15 artists that owned their own record label

11 May 2025, 09:00

Radio X looks at the times musicians have cut their ties with the major labels and gone it alone - featuring everyone from The Beatles and the Stones to Jack White and Metallica.

1. The Beach Boys - Brother Records (founded 1966)

   In 1966, the Californian fans of the sun 'n' surfing lifestyle were not happy with the way their label Capitol were handling their releases, and with Brian Wilson's Pet Sounds pointing the way towards more ambitious work in the future, the group decided to establish their own company. Brother Records was intended to give the Wilsons (and bandmates Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and Mike Love, of course) "promotional control over their product", with an eye of releasing Brian's less commercial projects and signing new artists.

   

   With an office located at 9000 Sunset Boulevard, the company immediately became involved in a legal tussle about royalty payments from Capitol, but thie was resolved by the major becoming the distributor of Brother Records. The label's first release with The Beach Boys was the Smiley Smile album in September 1967, while the label also issued an album by the South African band The Flames, which featured future Rutle musician Ricky Fataar. The imprint still handles The Beach Boys' recordings and has Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, and the estate of Carl Wilson as shareholders.

2. The Beatles - Apple Records (founded 1968)

   Plans for The Fab Four's own label were underway before the death of their manager Brian Epstein in August 1967 - "The Apple" was co-credited with staging the elaborate cover for Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Following Epstein's death, Apple Corps Ltd was seen as the natural successor to his NEMS company in handling The Beatles' affairs, with a label, publishing company, electronics division and a recording studio also planned.

   

   The first release on Apple Records was the Fabs' Hey Jude/Revolution single in August 1968, which while bearing a brand new label design from Alan Aldridge and a photo of a sliced apple by Gene Mahon, was actually still distributed by EMI in the UK and Capitol in the US. This arrangement lasted until 1976, when The Beatles' contract with the major expired, meaning George Harrison's This Guitar (Can't Keep from Crying) was the final single on the original label - although the recent Now And Then still bore the Apple imprint.

   The company still exists to this day to look after the business interests of The Fab Four, but in 2003, The Beatles' Apple came into conflict with Steve Jobs' Apple - the computer giant was allowed to use the name as long as they didn't get into the music business, and with the arrival of the iTunes Store, legal action was afoot. It was all settled in 2007, which means you can now listen to all of The Beatles' releases on Apple Music.

3. The Rolling Stones - Rolling Stones Records (founded 1970)

   The Stones had ongoing issues with their label Decca over the money they made from their 1960s hits, plus other annoyances, such as the argument over the "bad taste" original sleeve for their Beggars Banquet LP. The Decca deal expired in 1970, with the band's last new album on the imprint being the live album Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! in September of that year. Rolling Stones Records was set up shortly afterwards, with the Stones making a distribution deal with Ahmet Ertegun's Atlantic label in the States and WEA in the UK. The label moved to EMI for a short period between 1978 and 1984, when CBS/Columbia took over the role of distribution. This agreement lasted until 1992, when Virgin took over the catalogue - although Virgin itself had been bought out by EMI the same year.

   

   The first album released by Rolling Stones Records was the posthumous Brian Jones Presents The Pipes Of Pan At Joujouka in 1971 and the label naturally carried every new Stones release up until the live album Flashpoint in 1991. While the 2023 comeback album Hackney Diamonds carries the Rolling Stones Records lips and tongue logo, it was officially on the Polydor label.

4. Deep Purple - Purple Records (founded 1971)

   The British rock titans started their own imprint in time for the 1972 album Machine Head and the label served the interests of the group and its members until 1979. Other acts signed to Purple Records included Rupert Hine, folk duo Curtiss Maldoon, Jesus Christ Superstar singer Yvonne Elliman and - bizarrely - former Doctor Who star Jon Pertwee, who issued a terrible single called Who Is The Doctor on Purple in 1972.

   

5. Elton John - The Rocket Record Company (founded 1973)

   The former Reg Dwight founded his own label in 1973 with his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin and producer Gus Dudgeon. Artists signed to Rocket included Cliff Richard (for his I'm Nearly Famous and Every Face Tells A Story albums in the US), Neil Sedaka, Kiki Dee and Lulu. The label was subsumed into the Island Group in 1999, but the Rocket company still manages artists, their biggest client being Ed Sheeran.

   

6. Led Zeppelin - Swan Song (founded 1974)

   Launched at a party in Chiselhurst Caves on Halloween 1974, Swan Song was formed by Zeppelin after their deal with Atlantic Records expired, although the major still distributed the imprint. The first label's first releases were by Bad Company and The Pretty Things, while the first Led Zeppelin album to bear the distinctive Hipgnosis-designed label was 1975's Physical Graffiti.

   

   Also appearing on Swan Song were Sad Cafe, Maggie Bell and Dave Edmunds and the company also invested in the film Monty Python & The Holy Grail. In 1974, the Brian de Palma movie Phantom Of The Paradise featured the character Swan form a record company "Swan Song Enterprises", which prompted a cease and desist letter from Zeppelin manager Peter Grant.

7. Buzzcocks - New Hormones (founded 1977)

   Manchester scenesters Richard Boon, Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley basically invented the DIY punk ethos with their own label, New Hormones. Established primarily to release Devoto and Shelley's Spiral Scratch EP by their band Buzzcocks, but lack of funds meant that New Hormones passed on tapes by The Fall, Cabaret Voltaire and Gang Of Four. After a fallow couple of years, the label made a return in 1980, issuing singles by Ludus, The Tiller Boys and the humourous Manchester band Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias, before calling it a day at Christmas 1982.

   

   Boon later revealed that Morrissey had offered New Hormones the first Smiths single, but claimed he didn't have enough money to fund the release - he suggested the singer approach Rough Trade instead. A spin-off of New Hormones was Manchester's short-lived Beach Club, which had the distinction of playing host to the first post-Joy Division show by New Order and an early appeartance by U2.

8. Madness - Zarjazz (founded 1984)

   The Nutty Boys from Camden had a long association with the Stiff label, with whom they enjoyed 15 top 10 hits (including a Number 1 in 1982's House Of Fun). In 1984, the band decided to make the leap to running their own label, Zarjazz, issuing former Undertones frontman Feargal Sharkey's Listen To Your Father in September that year. Other acts included The Fink Brothers, Tom Morley and the charity record Starvation, while Zarjazz hosted every Madness single between Yesterday's Men (August 1985) to Waiting For The Ghost Train (October 1986).

   

9. Prince - Paisley Park (founded 1985)

   The Purple One began his own label off the back of his huge success with Purple Rain, with distributor Warner Bros hoping his magic touch would apply to releases from Sheila E, Carmen Electra, George Clinton, Tevin Campbell and The Time. The colourful Paisley Park label appeared on many of Prince's greatest albums, including Around The World In A Day and Sign "O" The Times, but the musician's battle with Warners over his contract in 1994 put paid to any further releases on the imprint.

   

10. Madonna - Maverick (founded 1992)

    Madge was signed to Warner Bros for her 1980s glory years, but in 1992 she decided to make history and set up her own label and management company, with a moniker taken from her own name and her business partners Veronica "Ronnie" Dashev and Frederick DeMann. Maverick's first project was the raunchy SEX book, but musical successes came quickly from Alanis Morisette (with Jagged Little Pill in 1995), Marilyn Manson, Deftones, Meshell Ndegeocello, The Prodigy and a very young Muse. Declining fortunes and legal issues meant Maverick was wound up in 2009.

    

11. Beastie Boys - Grand Royal (founded 1992)

    Originally the name of a fanzine-style mag run by the New York hip hop trio, Grand Royal the label played host to artists as diverse as Luscious Jackson, Atari Teenage Riot, Bis, Sean Lennon and At The Drive-In. The imprint barely lasted ten years, however, declaring bankruptcy in July 2002.

    

12. Eminem - Shady Records (founded 1999)

    Marshall Mathers and manager Paul Rosenberg founded their own label in 1999, in time for the release of D12's album The Devil's Night. Shady himself issued his fourth full-legth outing The Eminem Show on the label, alongside releases by 50 Cent, Obie Trice and more. There's also been the 8 Mile soundtrack When the sampler/compilation Eminem Presents: The Re-Up from 2006, among many others.

    

13. Oasis - Big Brother Recordings (founded 2000)

    The Gallaghers were signed to Alan McGee's Creation Records for their first three albums in the UK, but via Sony in other territories. When McGee left Creation in 1999, the time was right for the Mancunians to create their own label, which was Big Brother Recordings. Opening for business with the single Go Let It Out and the album Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants in 2000, with all releases containing the ironic RKID catalogue number. Despite being the home of all things Oasis in the 21st Century, Big Brother also released Happy Mondays' Playground Superstar single in 2005.

    

14. Jack White - Third Man Records (founded 2001)

    The White Stripes man's "vinyl-focused" record lanel was founded with his nephew and Dirtbombs man Ben Blackwell and friend Ben Swank in 2009, after the garage rock duo had called it a day. The label's office was based around a record store in Nashville and there have been other Third Man shops opened in London and Detroit; there's also the van that serves as "the Third Man Rolling Record Store".

    

    Alongside carrying the entire White Stripes catalogue, Third Man has released material by Jack White-adjacent projects The Dead Weather, The Raconteurs and The Dirtbombs, plus reissues from The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Stooges and Bob Dylan. In 2024, Third Man gave shoppers a sneak preview of White's No Name album by slipping an unlabelled copy of the LP into their bags alongside their actual purchases.

15. Pearl Jam - Monkeywrench (founded 2009)

    When the alt rock overlords ended their deal with J Records in 2009, they went down the solo route with Monkeywrench, an imprint distributed by the major Universal. The label has issued every Pearl Jam album since 2009's Backspacer, while also handling solo releases from Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament, Matt Cameron and Stone Gossard.

    

16. Metallica - Blackened Recordings (founded 2012)

    The legendary thrash band's first two albums - Kill 'Em All (1983) and Ride The Lightning (1984) - were released on the indie label Megaforce, but between Master Of Puppets in 1986 and St Anger in 2003, the group were signed to the iconic Elektra imprint. When Elektra was incorporated into the Warner Music Group in 2004, Metallica's Death Magnetic was issued on the Warner Bros label in 2008, but the band had plans for the future.

    

    In 2012, they left Warners and started their own company, Blackened Recordings, named after a track on their album ...And Justice For All, which has carried Metallica's last two studio albums, Hardwired... To Self Destruct (2016) and 72 Seasons (2023), plus a number of compilations and live albums. Their entire back catalogue is now on Blackened.