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, RTD cat#s)