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TVT Records (Tee-Vee Tunes) was an American record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 24-year history, the label released 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum releases. Its roster included
Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band ...
,
Ja Rule Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (born February 29, 1976), better known by his stage name Ja Rule (), is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in New York City, he debuted in 1999 with ''Venni Vetti Vecci'' and its lead single "Holla Holla". Durin ...
,
Lil Jon Jonathan H. Smith (born January 17, 1971) better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, producer and former frontman of the rap group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz. He was instrumental in the emergence of the hip hop subgenre cru ...
,
Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...
,
KMFDM KMFDM (originally Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, loosely translated by the band as "no pity for the majority") is a multinational industrial band from Hamburg led by Sascha Konietzko, who founded the band in 1984 as a performance art project. ...
,
Gravity Kills Gravity Kills was an American industrial rock band from St. Louis, Missouri. Their music was described by one critic as "a blending of eerie industrial rock with a pop-infused melodic chorus and a bit of hard-core head banging."Jacquie Kubin, ...
,
The KLF The KLF (also known as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, the JAMs, the Timelords and other names) are a British electronic band formed in London in 1987. Bill Drummond (alias King Boy D) and Jimmy Cauty (alias Rockman Rock) began by releasing ...
, The Baldwin Brothers,
Sevendust Sevendust is an American rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1994 by bassist Vince Hornsby, drummer Morgan Rose and rhythm guitarist John Connolly. After their first demo, lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon and lead guitarist Clint Lowery ...
, Nothingface, the Wellwater Conspiracy,
Brian Jonestown Massacre The Brian Jonestown Massacre is an American musical project and band led and started by Anton Newcombe. It was formed in San Francisco in 1990. The group was the subject of the 2004 documentary film called '' Dig!'', and have gained media not ...
,
The Holloways The Holloways are an English four-piece indie rock band from North London. Their single "Generator" reached number 14 in the UK Singles Chart on 11 June 2007. They have had five No.1 singles on the UK Indie Chart and several Top 40 singles. The ...
,
The Cinematics The Cinematics were an alternative rock band founded in 2003 in Glasgow, Scotland, and disbanded in 2011. The band released two full-length albums, '' A Strange Education'' (2007) and '' Love and Terror'' (2009), as well as a five-track EP, " ...
,
Buck-O-Nine Buck-O-Nine is an American ska punk band which was formed in San Diego in 1991. The band has toured internationally and released several albums and EPs, as well as appearing on compilations and film soundtracks. During the mid-to-late 1990s, t ...
,
DJ Hurricane Wendell Timothy Fite, also known as DJ Hurricane (born January 12, 1965) is an American hip hop DJ, producer and rapper. He is best known for his work with the Beastie Boys. He was a member of the groups Solo Sounds and The Afros and recorde ...
,
Speech Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses Phonetics, phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if ...
and
Pitbull Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...
. The label had a triple platinum release with Nine Inch Nails's ''
Pretty Hate Machine ''Pretty Hate Machine'' is the debut studio album by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released by TVT Records on October 20, 1989. Production of the record was handled by NIN frontman Trent Reznor and English producer Flood, amon ...
'', two double platinum releases by Lil Jon, and platinum releases by
Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...
and
Tha Eastsidaz Tha Eastsidaz is a hip hop trio consisting of Snoop Dogg, Tray Deee and Goldie Loc. Their first appearance was on Tommy Boy Records' ''The Ride: Music from Dimension'' with Crooked Eye Q on a Battlecat-produced song called "Feels So Good" in 19 ...
,
Dashboard Confessional Dashboard Confessional is an American rock band from Boca Raton, Florida, led by singer Chris Carrabba. The name of the band is derived from the songThe Sharp Hint of New Tears off their debut album, '' The Swiss Army Romance''. History Early ...
, Default and
Ying Yang Twins The Ying Yang Twins are an American hip hop duo consisting of Kaine (born Eric Jackson on December 16, 1978) and D-Roc (born Deongelo/D'Angelo Holmes on February 13, 1979). They are not twin brothers. They did the windows to the walls song. The ...
, as well as gold releases by
Sevendust Sevendust is an American rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1994 by bassist Vince Hornsby, drummer Morgan Rose and rhythm guitarist John Connolly. After their first demo, lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon and lead guitarist Clint Lowery ...
, Gravity Kills, and The Black Crowes and Jimmy Page. Additionally, TVT achieved a gold release in Germany and Sweden with
The Connells ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
, and scored platinum and gold records in Canada with Default. In 2008, it filed for bankruptcy.


History


Early years

TeeVee Toons was founded in August 1984 by Steve Gottlieb, a graduate of
Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
University and
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
Law. Gottlieb launched the label from his
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
apartment with the release of ''
Television's Greatest Hits ''Television's Greatest Hits'' is a series of albums containing recordings of TV theme songs through the years. The series was first introduced in 1985 by the then-new TVT Records. Each of the original 8 volumes contains 65 theme songs. Another TV ...
'', an album featuring theme songs from classic TV shows that became a respectable seller. The
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called the album "the most fun you can have with your pants on", and the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' highlighted it as one of 1985's most notable business ideas. In 1986, TeeVee Toons was shortened to TVT Records. In 1988–89, TVT signed
industrial rock Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Cromagnon, Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten a ...
band
Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band ...
, and they released their debut studio album ''
Pretty Hate Machine ''Pretty Hate Machine'' is the debut studio album by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released by TVT Records on October 20, 1989. Production of the record was handled by NIN frontman Trent Reznor and English producer Flood, amon ...
'' on October 20, 1989. But there was tension between Gottlieb and NIN frontman
Trent Reznor Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and composer. He serves as the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and principal songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, wh ...
throughout the promotion. According to Reznor, Gottlieb called Nine Inch Nails' record an "abortion". He said to him: "You fucked up what could have been a good career." When ''Pretty Hate Machine'' sold 1,000,000 copies, Gottlieb reacted rudely, ordering the band to sell 4 million copies of the follow-up. While NIN was on tour, TVT released an EP for the single "
Head Like a Hole "Head Like a Hole" is a song by the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released as the second single from the group's debut album, ''Pretty Hate Machine''. Although one of the more rock-oriented tracks on the album, many elements of ...
" that was longer in length than the original album, and started underpaying Reznor, along with pressuring him to make a follow-up record that sounded identical to ''Pretty Hate Machine''. Scared that TVT would interfere with his creative control, Reznor, in secret, started recording what would become '' Broken'' in 1992. He met
Jimmy Iovine James Iovine ( ; ; born March 11, 1953) is an American entrepreneur, record executive, and media proprietor best known as the co-founder of Interscope Records. In 2006, Iovine and rapper-producer Dr. Dre founded Beats Electronics, which produces ...
, founder of
Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...
, and finally, in 1992, Reznor and TVT reached an agreement where NIN would leave TVT and move to Interscope, but TVT would receive some of the royalties made from future NIN releases. In 1996 Crain's named Gottlieb one of its Forty Under 40 Rising Stars to Watch, citing the 50% yearly growth of TVT. In 1999 TVT completed a securitization that enabled it to raise $23.5 million in
growth capital Growth capital (also called expansion capital and growth equity) is a type of private equity investment, usually a minority investment, in relatively mature companies that are looking for capital to expand or restructure operations, enter new mark ...
.


Later years

In 2000, TVT became the first label to put its entire catalog online available for downloading and free streaming by fans. In 2001, the label reached an amicable arrangement with
Napster Napster was a peer-to-peer file sharing application. It originally launched on June 1, 1999, with an emphasis on digital audio file distribution. Audio songs shared on the service were typically encoded in the MP3 format. It was founded by Shawn ...
for use of TVT's artist copyrights, and TVT's CEO joined the Napster advisory board. Gottlieb appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2001 on a panel that included
Richard Parsons Richard Parsons may refer to: * Richard Parsons (diplomat) (1928–2016), British ambassador to Hungary, Spain and Sweden * Richard Parsons (businessman) (born 1948), former chairman of Citigroup and the former Chairman and CEO of Time Warner * Ri ...
, then head of
Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...
; Ken Berry, head of
EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
; and artists
Alanis Morissette Alanis Nadine Morissette ( ; born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting, Morissette began her career in Canada in the early 1990s with tw ...
and
Don Henley Donald Hugh Henley (born July 22, 1947) is an American musician and a founding member of the rock band Eagles. He is the drummer and one of the lead singers for the Eagles. Henley sang the lead vocals on Eagles hits such as "Witchy Woman", "Despe ...
. CEO Gottlieb served on the Board of Directors of Musicmatch (sold to
Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Man ...
). TVT was one of the founding members of the
Association of Independent Music The Association of Independent Music (AIM) is a non-profit trade body established in 1998 by UK independent record labels to represent the independent record sector, which in 2016 constituted approximately 23% of the UK market. Its members incl ...
(A2IM), an organization devoted to protecting independent labels' interests. In 2002, the label got into a dispute with
Lyor Cohen Lyor Cohen born October 3, 1959) is an American record executive and entrepreneur. Cohen has been actively involved in hip hop at various record labels for more than 30 years. He started by managing rappers for Rush Productions, then led Def Ja ...
, then head of
Island Def Jam The Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJMG) was an American recording music unit, formed on New Year's Eve 1998 by the Universal Music Group. It consists of labels devised and consisted under the basic operations of Island Records and Def Jam Recordin ...
. The dispute involved Cohen and Universal paying former TVT artist Ja Rule $8 million to not deliver an album paid for by TVT, and promised to TVT and instead deliver it to
Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a ...
. In the resulting litigation Universal was prohibited by the courts from releasing the album created with TVT's funding. In the ultimate trial over the claims of fraud and tortious interference, a jury awarded TVT a $132 million judgment. Universal appealed the ruling. On appeal, Cohen and Universal argued the existence of an agreement between the parties meant that their behavior was only a breach of contract and not a fraud or tort. The court agreed, reducing TVT's award to $126,000. In 2002,
Prudential Financial Prudential Financial, Inc. is an American Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 500 company whose subsidiaries provide insurance, retirement planning, investment management, and other products and services to both retail and institutional customers t ...
acquired the rights to ''
Pretty Hate Machine ''Pretty Hate Machine'' is the debut studio album by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released by TVT Records on October 20, 1989. Production of the record was handled by NIN frontman Trent Reznor and English producer Flood, amon ...
'',
The Connells ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
, the "Mortal Kombat" soundtracks, the first seven volumes of ''
Television's Greatest Hits ''Television's Greatest Hits'' is a series of albums containing recordings of TV theme songs through the years. The series was first introduced in 1985 by the then-new TVT Records. Each of the original 8 volumes contains 65 theme songs. Another TV ...
'', and a Wax Trax boxed set; certain publishing rights in compositions from
KMFDM KMFDM (originally Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, loosely translated by the band as "no pity for the majority") is a multinational industrial band from Hamburg led by Sascha Konietzko, who founded the band in 1984 as a performance art project. ...
,
Gil Scott-Heron Gilbert Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) was an American Jazz poetry, jazz poet, singer, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician ...
and Nine Inch Nails, among others; and trademarks, including the ''Television's Greatest Hits'' logo, after TVT had defaulted on a loan to Prudential. In 2005, Prudential placed the catalogue up for sale.


Slip-N-Slide lawsuit/Bankruptcy

In 2007, TVT lost a $9 million lawsuit to
Slip-N-Slide Records Slip-N-Slide Records is an American record label, founded in 1994 by Ted Lucas. History Ted Lucas founded the label in 1994. Slip-n-Slide signed local rapper Trick Daddy Dollars in its early years; he debuted in 1997 with the locally popular albu ...
when a
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
judge ruled that Slip-N-Slide had legal rights to distribute an unreleased album it owned by rapper Pitbull that he recorded for Slip-N-Slide in 2001. TVT, who signed Pitbull several years later, had sought to notice third parties (such as record stores or digital download entities) that the distribution and sale of this album would violate TVT's exclusive right to create new music by the artist. The judge, however, ruled against TVT as Pitbull had made the recordings prior to signing with TVT, and awarded Slip-N-Slide the $9 million judgement as TVT had attempted to block the sale of the album. TVT filed for appeal but was unable to post the required bond, thus TVT filed for bankruptcy. On February 19, 2008, Gottlieb stated "This is not the end of TVT." In June 2008, however, the digital music label The Orchard was declared the winning bidder by a
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
bankruptcy court, paying $6.05 million. The Orchard gained control of TVT's artist contracts, catalogue recordings, and its distribution infrastructure, thus ending the TVT Records label imprint. The music publishing assets were transferred to TVT Music Enterprises, and later purchased by Reservoir Media. On April 6, 2010, The
Bicycle Music Company The Bicycle Music Company was a music publishing company founded independently, and after growing for a number of years was merged with Concord Music Group in 2015. As of 2010, it owned or administered over 12,000 works from songwriters. Early h ...
acquired 700 master recordings across 80 albums, including the catalogues of
Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band ...
,
The Connells ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
and ''
Television's Greatest Hits ''Television's Greatest Hits'' is a series of albums containing recordings of TV theme songs through the years. The series was first introduced in 1985 by the then-new TVT Records. Each of the original 8 volumes contains 65 theme songs. Another TV ...
'', from Prudential.


See also

* List of former TVT Records artists


References


External links


Former A&R Bryan Leach on TVT, HitQuarters Apr 2004
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tvt Records Record labels established in 1985 American record labels Synth-pop record labels Industrial record labels Hip hop record labels Record labels disestablished in 2008 1985 establishments in the United States