MGM Records
MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie studio in 1946. In the early '50s, MGM Records was considered as one of the "major" record companies (besides Columbia, RCA, Decca, Capitol and Mercury). Subsidiary Cub Records was launched in the early sixties and Verve Records was acquired from Norman Granz in 1961. MGM Records was sold to PolyGram in 1972.
Mention should be made of a short lived Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Records of 1928; it produced recordings of music featured in MGM movies, not sold to the general public but made to be played in movie theater lobbies. These Metro-Goldwyn Mayer records were manufactured under contract with the studio by Columbia Records.
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When MGM Records neglected to exercise a contract option in 1968, FZ founded Bizarre Productions with manager Herb Cohen. This company mutated into Bizarre Records (with distribution taken care of by Warner Brothers' Reprise label) by October 1968. "Sister" label Straight Records was formed by FZ in the spring of 1969 to release material by slightly off-center artists, but these artists were not nearly as extreme as those on Bizarre (hence, the name "Straight" versus "Bizarre"). After Straight finished its independent run with Reprise and Warner Brothers-distributed stints, the DiscReet label was created in 1973.
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