Grand Royal was a vanity record label founded in 1992 by rap group

Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...

in conjunction with

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

after the group left

Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The l ...

. It was based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California. ''Grand Royal'' was also the name of a magazine written and published by the group. Described as a publication that "came to define part of Generation X," the total distribution of the six issues of ''Grand Royal'' was estimated at 300,000 copies. Due to mounting debts, Grand Royal closed down on August 31, 2001, and formally declared

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

in July 2002. Its assets were sold off via auction on Bid4Assets; these assets did not include any rights to Beastie Boys music. The assets and back catalog were purchased by a group of fans who in turn started GR2 Records. In 2016, GR2 sold the rights and master recordings of Grand Royal's second release ''My Crazy Life'' to a member of the band Dead Fucking Last which was later reissued by Trust Records on Vinyl and Cassette. In 2017, Stiletto Entertainment, the company that currently owns GR2, was sued by dance-punk band

Liquid Liquid Liquid Liquid is an American no wave and dance-punk group, originally active from 1980 to 1983. They are best known for their track "Cavern," which was covered—without proper permission or attribution—by the Sugar Hill Records (rap), Sugar ...

for

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of Copyright#Scope, works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the c ...

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...

, and not paying them royalties over the unauthorized licensing of their music and sales of the 2008 reissue of their 1997 compilation ''Liquid Liquid'', which was originally distributed by Grand Royal. The label was mentioned in the Beastie Boys Book. Some notable music executives gained their start at Grand Royal Records such as Ian Rogers, Kenny "Tick" Salcido, and Miwa Okumura. There were also established executives who were employed by Grand Royal Records in Mark Kates, Craig Aaronson, John Silva, Steve Rosenblatt, Gary Gersh. The Jet Set Radio Future Sampler was the label's last official release featuring original music by the Mike D led production group the Latch Brothers. Grand Royal promotions manager, "Tick's Corner" columnist, and member of the Latch Brothers, Kenny "Tick" Salcido worked closely under Mike D. "Tick" helped named the Grand Royal Hip Hop 12" Series "The Blow Up Factor" and "Tick" helped A&R the series early in his career along with naming the Beastie Boys 12" release from that series, 'Scientists of Sound' (The Blow Up Factor Vol. 1), which came from a lyric from the Beastie Boys album 'Hello Nasty'.

References

American record labels Record labels established in 1992 Record labels disestablished in 2001 1992 establishments in California 2001 disestablishments in California Vanity record labels Alternative rock record labels Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles Beastie Boys Capitol Records {{US-record-label-stub

See also

References