Distribution
The first-ever Def American release was Reign in Blood by Slayer, which had a Def Jam logo on its first pressing. Reign in Blood is also known by fans of heavy metal music to be one of the most critically acclaimed and important albums in the genres history, and continues to obtain much high praise from fans and critics. A Def Jam Recordings logo was also present on its follow-up album. However, because Russell Simmons felt that Slayer's music was not in line with Def Jam, and because Def Jam’s then-distributor, Columbia/CBS Records, refused to release it, it was released through Geffen Records, and Rubin took the rights of the release to the new label with him after the split. Danzig's 1988 debut album was the first release to actually bear the Def American logo. Initially, the label was distributed by Geffen Records through Warner Bros. Records, but when Geffen refused to distribute the self-titled album by the Geto Boys and the controversy it caused, distribution was absorbed by Warner Bros. proper, which released all subsequent Def American titles.
American's distribution has been handled through several labels over the years. American's first incarnation was distributed by Geffen Records through Warner Bros. Records from 1988 to 1990. After a falling out with Geffen over the content of the Geto Boys' only Def American release, Warner Bros. itself took over distribution duties from 1990 to 1997. However, sub-label Ill Labels was distributed by hip-hop specialist and former Warner Bros. subsidiary Tommy Boy Records as part of its deal. For a brief time during the 1990s, the label also distributed Too Pure Records in the USA.
Rubin signed a distribution deal with Columbia/SME Records in 1997, which distributed the label's titles until 2001. That year, Universal Music Group (ironically, the owners of Geffen Records at that point), through its Island Def Jam Music Group division, took over distribution. In 2005, with the exception of the recordings of Johnny Cash, the label returned to the aegis of Warner Bros. Records. Non-US distribution was handled by BMG until the deal with Columbia Records.
In 2007, Warner Bros. Records, which was American's home from 1992 to 1997, acquired the rights to the extensive American Recordings catalog, which included Johnny Cash, The Black Crowes, The Jayhawks, Slayer, and Danzig. However, American's current roster (except Tom Petty) was transferred to BMG successor Sony BMG (now Sony Music Entertainment) in mid-2007 after a legal battle between Warner and Rubin over the details of their former arrangement, in which American Recordings would sign and provide creative services for artists, while Warner Bros. was only to handle promotion, sales, marketing, and distribution because Rubin was prompted to move his label with his appointment to co-chairman of Columbia Records in the spring of 2007.
In 2012, Rick Rubin, upon his exit from Sony Music Entertainment, signed a new deal with Universal Republic Records for a new incarnation of American. The first albums to be released under this new deal are ZZ Top's La Futura and The Avett Brothers' The Carpenter.
Read more about this topic: American Recordings (record Label)
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