!K7 Music is a music company based in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

that focuses mostly on

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

. The name is an

abbreviation An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening (linguistics), shortening, contraction (grammar), contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened for ...

of the company's original Berlin address, Kaiserdamm 7 (it has since relocated, first to Heidestrasse 52, and currently headquartered at Gerichtstrasse 35). !K7 has since opened branch offices in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. It has five independent imprints as part of the K7 Label Group: !K7 Records, 7K!, Strut, Soul Bank and Eternal Source Of Light. K7 also runs successful Label Services and Synch and Licensing departments. K7 had a licensing deal with the New York–based indie label

Frenchkiss Records Frenchkiss Records is an independent record label based in New York City. The label was started in 1999 by Syd Butler, bassist and founder of Les Savy Fav. The label's first purpose was to release Les Savy Fav's second album ''The Cat and The Cob ...

. It has distributed the labels AGOGO,

District 6 District Six is a place in Cape Town, South Africa. District Six may also refer to: :Government divisions * District 6, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam * District 6 (New York City Council), in the United States * VI District, Turku, in Finland * Dist ...

Environ Environ or environs may refer to: * Environ (Loft), a New York performance space * Ramboll Environ, or ''ENVIRON'', a consulting firm in Arlington, Virginia * ''Environs'' (journal), a student-run law review covering environmental subjects * E ...

, Get Physical,

Ghostly International Ghostly International is an American independent record label founded in 1999 by Samuel Valenti IV and currently headquartered in Brooklyn, New York City with team in Los Angeles, and London. Artists include Matthew Dear, Dabrye (a.k.a. Tadd Mu ...

Lo Recordings Lo Recordings is a label founded in 1995 by Jon Tye. They are noted for their strong visual style thanks to Non-Format, with whom they work very closely and won a D&AD award for several of their releases sleeves. Musical style Lo recordings m ...

Moshi Moshi Records Moshi Moshi Records is a small London-based record label founded in 1998 by Adrian Pike, Michael McClatchey and Stephen Bass. The label has released music by bands including Lykke Li, Fimber Bravo, Bloc Party, Hot Chip, Late of the Pier, H ...

, Piranha, R2, Skint, Salt Records and Muthas of Invention. It also has a

music publishing A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers began to play a role in the management of the intellectua ...

company. It currently distributes Turbo Recordings,

Sonar Kollektiv Sonar Kollektiv is a German record label founded in the late 1990s by the DJ and producer team Jazzanova(Claas Brieler, Roskow Kretschmann, Stefan Leisering, Axel Reinemer). The label specializes in downtempo music. The intention was to create an i ...

Luaka Bop Luaka Bop is a New York–based record label founded by musician David Byrne, former lead singer and guitarist for the art rock– new wave band Talking Heads. What began with Byrne making cassettes of his favorite Tropicália tracks for his fr ...

, and Rushhour, among others.

History

Stud!o K7 has produced electronic music artists, especially for the ''

DJ-Kicks ''DJ-Kicks'' (styled ''DJ-KiCKS'' on all cover artwork) is a series of DJ mix albums, mixed by various artists for the independent record label !K7 Records. History ''DJ-Kicks'' started out in 1993 as a compilation of electronic DJ-style mi ...

'' compilations. It began in 1985 with the idea of releasing digital video clips. In 1991, the first of the 3LUX series (three volumes) was released, followed by the ''X-Mix'' series (from 1993 to 1998). In 1995, the ''DJ-Kicks'' series was released. At that time it was unconventional to play complete albums with DJ cuts on home stereos. Artists such as

Kruder & Dorfmeister Kruder & Dorfmeister, named after members Peter Kruder and Richard Dorfmeister, is an Austrian duo, known for their trip hop/downtempo remixes of pop, hip hop and drum and bass songs. Career In 1993, they released their first EP '' G-Stoned'' ...

Nightmares On Wax George Herbert Evelyn (born 15 January 1970), better known by his stage name Nightmares on Wax or DJ E.A.S.E., is an English DJ and record producer from Leeds. His music has been released by Warp Records. He is based in Ibiza. Nightmares on Wax ...

Thievery Corporation Thievery Corporation is an American electronic music duo consisting of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton. Their musical style mixes elements of dub, acid jazz, reggae, Indian classical, Middle Eastern music, hip hop, electronica, and Brazilian music, ...

and Stereo MC's

Chromeo Chromeo is a Canadian electro-funk duo from Montreal, formed in 2002 by musicians David "Dave 1" Macklovitch and Patrick "P-Thugg" Gemayel. Their sound draws from soul music, dance music, rock, synth-pop, disco and funk. As of 2024, the band h ...

Booka Shade Booka Shade is a German house duo. It is made up of Walter Merziger and Arno Kammermeier, described as veterans of the Frankfurt electronic music scene. They have released 10 studio albums, including '' Memento'' (2004), ''Movements'' (2006), '' ...

contributed to its release. The compilation series has since included mixes from

Jackmaster Jack Revill (11 January 1986 – 12 October 2024), better known as Jackmaster, was a Scottish DJ and record producer. He co-founded the Glasgow-based record label and club night Numbers as well as Wireblock, Dress 2 Sweat, Point.One Recordings ...

Seth Troxler Seth Troxler is an American DJ and record producer from Lake Orion, Michigan. His DJ work focuses on house and techno, while he has produced on the Wolf + Lamb, Crosstown Rebels and Circus Company labels, collaborating with artists Art Department ...

Marcel Dettmann Marcel Dettmann (born 26 October 1977) is a German DJ, producer, and record label owner. Dettmann is a resident DJ at the Berghain nightclub in Berlin. He used to work at Berlin's record store Hard Wax between 2002 and 2012. In addition to be ...

, Michael Mayer,

DJ Koze Stefan Kozalla (born 1972), better known as DJ Koze (), is a German DJ and music producer. Biography Born in Flensburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Kozalla first became known in the Hamburg music scene. In the early 1990s, he started as a rapper and DJ ...

Nina Kraviz Nina Kraviz () is a Russian DJ, music producer and singer. Early life and career Kraviz was born and raised in Irkutsk, Siberia, Russia. She moved to Moscow to study dentistry where she later gained her residency. Kraviz also worked in a numb ...

, Daniel Avery and

John Talabot Oriol Riverola (born 8 January 1982), better known by his stage name John Talabot, is a Spanish DJ, record label owner, producer, and electronic musician from Barcelona, Spain. Musical career After initially producing tracks under the name d ...

. In 1996, !K7 started launching artist albums. As of 2014 the !K7 discography features albums from artists such as

Matthew Herbert Matthew Herbert (born in 1972), also known as Herbert, Doctor Rockit, Radio Boy, Mr. Vertigo, Transformer, Wishmountain, and DJ Empty, is a British electronic musician. He often takes sounds from everyday items to produce electronic music. ...

, Dani Siciliano,

Ursula Rucker Ursula Desire Rucker is an American spoken word recording artist. Rucker is known for a diverse repertoire, and for using techniques that catch her listeners' attention. Biography Rucker was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where ...

Swayzak Swayzak are a tech house duo from the United Kingdom that consist of James S. Taylor and David Brown. They released their first 12" single "Bueno" / "Fukumachi" in February 1997 to much acclaim. It was followed up by the 12" "Speedboat" / "Low R ...

, and

Boozoo Bajou Boozoo Bajou is a German musical duo composed of Florian Seyberth and Peter Heider. They are noted for their distinct blend of Cajun sounds with island rhythms. Their first album, '' Satta'', was released in 2001. In 2005 they released ''Dust M ...

. In 2001, Rapster Records, a new subsidiary of !K7, started focusing on urban, soul and hip-hop music. Since then, Rapster has released records by

DJ Jazzy Jeff Jeffrey Allen Townes (born January 22, 1965), known professionally as DJ Jazzy Jeff (or simply Jazz), is an American DJ and producer. He was one half of the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, along with Will Smith. He is credited, ...

Pete Rock Peter O. Phillips (born June 21, 1970), better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapping, rapper. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time, and is often mentioned along ...

, and

Roy Ayers Roy Edward Ayers Jr. (September 10, 1940 – March 4, 2025) was an American vibraphonist, record producer, and composer. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several studio albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure ...

, among others. Rapster also forged an alliance with UK-based soul aficionado Peter Adarkwah, head of

BBE Records Barely Breaking Even (BBE) is a British record label started by two DJs, Peter Adarkwah and Ben Jolly. The name BBE comes from The Universal Robot Band's 1982 track "Barely Breaking Even". It has two sublabels: Deep Funk, and Urban Theory. ...

. !K7 founded another subsidiary, Ever Records, in 2006, for indie bands and singer-songwriters such as Cortney Tidwell, Cyann & Ben, and

Howie Beck Howie Beck is a Canadians, Canadian musician, mixer and producer based in Toronto, Ontario. He has been nominated for three Juno Awards in Canada on three occasions for Adult Alternative Album, Engineer of the Year and Producer of the Year (2017). ...

. In 2008

Strut Records Strut Records is a British record label that started in 1999. The label focuses on releasing dance music, jazz and afrobeat including artists Patrice Rushen, Sun Ra Arkestra and Mulatu Astatke. History The label was "acquired and re-launched ...

& Gold Dust Media joined the !K7 label group. Between 1999 and 2003 Strut released Nigerian

Afrobeats Afrobeats, not to be confused with Afrobeat or Afroswing, is an umbrella term to describe popular music from West Africa and the diaspora that initially developed in Ghana, Nigeria, and the UK in the 2000s and 2010s. Afrobeats is less of a st ...

, Leftfield Discos, Rare Groove and

Grandmaster Flash Joseph Robert Saddler (born January 1, 1958), known by his stage name Grandmaster Flash, is a Barbadian-American musician and DJ. He created a DJ technique called the Quick Mix Theory. This technique serviced the break-dancer and the rapper by el ...

's latest album. Strut's founder, Quinton Scott, is responsible for A&R. In 2013 !K7 started a cooperation with Tricky for releases on his label, including his 2013 album ''False Idols''. In May 2017, !K7 created a subsidiary focused on

Contemporary music Contemporary music is whatever music is produced at the current time. Specifically, it could refer to: Genres or audiences * Adult contemporary music * British contemporary R&B * Christian adult contemporary * Christian contemporary hit radio * Con ...

, producing artists such as Niklas Paschburg, Hior Chronik, Echo Collective,

Henrik Schwarz Henrik Schwarz (born 31 May 1972) is a German deep house and classical crossover producer and DJ from Bodensee, whose career began in the early 1990s. He has remixed music for numerous musicians, including Coldplay, Mary J. Blige, and Foals. In ...

, Luca D'Alberto, Maike Zazie and Martyn Heyne. In October 2017, !K7 acquired the catalogues of

Patrice Rushen Patrice Louise Rushen (born September 30, 1954) is an American jazz pianist, R&B singer, record producer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and music director. At the 25th Annual Grammy Awards, her 1982 single, "Forget Me Nots", received a no ...

Miriam Makeba Zenzile Miriam Makeba ( , ; 4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist. Associated with musical genres including African popular music, Afropop, ja ...

and The Beginning of the End from

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "Record label#M ...

, as part of the major's divestments after acquiring

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

as a result of the sale and break-up of

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

Artists

* John Acquaviva * The Beginning of the End *

Mykki Blanco Mykki Blanco (born April 2, 1986) is an American rapper, performance artist, poet and activist. She has collaborated musically with artists including Kanye West, Teyana Taylor, and Blood Orange. Early life Blanco was born in Orange County, C ...

Brandt Brauer Frick Brandt Brauer Frick is a German electronic music ensemble from Berlin. The group's members are Daniel Brandt, Jan Brauer, and Paul Friedrich Frick, Paul Frick. The group's members are classically trained and began performing together in 2009. ''T ...

* da damn phreak noize phunk *

Erol Alkan Erol Alkan (born 30 May 1974) is an English DJ and Record producer, producer of Turkish Cypriot descent. He grew up in Archway in North London. Career DJ and club promoter In 1993, Erol Alkan started DJing in various Indie (music), indie n ...

* Digitalism * Chris de Luca * Sean Deason * Benjamin Diamond * Vikter Duplaix * Michael Fakesch * Fehlfarben *

Five Deez Five Deez is an American hip hop group from Cincinnati, Ohio and a part of the Wanna Battle collective, which also includes DJ Hi-Tek, Talib Kweli, Rubix, and Lone Catalysts. The group consists of members: Fat Jon the Ample Soul Physician ...

Funkstörung Funkstörung (sometimes stylized as Funkstorung) are an electronic music duo from Rosenheim, Germany, consisting of Michael Fakesch and Chris de Luca. History Chris de Luca and Michael Fakesch first met in 1992 at a techno party organised by ...

A Guy Called Gerald Gerald Rydel Simpson (born 1967), better known as A Guy Called Gerald, is a British record producer and musician. He was an early member of the electronic group 808 State, contributing to their debut LP '' Newbuild'' (1988) and hit single " ...

The Herbaliser The Herbaliser is an English jazz hip hop group formed by Jake Wherry and Ollie Teeba in London, England during the early 1990s. Although currently releasing on their own label and having previously been signed to !K7 Records, they were one o ...

Herbert Herbert may refer to: People * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert, Northern Territor ...

* Beth Hirsch *

Nick Holder Nick Holder (born 1969) is an underground hip-hop and house music DJ and producer from Toronto, Ontario. Holder began DJing in the early 1980s, and soon became influenced by the Detroit techno scene and DJs such as Derrick May and Carl Craig. H ...

* Interstellar * K-Hand *

Koop __NOTOC__ Koop or KOOP may refer to: People *Koop (surname), multiple people Culture and entertainment *Koop (band), a Swedish jazz duo consisting of Magnus Zingmark and Oscar Simonsson *KOOP (FM), a radio station (91.7 FM) in Austin, Texas, Unit ...

Mike Ladd Mike Ladd is an American alternative hip-hop artist. Based in Paris, France, ''The Guardian'' once described him as "the king of the hip-hop concept." Early life Mike Ladd was born in Boston, Massachusetts. As a child, he lived in India and Zimb ...

Ladytron Ladytron are an electronic band formed in Liverpool in 1999. The group consists of Helen Marnie (lead vocals, synthesizers), Mira Aroyo (vocals, synthesizers), and Daniel Hunt (synthesizers, guitar, vocals). Reuben Wu (synthesizers) was a ...

Milosh Mike Milosh, known professionally as Milosh, (born 1976) is a Canadian electronic music, electronic musician from Toronto, who is currently based in Los Angeles, California. Career Milosh started learning classical cello at age three, later ta ...

* Nicolette *

Out Hud Out Hud was an American electronic music, electronic band formed in 1996 in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area of California and later based in New York City. The band consisted of guitarist Nic Offer, bass guitar, bassist Tyler Pope, cello, ...

Erlend Øye Erlend Otre Øye (born 21 November 1975) is a Norwegian composer, musician, producer, singer and songwriter from Bergen, best known for being one half of the indie folk duo Kings of Convenience, along with Eirik Glambek Bøe. Among other music ...

* Terrence Parker *

Peace Orchestra Peace Orchestra is a musical solo project from the Austrian music producer Peter Kruder, best known as one half of Kruder & Dorfmeister. History In parallel to his partnership with Dorfmeister, Peter Kruder has always followed his solo project ...

* Playgroup *

Princess Superstar Concetta Suzanne Kirschner (born February 25, 1971), better known as Princess Superstar, is an American rapper, singer and DJ. She has had two chart hits in the UK, the humorous song "Bad Babysitter", which reached number 11 on the UK Singles ...

Stacey Pullen Stacey Pullen is an American techno musician based in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Pullen was raised in Detroit, where he became interested in electronic music early in his life. He began working on the Detroit techno scene in 1990, studyin ...

Quiet Village "Quiet Village" is an orchestral pop instrumental that was written and originally performed by Les Baxter in 1951 and an instrumental album from 1959 by Martin Denny. In the liner notes to his album, ''Ritual of the Savage (Le sacre du sauvage)'', ...

Rae & Christian Rae & Christian are an English production duo, consisting of Mark Rae and Steve Christian. They are also founders of the Grand Central Records label. History In 1995, Mark Rae fulfilled a long-term dream by founding Grand Central Records in M ...

* Ian Simmonds *

Shantel Stefan Hantel, better known by his stage name Shantel (born 2 March 1968), is a German DJ and producer based in Frankfurt. He is known for his work with Romani brass orchestras, DJing and remixing traditional Balkan music with electronic bea ...

Dani Siciliano Dani Siciliano is an American singer. She has worked with Matthew Herbert on several of his projects including the albums '' Around the House'', '' Bodily Functions'' and '' Scale''. She has also released two solo albums, '' Likes...'' and ''Slapp ...

Smith & Mighty Smith & Mighty are an English trip hop group from Bristol, England, consisting of Rob Smith, Ray Mighty and Peter D Rose. They pioneered the Bristol sound producing Massive Attack's "Any Love". The Bristol sound being a precursor to trip hop. ...

* Spacek * Stateless * Stereotyp *

* Terranova *

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...

* Tricky *

Trüby Trio Trüby Trio are a German music group specialising in nu jazz and broken beat. Founded in 1997 by Rainer Trüby, Roland Appel and Christian Prommer, their Latin-influenced sound, integrating bossa nova and flamenco styles, saw the band become pione ...

Gez Varley Gerrard Varley is a British electronic musician and DJ, who was member of LFO during the 1990s and later released his solo works under the moniker G-Man. Life Varley founded LFO in 1990 with Mark Bell, whom he had known since 1984.

Goose A goose (: geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (grey geese and white geese) and '' Branta'' (black geese). Some members of the Tadorninae subfamily (e.g., Egy ...

* Voom:Voom * Wamdue Kids * When Saints Go Machine * Bjarki *

Red Axes Red Axes is an Israeli electronic and indie music duo formed in 2010 by Dori Sadovnik and Niv Arzi. Based in Tel Aviv, the duo's eclectic sound range is influenced by many genres, including disco, house, garage rock, post punk, psychedelic roc ...

Bochum Welt Bochum Welt is the stage name of the Italian electronic musician Gianluigi Di Costanzo. The name Bochum Welt is a combination of the German word for "world" (''welt'') and the name of a high-powered astral telescope.Hundred Waters Hundred Waters is an American band formed in Gainesville, Florida in October 2011, composed of Nicole Miglis (vocals, piano, production, flute), Trayer Tryon (production, electronics, bass) and Zach Tetreault (drums, percussion, trumpet). The gr ...

* Michael Mayer

References

External links

Official site

Studio !K7
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:K7 Record labels established in 1996 German independent record labels Electronic music record labels

History

Artists

See also

References

External links