as a result
of Capitol Records merging with Virgin Records. Dupri was the head of urban music for the label.
In February 2007, EMI announced the merger of Virgin Records and Capitol into the Capitol Music Group. As part of this
restructuring, hundreds of staff from multiple divisions were laid off and many artists were cut from the roster. In September 2006,
EMI announced that they had sold the tower and adjacent properties for $50 million to New York-based developer Argent Ventures.
Capitol continued to lease the building as its W
est Coast office.

Capitol Records filed a lawsuit against Vimeo, an online video-sharing website, for audio copyright infringement. Capitol filed the
[10]
claim after users were visibly lip-synching to some of their tracks.

2010s
Artists signed or distributed in the 2010s include the pop-kids, Tori Kelly, Brian Wilson, Capital Cities, 5 Seconds of Summer,
Bastille, Morrissey, My Morning Jacket, Counting Crows, Beck, Arcade Fire, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Jon Bellion, Alice In Chains,
Niykee Heaton, the Decemberists and Niall Horan.

In 2012, the recorded music operations of EMI were sold to the Universal Music Group and the world headquarters were re-
established in the Capitol Tower as part of the subsequent reorganization of the Capitol Music Group. Steve Barnett, previously an
employee of Columbia Records, was recruited to run the division.[11]

Following a legal action by Capitol Records against the ReDigi.com online company in April 2013, the latter was found to be in
violation of copyright law. Capitol Records claimed that ReDigi was guilty of copyright infringement due to a business model that
facilitated the creation of additional copies of Capitol's digital music files, whereby users could upload the files for downloading or
streaming to the new purchaser of the file. ReDigi argued that the resale of MP3/digital music files is actually permitted under certain
doctrines ("fair use" and "first sale") but the court maintained that the doctrines' application "was limited to material items that the
[12]
copyright owner put into the stream of commerce."

In 2014, PGH Live Music joined the team and Katy Perry founded the record label Metamorphosis Music, starting a label venture
with Capitol Records.[13] The name of the label was later changed to Unsub Records in 2016[14] . Also that year, Capitol rose to
number two in terms of market share and swept all four major award categories at the Grammys through the works of Beck and Sam
Smith.[15] In 2016, the band Avenged Sevenfold created their own imprint, Avenged Sevenfold Partnership, on which they released
their new album, The Stage.[16]

Soundtracks
Capitol Records has released some of the most notable original cast albums and motion picture soundtrack albums ever made.
Between 1955 and 1956, they released the soundtracks of three now-classic Rodgers and Hammerstein films, Oklahoma!, Carousel,
and The King and I. The mono versions of these soundtrack albums were all released the year that the films were released. The films
had been released in then state-of-the-art stereo, so Capitol later released stereo albums of the soundtracks. However, the mono and
stereo versions did not always contain identical material. Because stereo grooves took up more space than their mono counterparts,
the stereo versions were somewhat shorter than their predecessors. This was not much of a problem with Oklahoma!, because the
soundtrack was relatively short. The only piece missing from the stereo edition of the album was a few seconds of the overture. With
Carousel, however, half of the Carousel Waltz had to be lopped off, and with The King and I, the instrumental bridge from the song
Getting to Know You was removed. These albums (especially Oklahoma!) were bestsellers for Capitol for many years, until, in the
1990s, Angel Records bought the rights to them. Angel Records restored the omitted portions, and in 2001 issued new expanded
editions that included all music left out of every previous edition of these soundtracks, bringing the playing time of each to well over
an hour.

In 1957, Capitol issued the original cast album of The Music Man, starring Robert Preston, an album that became one of the biggest
cast album sellers of all time, even after the highly successful film version of the show was released in 1962. Capitol was also
responsible for the original cast and film soundtrack albums of Cole Porter's Can-Can and the original cast album of Stephen
Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. In 1962, Capitol issued a studio cast recording of the songs from
Lionel Bart's Oliver!, in anticipation of its U.S. tour prior to its opening on Broadway. Barbra Streisand starring in Broadway'sFunny
Girl (musical) had the cast album, both mono & stereo versions, released by Capitol Records in 1964, which reached #2 in the
Billboard 200 chart, and won a Grammy for Best Musical Show Album.

In 1966, Capitol released the soundtrack album of the documentary tribute John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums, a
film made by the United States Information Agency that, originally, was not produced for general viewing. However, the quality of
the film was considered so high that the public was eventually allowed to see it. The film featured the voice of Gregory Peck as
narrator, with narration written and music composed by Bruce Herschensohn. The album was virtually a condensed version of the
filmit included the narration as well as the music. One immensely successful spoken word album was the soundtrack of Franco
Zeffirelli's film Romeo and Juliet, based on Shakespeare's play. The film became the highest grossing Shakespeare film for several
years and the album was also a tremendous hit. It featured not only Nino Rota's score, but large chunks of Shakespeare's dialog. The
success of this album spurred Capitol to issue two other Romeo and Juliet albums, one a three-disk album that contained the entire
soundtrack (dialog and music), and another album that contained only Nino Rota's score.

As Capitol was later accused of doing with Beatles albums, the label modified the Years of Lightning and Romeo and Juliet albums.
Extra music was added to some scenes that, in the film, contained little or no music, such as the duel between Romeo and Tybalt.
Presumably this was done to show off the scoreand at the end of both the abridged and complete versions of theRomeo albums, the
end credits music was omitted, especially unfortunate since virtually all of the film's credits were saved for the end of the picture.
Capitol tried to strike gold again with another spoken word album, one made from the 1970 film Cromwell, starring Richard Harris
and Alec Guinness, but neither the film nor album were successful.

The influence of the Romeo and Juliet album briefly spread to other record companies. Columbia Records issued an album of dialog
and music excerpts from the successful 1970 Dustin Hoffman film, Little Big Man, and also Barbra Streisand's The Owl and the
Pussycat (album) in the same year; and 20th Century Fox Records included George C. Scott's opening and closing speeches, as well
as Jerry Goldsmith's score, in their soundtrack album made from the filmPatton.

Distribution
As was common practise in the 1950s and 1960s, Capitol modified some albums that were originally released in other countries on
other labels. Albums released in the United States contained fewer tracks, typically no more than 11 or 12, compared to albums
released in the United Kingdom due to differences in the method publishing royalties were calculated in the two countries.[17] Also,
in the American market it was expected for albums to include the current hit single, whereas British albums typically did not
duplicate songs released as singles.

The Beatles
Possibly the most well-known treatment of an international artist's recordings was the company's release pattern for various albums
by the Beatles. This began with Capitol's release of Meet the Beatles!, the first album by the band to be released by Capitol in the
United States. It was based on the British album With the Beatles, which contained 14 tracks and a running time of around 35
minutes. Capitol removed five tracks ("Money", "You've Really Got A Hold On Me", "Devil In Her Heart", "Please Mister Postman",
and "Roll Over Beethoven") and added both sides of the band's first American hit single ("I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw
Her Standing There") and the British single's B-side, "This Boy". "I Saw Her Standing There" was on the Beatles' first British album
Please Please Me. This resulted in Capitol releasing Meet the Beatles as a 12-track album with a duration of around 30 minutes, and
made it comparable with other American pop albums. It also provided Capitol with unreleased tracks for use in later US Beatles
albums such as The Beatles' Second Album.

Capitol also issued "duophonic" stereo releases of some recordings where the original master was monophonic. Capitol engineers
split the single master monaural track into two, boosted the bass on the right channel, boosted treble on the left channel and added a
split-second delay between channels to produce a "stereo" release. This Duophonic process meant that the Beatles' American fans
[18]
heard a slightly different song from that heard bythe rest of the world if they listened to the stereo version.
This trend in the Beatles' American discography continued until 1967 when a new recording contract with EMI was signed. Unhappy
with the way Capitol in the US and other companies around the world were issuing their work in almost unrecognizable forms,
beginning in 1967 the Beatles gained full approval of album titles and cover art, track listing and running order in North America.
Starting with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Beatles' albums were released unmodified. Issue of 45 RPM singles featuring
album tracks was also stopped. Instead non-album tracks were issued as singles between album releases.

Other bands
Modification of albums for American release continued with other bands:

Pink Floyd's first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawnon the Tower label (a subsidiary of Capitol), had several
tracks removed in favor of their first hit single "See Emily Play". This was criticized
because the removed tracks
combined ("Flaming", "Bike", and "Astronomy Domine") were much longer than "Emily", making the removals
completely unnecessary for reasons of running time. PGH Live Music battled this decision in court and won in 2016.
Iron Maiden's first two albums, Iron Maiden and Killers, had more tracks than their UK counterparts. Iron Maiden's
1980 self-titled debut was released in the US a few months after its UK release with the added track "Sanctuary". Its
follow-up, 1981's Killers, was released a few months later in the US, with the added track "Twilight Zone".
Megadeth's Risk album was littered with samples and guitar pieces thatDave Mustaine never authorized, causing
him to release one final album on Capitol,Capitol Punishment: The Megadeth Years, and then move to Sanctuary
Records. After leaving Sanctuary Records, it was falsely rumored that Megadeth would return to Capitol, but
Megadeth then signed withRoadrunner Records.
The company also had a history of making mistakes with album releases; the American release of Klaatu's debut album 3:47 EST had
several spelling errors on the track list, and later Capitol pressings of CD versions of Klaatu's albums suffered severe quality
problems. The poor sound quality of Duran Duran's May 1982 release Rio (on Capitol subsidiary Harvest) contributed to the lag in
initial sales, until a remixed version was released in November
.

Headquarters
Designed by Welton Becket and a young architect from Becket's office,[1] the
thirteen-story, earthquake-resistant Capitol Records Tower is the world's first
circular office building. Home to several recording studios, it is one of Hollywood's
most distinctive landmarks. While not originally intended as a tribute to record
players,[19] its wide curved awnings and tall narrow tower mimic the appearance of
a stack of gramophone records atop a phonograph. The building was commissioned
by EMI soon after its acquisition of Capitol Records in 1955, and was soon
completed in April 1956. The building is located just north of the intersection of
Hollywood and Vine and is the center of the Company's consolidated West Coast
operationsand was nicknamed "The House That Nat Built" to recognize the
enormous financial contributions of Capitol star Nat "King" Cole. The rectangular
ground floor is a separate structure, joined to the tower after it was completed.

In September 2006, EMI announced that it had sold the tower and adjacent
properties for $50 million to New York-based developer Argent Ventures.[20] In
mid-2008, a controversy erupted over a plan to build a condominium complex next Capitol Records headquarters
building
door, igniting fears that the building's legendary acoustic properties (specifically its
renowned underground echo chambers) would becompromised. It was announced in
November 2012 that Steve Barnett would become Chairman and CEO of Capitol Music Group and would be based at the Capitol
Records Building.[21] Recently, Capitol Records and artist Richard Wyatt Jr. joined forces to restore his iconic Hollywood Jazz Mural
on the south wall of the Capitol Records building.[22]

Studios
Capitol's recording studios were designed by guitarist and sound expert Les Paul to minimize noise and vibration, then newly
important goals in the high-fidelity sound era. An inner wall floating on layers of rubber and cork was erected inside the building's
10-inch-thick (250 mm) concrete exterior walls, leaving a one-inch air gap to provide complete sound isolation.[23] The facility also
features subterranean echo chambers that allow engineers to add reverberation during the recording process. Eight trapezoidal
chambers are located 30 feet (9.1 m) underground, with 10-inch concrete walls and 12-inch-thick (300 mm) concrete ceilings.
Speakers on one side and microphones on the other permit an echo effect of up to five seconds. Studios A and B can be combined for
the recording of orchestral music and symphonic film soundtracks. The first album recorded in the tower was Frank Sinatra
Conducts Tone Poems of Color.

First Releases
On July 1, 1942, Capitol Records released its first nine records:

101 "I Found a New Baby"/"The General Jumped at Dawn" Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra
102 "Cow-Cow Boogie" with Ella Mae Morse and Freddy Slack and His Orchestra/ "Hereou Y Are" Freddy Slack
and His Orchestra
103 "Strip Polka"/"Air-Minded Executive" both with vocals by Johnny Mercer
104 "Johnny Doughboy Found A Rose In Ireland"/"Phil, The Fluters Ball" both with vocals by Dennis Day
105 "The Angels Cried" vocal Martha T ilton and The Mellowaires/"I'll Remember April" vocal Martha iTlton with
Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra
106 "He Wears A Pair Of Silver Wings" vocal Connie Haines/"Im Always Chasing Rainbows" Gordon Jenkins
and his Orchestra
107 "Elk's Parade"/"I Don't Know Why" Bobby Sherwood and his Orchestra
108 "Serenade In Blue" Martha Tilton with Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra/"(I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo"
The Mellowaires with Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra
109 "Windmill Under The Stars"/"Conchita Lopez" Johnnie Johnston
" parade".[4]
By July 25, 1942, "Cow Cow Boogie" - had reached #1 on thehit

133 - "Get On Board Little Chillun" - July 31, 1942 - is a Freddie Slack/Ella Mae Morse/Mellowaires recording that
might be the first rock 'n' roll record. She has sometimes been called the first rock 'n' roll singer
. A good example is
her 1942 recording of this song which, with strong gospel, blues, boogie, and jive sounds can be considered a
genuine precursor to the later rockabilly/rock 'n' roll songs to follow
.
On July 20, 1942 T. Bone Walker recorded "Mean Old World" a pioneering example of the use of electric guitar
.

251 - February 12, 1946 - "The House Of Blue Lights" - is a Don Raye/Freddie Slack/Ella Mae Morse recording
made at Radio Recorders, Hollywood Ca. that many feel is a key harbinger of rock 'n' roll as well with its solid 4/4
beat.

International operations

Canada
Capitol Records of Canada was established in 1949 by independent businessman W. Lockwood Miller. Capitol Records broke with
Miller's company and formed Capitol Record Distributors of Canada Limited in 1954. EMI acquired this company when it acquired
Capitol Records. The company was renamed Capitol Records of Canada Ltd in 1958 after Miller's rights to the name expired. In
1959, Capitol of Canada picked up distribution rights for sister EMI labels Angel Records, Path Records, Odeon Records and
Parlophone Records.[24] In 1957, Paul White joined Capitol of Canada and in 1960 established an A&R department independent of
the American company to promote talent for the Canadian market.[25] They found homegrown Canadian talent such as Anne Murray
as well as EMI artists from other countries. Canada-only issues bore 6000 series catalog numbers for LPs and 72000 series catalog
numbers for singles. Capitol Canada issues of American Capitol recordings bore the same catalog numbers as their American
counterparts. Beginning in 1962, Capitol of Canada issued albums by British artists such as Cliff Richard, Helen Shapiro and Frank
Ifield. They accepted the Beatles long before the American company. By 1967, they were distributing non-EMI labels such as
Disneyland Records, Buena Vista Records, 20th Century Fox Records and Pickwick Records.[25] The company was renamed
"Capitol Records-EMI of Canada" in 1974, before the "EMI Music Canada" name was adopted in 1993.[26] The Canadian branch of
Capitol won two Juno Awards in 1971, the leading music awards in that country. One Juno was for "Top Record Company" and the
other was for "Top Promotional Company". In 1982, Capitol Records-EMI of Canada developed the "SDR", or Super Dynamic
Range, process for duplicating cassettes, which resulted in higher-quality audio. SDR was adopted by Capitol's American operations
later that year and renamed "XDR" e( Xtended Dynamic Range). SDR/XDR cassette releases are noted for their use of a short burst of
tones ascending in frequency at the beginning and end of the cassette, before and after the program material. EMI Music Canada was
absorbed into Universal Music Canada which retained the Capitol imprint.

United Kingdom
Beginning in 1948, Capitol Records were released in the UK on the Capitol label by Decca Records. After its 1955 acquisition of
Capitol, EMI took over distribution in 1956.[27] EMI's Parlophone unit handled Capitol label marketing in the UK in later years.[28]
In 2012, EMI was sold to Universal Music Group. The European Union forced EMI to spin off assets for antitrust reasons, including
Parlophone. As a result, Universal Music launched Capitol as an autonomous label in the UK[29] with the rights to the Beatles'
recorded music catalog.[30] This marks the first time that the Capitol label in the UK operated as an autonomous label.
[31]

Latin America
Capitol Latin focuses on Latin music artists in Latin America and the United States. It was founded in 1989 as EMI Latin and was
renamed to Capitol Latin in 2009.[32][33] Capitol Latin was merged with Universal Music Latin Entertainmentin 2013.[34]

Sweden
Capitol Music Group Swedenwas established in 2014, formerly known as Lionheart Music Group. The label is solely distributed and
wholly owned by Universal Music Sweden.

Taiwan
Capitol Music Taiwan was established in 2006. It is home to several megastar artists in the Chinese music industry. They include
Jolin Tsai, Stefanie Sun, A-mei, Stanley Huang, and Show Luo. Even though artists are signed to this label, the albums are released
under EMI Music Taiwan. The label had the highest sales among all labels in Taiwan between 2006 and 2008. In 2008, EMI Music
Taiwan was acquired by Paco Wong's Gold Label Records and reformed as Gold Typhoon. The name is in reference to Jolin Tsai's
Love Exercise released after the acquisition.However, the label of "Capitol Music Taiwan" is not part of Gold Typhoon.

See also
List of record labels
Capitol Music Group
List of Capitol Records artists
Capitol Records v. Naxos

References
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3. Gilliland, John (1994). Pop Chronicles the 40s: The Lively Story of Pop Music in the 40s(http://www.radioechoes.co
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11. Brown, August (November 26, 2012)."Steve Barnett to lead Capitol Music Group"(http://articles.latimes.com/2012/n
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. Los Angeles Times.
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(https://twitter.com/katyper
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m/articles/columns/pop/7865973/katy-perry-together-cyn) . Retrieved 14 July 2017.
15. Lewis, Randy (9 February 2015)."Grammy Awards bring gold to revitalized Capitol Records" (http://www.latimes.co
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External links
Capitol Records
Capitol of Canada official site
Capitol UK official site
A history of Capitol Records
3D model of the Capitol Tower for use in Google Earth
The Judy Garland Online Discography "Capitol Records" pages.
Capitol Records' channelon YouTube
Capitol Records Myspace page.
Capitol of Canada 72000 series singles discography
Capitol of Canada 6000 series LP discography
Swirl Daze The 1960s Capitol Singles Discography

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