Immediate Records - History

History

Immediate Records was started in 1965. Signed musicians included Rod Stewart, P.P. Arnold, songwriter Paul Korda, Billy Nicholls, John Mayall, Savoy Brown, Small Faces, The Nice, Fleetwood Mac, The Groundhogs, Chris Farlowe, Duncan Browne and Humble Pie.

Due to financial problems, the label ceased operations in 1970 and it has been the subject of controversy ever since. This is especially true in regard to unpaid royalties owing to the Small Faces, who made numerous hit recordings for the label between 1967 and 1969. Despite their success, the band received virtually no income from these often re-released records, until legal action finally secured payments from the present licencees in the early 2000s.

According to Small Faces drummer Kenney Jones, most of Immediate's assets and income were embezzled by one of the company's senior partners, who allegedly channelled the funds to offshore bank accounts. Paul Korda, who wrote songs such as "The Time Has Come" for P.P. Arnold, was never paid for work done for Immediate.

In the US, Immediate first set up a deal with MGM Records, who issued three singles (K-13530, K-13567, K-13600) as part of the regular MGM series. Then Immediate set up a short-lived deal with United Artists, who issued two singles using the Immediate moniker (E-1901, E-1902) before signing a deal with CBS to set up a new label series, which picked selective Immediate singles (using product codes with the ZS7 prefix) and albums (using Z12) until they had a falling-out. Finally, Immediate set up a short-lived independent label in the U.S. to issue one single (IMOC-001) and The Nice's last album before the label went into liquidation.

In 2008, a comprehensive book about Immediate Records was published in the UK and US by Black Dog as part of their Labels Unlimited series. According to the publisher a second (amended) edition will be published in August 2012.