Memory Records was an Italian

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the prod ...

in Italy.

History

It was founded in 1983 by Alessandro Zanni (executive producer) and Stefano Cundari (art producer). Since the very beginning, Memory Records took special care for the instrumental synthesizer productions, launching artists such as Hipnosis,

Koto Koto may refer to: * Koto (band), an Italian synth pop group * Koto (instrument), a Japanese musical instrument * Koto (kana), a ligature of two Japanese katakana * Koto (traditional clothing), a traditional dress made by Afro-Surinamese women * ...

and Cyber People. Besides these, the main label artists were J.D. Jaber, Mike Cannon, Duke Lake, Baby's Gang,

Ken Laszlo Gianni Coraini (born 18 July 1954), known by his stage name Ken Laszlo, is an Italian singer, songwriter and musician. Laszlo was interested in music at a young age and his career began in 1980 when he played and sang in discos, bowling alleys, a ...

, Alan Ross,

Brian Ice Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word meani ...

, Roy, and Swan. Aside from having a main studio in Italy, Memory Records had branches in Spain and Germany. Digital Records was a sub-label of Memory from 1985 until 1988. It was formerly branded as Plexi-Glass Productions for a short time from 1985 to 1986.

Partnership with ZYX Records

ZYX Records became a partner since the first releases, licensing almost the entire catalogue for the German market. By 1984, the company of Bernhard Mikulski even started to use the Memory Records logos and similar catalogue matrix.

Popularity loss and closure

After 4 years, the beginning of the end arrived in 1987, when Italo disco was fading out in Europe and its business suffered drastic decline due to the increasingly strong popularity of

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground club culture in the late 1970s, as DJs began altering ...

. The label, like many others, then tried to survive changing its style towards house and

Eurobeat Eurobeat refers to two styles of dance music that originated in Europe: one is a British variant of Italian Eurodisco-influencedAng, Ien & Morley, David (2005). "Cultural Studies: Volume 3, Issue 2". ''Routledge''. pgs. 171, 173, 170. . "Eurore ...

with discrete results. In 1989, Memory closed shop in 1989. Zanni and Cundari went on to form MCE Records to produce techno house music, but ceased its operations after Cundari's death in 1993. Its back catalogs are currently owned by

ZYX Music ZYX Music GmbH & Co. KG is a German record label that was founded in 1971 by Bernhard Mikulski. It is one of the most successful German record labels of the 1980s and 1990s. Until 1992, the label's name was Pop-Import Bernhard Mikulski. The labe ...

References

External links

* Italian record labels Record labels established in 1983 Record labels disestablished in 1989 Italo disco {{Italy-record-label-stub