Thrive Music is a United States–based

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

founded in

Los Angeles, California 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, ...

, by music industry entrepreneur Ricardo Vinas.

History

Thrive Records was founded in 1997 by electronic music trailblazer Ricardo Vinas, as a joint venture with Sire/

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

—the label founded by

Seymour Stein Seymour Steinbigle (April 18, 1942 – April 2, 2023), known professionally as Seymour Stein, was an American entrepreneur and music executive. He co-founded Sire Records and was vice president of Warner Bros. Records. With Sire, Stein signed ba ...

. Vinas credits Stein as the most influential mentor in his career. Thrive had early success in 1998 with the release of the soundtrack album for

Darren Aronofsky Darren Aronofsky (born February 12, 1969) is an American Filmmaking, filmmaker. His films are noted for their surreal, dramatic, and often disturbing elements, frequently in the form of psychological realism. His accolades include a Golden Lion ...

’s '' Pi'', and launching the premiere DJ mix series, ''Global Underground''. The label immediately had

Paul Oakenfold Paul Mark Oakenfold (; born 30 August 1963), formerly known mononymously as Oakenfold, is an English record producer, remixer and trance DJ. He has provided over 100 remixes for over 100 artists including U2, Moby, Madonna, Britney Spears, Ma ...

and Deep Dish in its roster. Thrive Records distributed Oakenfold’s label Perfecto Records for a decade. Paul Oakenfold received a 2006 Grammy nomination for his Thrive Records album, ''Creamfields'' (2006). Deep Dish delivered their most successful and Grammy nominated album, ''

George Is On ''George is On'' is the second album by American dance music duo Deep Dish. It features their ''Billboard'' Hot Dance Club Play chart hit "Flashdance" (which features Anousheh Khalili and is also their biggest UK chart hit, reaching No. 3), ...

'' (2005), during their time at Thrive Records. Thrive Records' artist roster has included the critically acclaimed

Roni Size Ryan Owen Granville Williams (born 29 October 1969), better known by his stage name Roni Size, is an English DJ and record producer. He came to prominence in 1997 as the founder and frontman of Roni Size & Reprazent, a drum and bass collective. ...

A-Trak Alain Macklovitch (born March 30, 1982), known professionally as A-Trak, is a Canadian DJ, record producer, and record executive. He came to prominence in the late 2000s as an international club DJ and remix artist, known for incorporating highl ...

, former Underworld member

Darren Emerson Darren Paul Emerson (born 30 April 1971) is an English musician, DJ and producer best known as a former member of the British electronic music group Underworld. Career Early life Emerson began mixing hip hop records at the age of 14, and by ...

Mark Ronson Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, record producer, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year for Amy Winehouse's album '' Back to Black'' (2006), as well as two for Record ...

Duck Sauce Duck Sauce is an electronic music superduo, formed in 2009 in New York City. The duo consists of American DJ Armand van Helden and Canadian DJ A-Trak. They are best known for their 2010 single "Barbra Streisand". The duo released a mixtape ...

Sander Kleinenberg Sander Kleinenberg (; born 29 December 1971) is a Dutch disc jockey, VDJ, and record producer. He founded and runs Little Mountain Recordings and THIS IS Recordings. Kleinenberg is well known for his use of digital video in concerts, his "Everyb ...

Josh Wink Joshua Winkelman (born April 20, 1970), better known by his stage name Josh Wink, is an American electronic dance music DJ, label owner, producer, and remixer. He is a native of Philadelphia, United States. A pioneering DJ in the American rave ...

Ferry Corsten Ferry Corsten OON (; born 4 December 1973) is a Dutch DJ, record producer and remixer. He is well known for producing many pioneering trance tracks during the 1990s–2000s under his numerous aliases, including System F, Moonman, Pulp Victim an ...

, and

Steve Aoki Steven Hiroyuki Aoki ( , ; born November 30, 1977) is an American DJ and record producer. In 2012, Pollstar designated Aoki as the highest-grossing electronic dance music artist in North America from tours. In 2024, Gold House recognized him as ...

. The Thrive/Dim Mak single, "I’m In The House" featuring will.i.am, was Aoki's only American Top 40 radio crossover single until 2017. The genre defining debut albums from Steve Aoki, ''Pillow Face and His Airplane Chronicles'' (2008), and A-Trak's ''Infinity+1'' (2009), were both released by Thrive Records. Thrive Records was active in the film soundtrack arena. In addition to ''Pi'', Thrive Records released the soundtrack albums for the Oscar nominated Christopher Nolan film, ''Memento'', and ''Requiem For a Dream'' directed by Darren Aronofsky. Thrive Records dabbled in alternative music after signing Foo Fighter's drummer,

Taylor Hawkins Oliver Taylor Hawkins (February 17, 1972 – March 25, 2022) was an American musician who was the drummer and a vocalist of the rock band Foo Fighters, sharing vocals with Dave Grohl. He joined the band in 1997, and remained the band's drummer ...

, and his solo band, The Coattail Riders. The label was home to many of today's top EDM executives including former Thrive Records GM Lee Kurisu (Dim Mak Records President), and A&R executives Peter Torres and David Dann (Mind of a Genius Records GM, and Founder). Thrive Pictures was the film and television division for Thrive Records run by Hollywood film executive Bryan Brucks.

Distribution

WEA Distribution was Thrive Records distributor from 1997 until 2000. Thrive Records moved to RED Distribution/Sony Music in 2001 and ranked consistently as one of RED's top performing labels. Thrive Records provided North American distribution for several iconic European dance labels, including

Perfecto Records Perfecto Records is a British trance record label, founded by Paul Oakenfold in 1989. Perfecto was also a remix team consisting of Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne and in its later years, Osborne was replaced by Andy Gray. Perfecto Records ha ...

Renaissance Recordings Renaissance Music (formerly called Renaissance Recordings) is a British record label and live events promotion company, founded by the club Renaissance in 1994. It went into administration in September 2010 and the back catalogue was sold to P ...

, and

Global Underground Global Underground is a British record label and compilation series founded in 1996 by Andy Horsfield and James Todd. The label symbolised the international explosion of dance music during the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s and first manifesto for hi ...

Thrive Music

In 2015, after a 15-year tenure with Thrive Records, Ricardo Vinas launched Thrive Music with distribution through

Sony Music 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 ...

. Thrive Music has released projects from established EDM artists such as

Moby Richard Melville Hall (September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, disc jockey, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "amo ...

Nicky Romero Nick Rotteveel (; born 6 January 1989), professionally known as Nicky Romero or Monocule, is a Dutch DJ, record producer and remixer from Amerongen, Utrecht Province. He has worked with, and received support from DJs, such as Tiësto, Fedde l ...

Cheat Codes Cheating in video games involves a video game player using various methods to create an advantage beyond normal gameplay, usually in order to make the game easier. Cheats may be activated from within the game itself (a cheat code implemented by ...

, and

Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike (previously Dnm) are a Belgian–Greek DJ duo composed of brothers Dimitri Thivaios and Michael Thivaios. They were ranked No. 1 on ''DJ Magazine, DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list in 2015 and 2019, and No. 2 in 2014, 2016 thr ...

. The label's roster also includes emerging artists like SAYMYNAME, Grammy-nominated Lipless, Cazztek,

Sick Individuals Sick Individuals (stylized in all caps) are a Dutch electronic dance music act consisting of Rinze "Ray" Hofstee (; born 15 March 1988) and Joep "Jim" Smeele (; born 3 November 1990). The two met in Hilversum (2008) while studying Music Composit ...

, Dropout, 4B, Hunter Siegel, Myon, and Madison Mars. Thrive Music's artists have had their work featured in various television shows, video games, films, and multimedia advertising campaigns. In 2017, these included the trailer for ''

Despicable Me 3 ''Despicable Me 3'' is a 2017 American animated comedy film produced by Universal Pictures and Illumination, and distributed by Universal. It is the sequel to '' Despicable Me 2'' (2013), the third main installment, and the fourth overall ent ...

'', and placements in campaigns for

Mountain Dew Mountain Dew, stylized as Mtn Dew in some countries and colloquially known as Dew in some areas, is a soft drink brand owned by PepsiCo. The original formula was invented in 1940 by Tennessee beverage Bottler (company), bottlers Barney and A ...

, ''

So You Think You Can Dance ''So You Think You Can Dance'' is a franchise of reality television shows in which contestants compete in dance. The first series of the franchise, created by '' Idols'' producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, premiered in July 2005 and has ...

'', and ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

''.

Artists

References

External links

*
Thrive Records
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 ...

{{Authority control American record labels Alternative rock record labels Electronic music record labels Record labels established in 1997

History

Distribution

Thrive Music

Artists

See also

References

External links