Unidisc Music

Unidisc Music
Founded 1977
Distributor(s) self-distributed
Country of origin Canada
Location Pointe-Claire, Quebec
Official website Unidisc Official Site

Unidisc Music Inc. is one of Canada’s largest independent record labels. The company has been expanding in growth and productivity since the late 1970s. The label is best known for releasing rare and hard-to-find rock, electronic, funk, soul, hip hop, jazz, reggae, latin, disco, and a cappella music made between the mid-1960s and late 1980s on vinyl records and CDs with copies of original album sleeves and liner notes. It is the owner of the 1982–1993 Sutra Records catalogue and of several other independent New York street-oriented labels that the latter distributed. Its headquarters are located and operated out of Montreal, Quebec.

Function

Unidisc’s main acquisition of revenue has always been by selling synch rights of the songs it owns. When the rights are purchased from its catalogue, the songs are then incorporated into mainstream entertainment through movies, t.v. shows, animations, commercials, and video games. The company's reach has tapped into major hit productions such as Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Sex in the City, Grey’s Anatomy, Bones, CSI: Miami, Dancing with the Stars, Flashdance, Fame, Studio 54, Summer of Sam, Bad Santa, Joe Dirt, Rio, Open Season, G Force, Dreyers Ice Cream, Gap, Diet Pepsi, Miller Coors, Grand Theft Auto, and many more. Unidisc Music’s publishing functions operate and deal under Unitunes (ASCAP), Lovetown Music (BMI), Socan-affiliated Blue Image, Keep on Music, Star Quality Music, and Prime Quality Music .

History 1980s-1990s

As a continuously diversifying corporation, its main function has still kept consistency while also broadening their horizons. Once solely an independent music and publishing company, has now augmented full stride into the modernized world of media technology. Through utilities such as YouTube, iTunes, Facebook, My Space and Twitter, Unidisc Records has enabled itself to market their products far and wide. Reputable for their infamous catalogue pertaining the rights to over 35 thousand smash hits, Unidisc ultimately made a dent in the industry during the start of the 1980s. The artists they have worked with, are such as Lime, Erotic Drum Band, Gino Soccio, Nightlife Unlimited, Trans X, Freddie James, Geraldine Hunt and many more. However, it was only in the 1990s that the record label established worldwide recognition, acquiring publishing rights to various superstar artists. A few among the ranks consist of Celine Dion, David Bowie, April Wine, Patrick Norman, Robert Charlebois, Babyface, T.L.C., Boyz II Men, Toni Braxton, Usher, Corey Hart and an extensive list of other top charters.

Founder

George Cucuzzella, the pioneer and founder of this colossal label, began his distinguished career as a nightclub DJ seeking business in the heart of downtown Montreal. Rising quickly to the top DJ in the 1970s, he spun at the hippest clubs of the era: Limelight, Le Tube and 2001. Gaining steady success in his trade of passion, George formed a Canadian Record Pool, supplying his mixes to other DJ’s across Quebec. With tedious work, George produced remixes regarding tracks such as ‘‘Lady Bump’’ by Penny MacLean, ‘‘Don’t Stop the Music’’ by the Bay City Rollers, and ‘‘Love to Love’’ by Tina Charles.

He then decided to explore the industry indefinitely. As a building tool, George supplied himself with an educational type of stepping stone; it was called, Downstairs Records. Through this, he became a dance music import/exporter and indie-store supplier. George started Unidisc Music, which officially launched in the year of 1977.

Achievements

Through the years the company has acquired assets including the recording and publishing rights of New York-based, Prelude Records. Included in it was Musique’s 1978 dance floor hit ‘’In The Bush’’, as well as tracks by Saturday Night Band, Inner life, D Train, and Unlimited Touch. Following this unorthodox gamble, Unidisc never looked back, gradually purchasing and accumulating rights to Megatone Records, Quality Records, Ahed Music, Emergency Records, Midland International, De-Lite Records, Network Records, and Pickwick Records. Noticeable Canadian labels include Daffodil, MWC, and Attic. The label began collaborating with musicians including Kanye West, Missy Elliott, Snoop Dogg, Limp Bizkit, LL Cool J, Notorious B.I.G., Coolio, Dr. Dre, Faith Evans, Lil’ Jon, Chris Brown and others. In 2008, coming as surprise to competing record labels, Unidisc Music made a bold and aggressive move, it was the purchasing of two heavyweight record labels, Aquarius and Tacca Musique. Arguably the pinnacle of Unidisc's mile stone was achieved in 2010. Forming a merger with Unidisc Music and DEP, was Canada's number 1 leading music company, Universal Music Canada.

Recent activity

Unidisc Music has recently launched a new initiative; Kookoo Records. The label has a focus on House & Electronic music.

See also

References

Selected Unidisc Artists

Sublabels

*The back catalogs of these labels were sold to Unidisc.

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