Windham Hill Records was originally an independent label founded in 1976 by William Ackerman and Anne Robinson (2), who were married soon thereafter. It was originally known for folk and acoustic music but became associated with new age music after the success of George Winston's "Autumn" in 1980. Ackerman sold his half of the company to BMG in 1992 and Robinson sold her half in 1996. Since the 2004 merger between BMG and Sony Music Entertainment the label has issued no new recordings. They continue to reissue the back catalog and issue compilations as part of Legacy Recordings.

Label Code: LC 9757 / LC 09757

There were at least two editions of nearly every record during the period when the label was distributed by A&M, from 1979 until 1992, a U.S. and a German and/or European release.

Catalog numbers from 1976 until 1992 always had a prefix, a dash, and four numbers: XXXX The original sequence of catalog numbers for LPs released in the United States was WHS C-1xxx which was used until 1984. From 1984 until 1992 the sequence for LPs was WH-1xxx, and it included reissues of earlier Windham Hill releases. The final release in that sequence was WH-1107. There were also WHS-A-C 1xxx audiophile edition catalog numbers whcih were replaced by the WHA 1xxx catalog numbers. This sequence was discontinued in 1986. US compact discs were numbered WD-1xxx until 1992. Cassettes were numbered WT-1xxx. 12" singles were numbered WS-1xxx.

German Edition, reissues sub-published by E.R.P. Musikverlag
(Home of Kuckuck and other famous Labels)

Format: TA-C-XXXX for LP's
? ? ? ? ? for CD's => please check out!
TA-MC-XXXX for MC's

Original European formats: 37XXXX-1 for LP's
37XXXX-2 for CD's
37XxXX-4 for MC's

A&M versions were also released in Japan.

CD releases began in December 1983 with only 5 titles (Ackerman's "Passages," "Solid Colors" by Liz Story, George Winston's "December," "Shadow Dances" by Shadowfax, and the label's 1982 sampler album); all other CDs must be from 1984 or later.