Drakkar Entertainment GmbH, also called Drakkar Records or Drakkar Publishing, is a German

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

with its headquarters in

Witten Witten () is a city with almost 100,000 inhabitants in the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis (district) in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. Geography Witten is situated in the Ruhr valley, in the southern Ruhr area. Bordering municipalities * Bochum ...

. It is a joint venture with

Bertelsmann Music Group Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008. Although it was established in 1987, the music c ...

History

Originally Kopec Music Publishing, Drakkar Entertainment was founded in 1986 by Bogdan Kopec. It initially only handled publishing, but in 1986, when Kopec changed the name to "''Drakkar Promotion''", he also expanded its services to include management, booking, and merchandising. The company later signed German metal bands such as

Raven A raven is any of several large-bodied passerine bird species in the genus '' Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between crows and ravens; the two names are assigne ...

, Running Wild, and Sodom. In 1992, the company joined forces with

to become ''Drakkar Promotion Musikverlag GmbH''. At the same time, another company, G.U.N. Records GmbH was created. This second company became so successful that Kopec, who felt overworked, decided to sell his shares to BMG. He then closed the merchandising, booking, and trading departments of Drakkar Promotion and founded "Drakkar Records". His original company became "''Drakkar Entertainment GmbH''".

Divisions

Drakkar Entertainment now has four divisions: * Drakkar Classic, a label publishing rock and metal with orchestral accompaniment. * Drakkar Records, their metal label. * e-Wave Records, their electronic label. * Edition Drakkar, their publishing company.

Artists

* De/Vision *

Dezperadoz Dezperadoz (formerly Desperados) is a German "Western metal" band and is the side project of Onkel Tom guitarist Alex Kraft. Formed in 2000, the band plays heavy metal music that is heavily influenced by the soundtracks of the 1960s and 1970 ...

* Diablo * Double Experience *

Emil Bulls Emil Bulls is a German rock band that was formed in 1995 in Munich, Bavaria. The group consists of two guitarists, a bass guitar player, a drummer and a vocalist/guitarist. History In 1995, Christoph "Christ" von Freydorf (vocals) and Stefa ...

* Eternal Tears of Sorrow (until 2006) *

Gothminister Gothminister is a Norwegian gothic metal band. Formed in 1999, they released eight studio albums and gained success in Germany. They played in several German music festivals, including Wave-Gotik-Treffen (WGT), the Dark Storm Festival and the ...

* Grantig *

Haggard Haggard may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Haggard (band), a German symphonic metal group * ''Haggard'' (TV series), a British comedy television series * '' Haggard: The Movie'', a 2003 film by Bam Margera * King Haggard, a fictiona ...

* Jesus on Extasy *

Karelia Karelia (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; , historically Коре́ла, ''Korela'' []; ) is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia (including the Soviet Union, Soviet era), Finland, and Sweden. It is currentl ...

*The Killer Barbies *Kreator (for Endorama) * Letzte Instanz *

Lordi Lordi () is a Finnish Rock music, rock band. Formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker Mr Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu), Lordi are known for wearing monster masks and using horror elements with pyrotechnics during c ...

Loudness In acoustics, loudness is the subjectivity, subjective perception of sound pressure. More formally, it is defined as the "attribute of auditory sensation in terms of which sounds can be ordered on a scale extending from quiet to loud". The relat ...

* Lumsk *

Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neval ...

(until 2004) * Odd Crew * Omega Lithium *

Rebellion Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...

Sahg Sahg is a three-piece Norway, Norwegian hard rock/doom metal band formed in Bergen in the summer of 2004, by key figures in the metal scene of their country: Tom Cato Visnes (King ov Hell), Einar Selvik (Kvitrafn), Olav Iversen and Thomas Toftha ...

*SETYØURSAILS *

The Sorrow The Sorrow was an Austrian metal band from Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( ; ; , , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smalle ...

* The Wakes *

Twisted Sister Twisted Sister was an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in 1972 in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, and later based on Long Island, New York (state), New York. Their best-known songs include "We're Not Gonna Take It (Twisted Sister song ...

Xandria Xandria is a German symphonic metal band founded by Marco Heubaum in 1994. Originally a project, Heubaum later restarted the project as a band in 1999, and has gone through various lineup changes. The German vocalist Lisa Middelhauve joined for ...

(until 2011) * Zeraphine

References

External links

Official site of Drakkar Entertainment
contains both an English and German version.
Drakkar archive website
run by Drakkar Entertainment, which gives a description of the history of the label listed here. It's mostly in German, but an English version is available. {{Authority control German record labels Heavy metal record labels Electronic music record labels Record labels established in 1986 1986 establishments in West Germany