Japanese record company.
Company’s history in the record business begins in 1930, when a record department was established within Kodansha, a major book publishing firm. In 1931 the first recorded product went on sale through a contract with “Teldec Schallplatten” of Germany and in the same year King began to release Telefunken recordings in Japan. In 1942 King purchased “Taihei Records” and, in the following year, the masters of Ohira Boeki. In 1946 the “Nippon Rokuon Kogyo Co., Ltd.” was formed and company took over the recording business of Kodansha and changed its name to King Onkyo Co., Ltd.. On January of 1951 the name was changed to King Record Co. Ltd and a contract with Capitol Records was signed, lasting for five years. King’s first stereo disk releases were in 1959, four-track stereo tape on sale in 1966 and King’s music cassettes and 8-track stereo cartridges were first released in 1967.
Operates the King Records label and manufactured and distributed releases by labels such as Blue Note, A&M Records and CTI Records.
Name variations as found on this profile:
– King Record Co. Ltd
– King Record Co., Ltd.
– King Record Co., Inc.
– King Record Co., Ltd., Japan
– King Records Tokyo, Japan
– King Records Ltd, Japan
Also Known As:
キングレコード株式会社, Kingu Rekōdo Kabushiki gaisha
