S-Curve Records was founded in
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
by former
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...
executive
Steve Greenberg. It is based in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
. In 2001 the label established a distribution and licensing agreement with
EMI Records
EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...
. Among the hits released by S-Curve between 2000-2004 were "
Who Let the Dogs Out?
"Who Let the Dogs Out" is a song performed by Bahamian junkanoo band Baha Men. Originally released by Anslem Douglas (titled "Doggie"), it was covered by producer Jonathan King who sang it under the name Fat Jakk and his Pack of Pets. He br ...
" by
Baha Men, "
Stacy's Mom" by
Fountains of Wayne and
Joss Stone
Joscelyn Eve Stoker (born 11 April 1987), known professionally as Joss Stone, is an English singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to prominence in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album, '' The Soul Sessions'', which made the 2004 Mer ...
's first two albums, ''
the Soul Sessions
''The Soul Sessions'' is the debut studio album by English singer and songwriter Joss Stone, released on 16 September 2003 by S-Curve Records. The album consists of cover versions of soul songs from the 1960s and 1970s, in addition to a cover ...
'' and ''
Mind Body & Soul
''Mind Body & Soul'' is the second studio album by English singer and songwriter Joss Stone, released on 15 September 2004 by S-Curve Records. The album received generally favourable reviews from music critics and earned Stone three Grammy Awa ...
''. All of these artists received multiple
Grammy
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
nominations, with Baha Men winning the "Best Dance Recording" Grammy in 2001.
In 2007 Greenberg relaunched the label after a two-year hiatus, during which he served as President of
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
. In 2010, the label's distribution deal with EMI came to an end and S-Curve entered into a new U.S. distribution deal, with
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...
. From 2012-2015,
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group Corp. (trade name, d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York C ...
distributed the label outside of North America.
The S-Curve roster and catalog include titles by
Andy Grammer,
Leslie Odom Jr.,
We the Kings, Bay Ledges,
Daisy the Great,
Netta Barzilai,
Rachel Crow,
Maxi Priest, Michael Blume, Hailey Knox,
Duran Duran
Duran Duran () are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger Taylor the following year the band wen ...
,
Betty Wright,
Fountains of Wayne,
Baha Men,
The Beu Sisters,
Sarah Hudson,
Tom Jones
Tom Jones may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer
* Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist
*''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in ...
,
Little Jackie,
Diane Birch,
Nikki Jean
Nicholle "Nikki" Jean Leary is an American singer.
After studying theatre, Jean began her career as the lead singer of the Philadelphia-based band Nouveau Riche. She began posting acoustic music online. Jean gained major recognition after bei ...
,
David Broza
David Simon Berwick Broza ( he, דויד ברוזה; born September 4, 1955) is an Israeli singer-songwriter. His music mixes modern pop with Spanish music.
Biography
David Broza was born in Haifa, Israel. His father was an Israeli–British bus ...
,
Joshua Henry,
Conkarah,
Rozzi Crane,
A Great Big World
A Great Big World is an American musical duo from New York made up of singer/songwriters Ian Axel and Chad King and signed to Epic Records. The group is best known for their single "This Is the New Year", which was performed by the cast in an epis ...
,
Swamp Dogg, Night Bus,
A-WA,
Care Bears on Fire,
Sinking Ships
Sinking Ships was an American hardcore punk band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 2004. In 2005, the band released their debut EP, ''Meridian'', on Run for Cover Records and later re issued on 6131 Records and contributed the track "Turn My ...
,
Tinted Windows
Window film (tint) is a thin laminate film that can be installed to the interior or exterior of glass surfaces in automobiles and boats and also to the interior or exterior of glass in homes and buildings. It is usually made from polyethylene ter ...
and
Joss Stone
Joscelyn Eve Stoker (born 11 April 1987), known professionally as Joss Stone, is an English singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to prominence in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album, '' The Soul Sessions'', which made the 2004 Mer ...
.
S-Curve's 2011 release by Betty Wright and
the Roots
The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's '' The Tonight Show Starring Jimm ...
, ''Betty Wright: The Movie'' was nominated for a
Grammy
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
in the "Best Traditional R&B Performance" category. Andy Grammer's debut album has yielded the hit singles "
Keep Your Head Up" (certified Platinum in the U.S.) "Miss Me" and "Fine By Me" (certified Gold). His follow-up album, ''
Magazines or Novels
''Magazines or Novels'' is the second studio album by American recording artist Andy Grammer, released on August 5, 2014 through S-Curve Records. It includes the triple-platinum selling hit single " Honey, I'm Good" which peaked at #9 on the ' ...
'', contained the triple-platinum selling single "
Honey, I'm Good" and the gold-certified "Good to Be Alive (Hallelujah)". Grammar's 2016 release "
Fresh Eyes
"Fresh Eyes" is a song from American musician Andy Grammer, serving as the lead single from his third studio album ''The Good Parts''. It was made available for digital download on July 29, 2016, through S-Curve Records. Grammer co-wrote the son ...
" has been certified Platinum in the US, Canada, and Australia. In July 2012, S-Curve released Joss Stone's ''the Soul Sessions Vol. II'', a sequel to her 2003 debut album, produced by Greenberg, who also produced Stone's first two albums during the label's initial incarnation. That album achieved Top 10 statues on both the
Billboard 200
The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artist ...
album chart and the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...
. AJR has earned five platinum singles on the S-Curve label, they are no longer on the label. Maxi Priest was nominated for a 2021 Grammy in the "Best Reggae Album" category for his S-Curve release "It All Comes Back To Love."
Besides releasing music, S-Curve's business interests include music publishing and the company's equity stakes in online media companies Vydia,
Eko (formerly Interlude),
YouNow, Stationhead, Selectable Media (formerly Nabbr), Hyperactivate (creators of Hashtag Art) and Soomla. In 2011 and 2012, music videos released by S-Curve using Eko's interactive video technology won
MTV "
O Music Awards" for "Most Innovative Video": Grammer's "
Keep Your Head Up" and We the Kings's "Say You Like Me."
The record label and publishing company were acquired by
BMG Rights Management
BMG Rights Management Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, GmbH (also known simply as BMG) is an international music company based in Berlin, Germany. It combines the activities of a Music publisher (popular music), music publisher and a rec ...
in November 2015, with Greenberg continuing at the helm. S-Curve continues to independently own stakes in its portfolio of tech companies.
In 2021, the label relaunched in a partnership with
Disney Music Group.
However, the back catalog remains with BMG.
See also
*
List of record labels
File:Alvinoreyguitarboogie.jpg
File:AmMusicBunk78.jpg
File:Bingola1011b.jpg
Lists of record labels cover record labels, brands or trademarks associated with marketing of music recordings and music videos. The lists are organized alphabetically, b ...
References
{{Authority control
American record labels
Record labels established in 2000
Pop record labels
Disney Music Group
Labels distributed by Universal Music Group
New York (state) record labels