About
The Jive label was launched in 1981 by Clive Calder and Ralph Simon of the Zomba Group of Companies. In 1983 the label was introduced in the US. In December 2002, the Zomba Group of Companies including the Jive label, was acquired by BMG. Two years later the label became part of the Zomba Label Group, a unit of Sony BMG Music Entertainment. Since 2008 it has been a label of the Jive Label Group and RCA/Jive Label Group under Sony Music Entertainment. In September 2011, it was announced by Sony that Jive, Arista, J and LaFace were absorbed by RCA Records, bringing all of its artists to the RCA family. The Jive label would later be relaunched in January 2020 as a division of Sony Music Entertainment Italy, releasing hip hop/R&B/pop from up-and-coming Italian artists. The label's relaunch was led by Antonio Dikele Distefano, founder and editor of Esse Magazine. Label codes LC 7925: (BMG distribution—74321: international catalog-number prefix, 01241: North American catalog-number prefix) LC 5661 / LC 05661 (Rough Trade Distribution, [i]RTD[/i] cat#s)
Links
Sub-labels
Jive Electro
Jive sublabel active largely in the 1980s as a platform for electro productions of the Jive production team The Willesden Dodgers. Also released electronic/ambient material by Tangerine Dream, Mar...
Pepper Records
UK Pepper is the dance imprint of Jive Records. Label Code: LC 07925
Worx Records
The final release on Worx, [r558576], was only released on 12" promo. It was given a full release on the parent company’s reactivated [l=Jive House] label.
Battery Records
Defunct dance-sublabel of Jive/Zomba. Not to be confused with the hip-hop imprint of the same name started by Neil Levine in 2008 and part of the Zomba family.
Violator Records
New York hip-hop label run by Chris Lighty and Mona Scott. It started life as an artist management company, but has since expanded into the record business and has released material in association ...
Dangerous Music
Record label and production company run by [a167209] and [a197231]
Mojo Records
Also appears as "Mojo" only. Defunct record label based out of Santa Monica, California founded in 1995 by Jay Rifkin. In 1996, it became a joint venture with Universal. In 2001 it was sold to Zom...
Jive Afrika
$hort Records
USA Hip Hop label. Too $hort vanity label
Dance Jive
Up All Nite
Record label founded by . Also listed as "Up All Nite Music"
Hitz Committee
Jive Jazz Collection
Jive Classic 12" Series
Series of reissues of classic hip hop releases from the Jive label.
The *Word Is Rap
"The Word Is Rap", appearing in logos with an asterisk before "Word", is a late 1980s series apparently differentiating the Jive label's rap material from the rest of the catalog.
2Morro Music
Jive House
Subsidiary for house releases, revived in 1997. See also [l=Jive Chicago].
Jive Chicago
UK subsidiary for house releases. See also [l=Jive House].
Soul Searching (3)
Greek series on the [l2186] label. Two known volumes.
Contact
C/O Sony Music Entertainment 25 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10010 USA (212) 833-8000 [Obsolete] 550 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10022-3211 USA (212) 727-0016 [Obsolete] Jive Records c/o Zomba Records Im Mediapark 6b 50670 Köln (Cologne) Tel: +49.(0) 221.912668-0 Fax: +49.(0) 221.912668-67