550 Music (originally known as Sony 550 Music) was a unit of

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

, which operated through Sony Music's

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

division while in activity. Launched in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, the "550" name was inspired by the address of the

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

building, located at

550 Madison Avenue 550 Madison Avenue (also 550 Madison; formerly known as the Sony Tower, Sony Plaza, and AT&T Building) is a postmodern–style skyscraper on Madison Avenue between 55th and 56th Streets in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. The label was folded in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

by Epic Records, it was part of the restructuring when

Tommy Mottola Thomas Daniel Mottola (born July 14, 1948) is an American businessman, record executive, television producer, theater producer, film producer, investor, and serial entrepreneur. Mottola is the chairman of Mottola Media Group, co-founder of Nter ...

was leaving Sony Music.

Artists on label

* 3 Lb. Thrill *

Amel Larrieux Amel Eliza Larrieux (née Stowell; born March 8, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and keyboardist. Larrieux rose to fame in the mid-1990s as a founding member of the duo Groove Theory along with Bryce Wilson. After leaving the ...

Apollo 440 Apollo 440 (also known as Apollo Four Forty or @440) are an English electronic music group formed in Liverpool in 1990. The group have written, recorded and produced five studio albums, collaborated with and produced other artists, remixed as ...

Ben Folds Five Ben Folds Five was an American alternative rock trio formed in 1993 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The group comprised Ben Folds (lead vocals, piano), Robert Sledge (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Darren Jessee (drums, backing vocals). Th ...

* Bolt Upright *

Carl Hancock Rux Carl Hancock Rux () is an American poet, playwright, singer-songwriter, novelist, essayist, as well as multidisciplinary performance installation artist. His work includes sound and image installation, photography, and performative lectures. He ...

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion (born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Power Ballads", Dion's powerful, technically skilled vocals and commercially successful works have had ...

Coco Lee CoCo Lee ( zh, c=李玟; 17 January 1975 – 5 July 2023) was a Chinese-American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is one of the best-selling artists in Asia and widely regarded as a significant figure and a diva. Her career began in 1993 i ...

* Damascus Road Experience *

Deep Forest Deep Forest is a French music project that originally began as a duo consisting of Michel Sanchez (musician), Michel Sanchez and Éric Mouquet. They compose a style of world music, sometimes called ethnic electronica, mixing ethnic with electro ...

Des'ree Desirée Annette Weekes (born 30 November 1968), known by her stage name Des'ree (), is an English pop and soul recording artist and songwriter, who rose to prominence during the 1990s. Known for her distinctive contralto voice and uplifting l ...

Echolyn Echolyn is an American progressive rock band based in eastern Pennsylvania. History Origins and first phase (1989–1995) Echolyn was formed in 1989 when guitarist Brett Kull and drummer Paul Ramsey, members of a recently split cover band c ...

Eve's Plum Eve's Plum was an American New York City-based rock band, active in the 1990s. The band was fronted by Colleen Fitzpatrick, who was later known by the stage name Vitamin C. Eve's Plum released two albums and seven singles on 550 Music/Epic Record ...

* Fear of Pop * Flight 16 *

Flop Floating point operations per second (FLOPS, flops or flop/s) is a measure of computer performance in computing, useful in fields of scientific computations that require floating-point calculations. For such cases, it is a more accurate measur ...

For Squirrels For Squirrels was an American alternative rock band based in Gainesville, Florida, United States, founded in 1992. Their 1995 single "Mighty K.C." became an alternative rock radio hit about three months after a touring van accident that claime ...

Fuel A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work (physics), work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chem ...

* George Clinton & the P.Funk All-Stars * Getaway Cruiser *

Ginuwine Elgin Baylor Lumpkin (born October 15, 1970), better known by his stage name Ginuwine ( ), is an American R&B singer. He began his career as a member of the musical collective Swing Mob in the early 1990s. As a solo act, he signed with Epic R ...

Haley Bennett Haley Loraine Keeling (born January 7, 1988), known professionally as Haley Bennett, is an American actress. She made her film debut in the romantic comedy ''Music and Lyrics'' (2007) and has since appeared in films such as '' The Equalizer'' ( ...

Infectious Grooves Infectious Grooves is an American funk metal supergroup led by vocalist Mike Muir and initially a side project from his group Suicidal Tendencies. The current lineup also includes guitarists Dean Pleasants and Dave Kushner, bassist Robert Tru ...

* Jon B. *

Mandy Moore Amanda Leigh "Mandy" Moore (born April 10, 1984) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She rose to fame with her 1999 debut single "Candy (Mandy Moore song), Candy", which peaked at number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot ...

* Men of Vizion *

Mista Grimm Rojai Trawick, better known as Mista Grimm, is a rapper formerly signed to Epic Records' sub-label, 550 Music. Grimm's first release was the 1993 single " Indo Smoke" featuring Warren G and Nate Dogg from the '' Poetic Justice soundtrack''. Th ...

* moe. *

Motherland A homeland is a place where a national or ethnic identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethnic natio ...

Nine Days Nine Days (stylized as ''ninedays'') is an American rock band from Long Island, New York. It was formed in the hamlet of St. James, Suffolk County, New York in 1994 by John Hampson and Brian Desveaux, and released three independent albums in ...

No-Man No-Man are an English art pop duo, formed in 1987 as No Man Is an Island (Except the Isle of Man) by singer Tim Bowness and multi-instrumentalist Steven Wilson. The band has so far produced seven studio albums and a number of singles/outtake ...

* Old Pike * Patra * Rah-Sun *

Social Distortion Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. It consists of Mike Ness (vocals, guitar), Jonny Wickersham (guitar), Brent Harding (bass), David Hidalgo Jr. (drums), and David Kalish (keyboards). Emerg ...

* Taja Sevelle * Tanto Metro & Devonte * The Poor * Ultimate Fakebook * Vallejo *

Velvet Crush Velvet Crush is an American power pop band from Providence, Rhode Island, United States, that achieved prominence in indie-rock circles in the early- and mid-1990s. The band broke up in 1996 but re-formed in 1998 and have continued to record ...

Verbow Verbow was an American alternative rock band formed in Chicago and active between the mid-1990s and early 2000s. The band's sound was distinguished by emotionally direct songwriting and their unconventional use of cello. History Early period: J ...

Vernon Reid Vernon Alphonsus Reid (born 22 August 1958) is an American guitarist and songwriter best known as the founder of the rock band Living Colour. Reid was named No. 66 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's 2003 list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Ti ...

* Vonda Shepard * XC-NN

References

Sony Music Epic Records Record labels established in 1992 Record labels disestablished in 2000 Defunct record labels of the United States Former Sony subsidiaries {{US-record-label-stub

Artists on label

See also

References