The Zomba Group of Companies (sometimes referred to as Zomba Music Group or just Zomba Group)The largest variation of this name is found in Zomba ads (example in Billboard from 1996), however, trade magazines and other sources use either of the three names. was a music group and division owned by and operated under Sony Music Entertainment. The division was renamed to Jive Label Group in 2009 and was placed under the RCA/Jive Label Group umbrella. In 2011, the RCA/Jive Label Group was split in half. Multiple Jive Label Group artists were moved to Epic Records while others stayed with Jive as it moved under the RCA Music Group. In October 2011 Jive Records was shut down and their artists were moved to RCA Records.
Founded independently in the mid-seventies by Clive Calder and Ralph Simon, the group has had interests in music release, distribution, production, publishing, equipment rental, recording studios, and artist management. Though the financial structure and annual revenue of Zomba during the company's independent period was only known to CEO Clive Calder (the company was registered privately offshore in the Dutch Antilles), Zomba was widely regarded as the most successful of the independent music companies.
The group is perhaps best known for its role in developing some of the most popular forms of music, such as hip-hop in the 1980s, and the teen pop/boy band phenomenon in the late 1990s through their first record label Jive, though they have also had substantial activities in both the Christian and gospel music field. Calder and Simon both served as CEOs until 1990 when Calder bought out Simon's share and ran the company himself until 2002. In 2002, BMG purchased the company and subsequently restructured the labels under the umbrella company Zomba Label Group, which was the most public face of the company. The label group served as a parent for many different labels, including Jive, Silvertone, Volcano and LaFace.
Today, all the Zomba labels were absorbed into RCA Records and Epic Records, as well as Legacy Recordings, Sony's division for catalogue reissues, while Music for Nations and Silvertone are currently owned by Sony Music UK.
The company still owns the "Zomba" and "Jive" trademarks as of 2018 through a Swiss company called Zomba Corporation.
History
South African Roots: Calder, Simon and Lange In late 1971, Clive Calder and Ralph Simon began their two-decade partnership in forming businesses in record production and promotion, music publishing, artist management and concert promotion in South Africa. Because of the market in South Africa, there was a need to branch out into various aspects of the business, instead of just focusing on one aspect of the industry. "You couldn't do just one thing. It was too small," explained David Gresham, CEO of David Gresham Record Company. "This is not a country where you have a million-seller. A No. 1 record is a 10,000 unit seller. That only pays the rent for a month or two." While almost mandatory in South Africa, this early style of music company would be adapted to other markets throughout the companies history, and would become a staple of Calder's managing legacy.
Early companies formed by Calder and Simon were Sagittarius Management and Clive Calder Productions (CCP). CCP was distributed by EMI Records South Africa who purchased the company in 1972. Although Calder has no stake in it now, it still exists as a wholly owned subsidiary of Universal Music, having acquired most of EMI in 2013, specializing in the recording, development and marketing of domestic artists. Calder's relationship with EMI began when he had been an A&R Manager at EMI South Africa for eighteen months. There he had signed some big groups for the time such as Freedom's Children and the Otis Waygood Blues Band. During this time, Calder was also a bassist in a few bands. He formed the Four Dukes and the In Crowd with EMI artist Peter Vee, whom he also produced. Calder eventually paired Lee with a young producer named Mutt Lange, who at the time had produced for David Gresham and David Gresham Records local hit "Sunday Monday Tuesday" by Jessica Jones on Gresham's Nitty Gritty Records.
Zomba in London The trio of Calder, Simon and Lange decided in 1974 that they had to get out of South Africa, with Simon saying, "We were politically very much opposed to the old apartheid regime". The trio pooled together what little money they had and moved to London. Having landed right in the middle of the British punk rock movement, they opted to create a publishing company; Zomba Corporation was officially registered in Switzerland in 1975, operating out of Calder's bedroom space in London. The name "Zomba" referred to the capital of African country Malawi (Lilongwe superseded Zomba as Malawi's capital in 1974).
Next, Calder and Simon began looking for songwriters. The first was Henri Belolo, the French producer who helped create the Village People. Zomba became the disco group's British publisher. Though the band had been turned down by a few UK labels, Calder and Simon thought they could retain the most control of Zomba if they stayed in the publishing and management business, allowing other labels to release their artists' music. Meanwhile, Lange was building a name for himself as a producer, with albums by the Boomtown Rats, Graham Parker and eventually AC/DC's 1979 Highway to Hell, his breakthrough album. This led to Lange becoming one of the world's leading hard-rock producers, later adding Def Leppard, Foreigner and Bryan Adams to his resume. For Zomba, this increased exposure and credibility led to many new producer and songwriter management deals. Additionally, artists would sign publishing deals, giving their publishing company a constantly burgeoning collection.
In early 1978, Zomba opened offices in New York City and began looking for more artists and songwriters. Clive Davis was one of the first to contact the group, who used his recently formed Arista Records to distribute Zomba artists. The first major signing was Billy Ocean. Over the next few years, Zomba's songwriters achieved success and the publishing profits kicked in, marking the beginning of the company's first major expansion into record labels. Though Davis wanted Calder to head Arista's West Coast A&R operations, Calder had different plans altogether, and instead presented Jive Records to Davis.
Jive: taking a chance with rap Arista had been having trouble pushing rock acts in the US, and Clive Davis had hoped that with Zomba's Mutt Lange connection, Jive would fill that role. However, Calder had other ideas. In 1981, Jive began operations by releasing British dance and pop music such as Q-Feel, A Flock of Seagulls and Tight Fit. By 1982, Calder was introduced to a young fresh college graduate named Barry Weiss who, for his job interview with Zomba, took Calder out to hip-hop and black clubs all over New York City. Calder was immediately impressed with the man and had him scanning sales data all over the country searching for unknown acts on small labels selling large numbers. Calder got one of his songwriters Thomas Dolby to create a catchy hook for local DJ Mr. Magic to rap over. Mr. Magic had to cancel at the last minute, but fortunately knew another rapper, Jalil Hutchins. Weiss's stress level shot up when Hutchins came to the session with another unknown rapper named Ecstasy and no rhymes. After two days, the group created and recorded "Magic's Wand", which turned into a hit single. Weiss named the group Houdini, but Calder changed it to Whodini. Calder flew the group to London to record an album, then to Germany to record with producer Konrad "Conny" Plank of Devo and Ultravox fame. While the group would eventually leave Jive after a few albums, the early success resulted in Jive becoming a label with a focus on hip-hop artists throughout the eighties. At a time when the record establishment wouldn't touch urban music like rap, a white South African successfully marketed some of the edgiest black music.
After Whodini, Jive began signing other rap artists into the later half of the decade. Boogie Down Productions was signed on the strength of their first record Criminal Minded, and their Jive debut By All Means Necessary was released in 1988. West Coast rapper Too Short was picked up by Jive after his independently released Born to Mack sold over 50,000 copies. Jive gave the album national distribution which led to gold status, and then quickly issued his follow up Life Is...Too Short, which achieved platinum status. Meanwhile, Jive signed DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince in 1986 and released their debut Rock the House. The duo was a great success for Jive, helping make rap music more accessible.
Jive continued to support rap artists into the nineties, with the aforementioned groups and the signing of new acts. KRS-One, the primary force behind Boogie Down Productions, released a string of solo albums with Jive beginning with Return of the Boom Bap in 1993. In 1991, Jive signed R&B artist R. Kelly who, along with his backing band Public Announcement, released their debut album Born into the 90's in early 1992. R. Kelly began his solo career with 12 Play in 1993, and would go on to spend eighteen years with Jive in a partnership that produced ten studio albums. A Tribe Called Quest was signed by Jive in 1989 following a successful independently released single "Description of a Fool." The group's debut album People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm was released by Jive in 1990 and framed the group as one of the most intelligent rap groups. Many other rap and R&B artists were signed throughout the eighties and nineties before the teen-pop explosion in the later half of the decade.
Expansion By 1990, Zomba was worth $225 million with over fifty companies. Contrary to many other record businesses at the time, Zomba was known for its frugality. "The Jive offices were crummy, cardboard desks. They just really did everything on the cheap", said attorney Gary Stiffelman. The company began to attract more major label attention when EMI attempted to buy the company, but was ultimately turned down. This period also saw Ralph Simon leaving Zomba at the start of the decade. Through an unspecified "ethical disagreement", Calder and Simon ended their relationship of over two decades. Calder bought out Simon's half of the company and subsequently gained full control of the company. In late 1991, BMG furthered its relationship with Zomba by purchasing a 25% stake in their music publishing business, allowing them to sub-publish Zomba compositions in foreign markets. BMG continued their involvement with a 20% purchase of Zomba's records division in 1996.