King Record Co., Ltd. (キングレコード株式会社, Kingu Rekōdo Kabushiki gaisha),[1] commonly known as King Records, is a Japanese record company founded in January 1931 as a division of the Japanese publisher Kodansha. It initially began operating as an independent entity in the 1950s. It later became part of the Otowa Group. Today, King Records is one of Japan's largest record companies which is not owned by a multinational entity. The label's headquarters are in Bunkyo, Tokyo.
The label's name is actually based from the now-defunct Kingu magazine published by Kodansha from 1924 to 1957.
Its Starchild label, was managed by animation producer Toshimichi Ōtsuki, specialised in anime music and film. King Records also distributes the Up-Front Works–owned and –operated labels Piccolo Town and Rice Music, and also released video games for the PC-88, Famicom, Game Boy Advance, and MSX2 platforms. On February 1, 2016, King Records restructured Starchild and renamed it King Amusement Creative.[2]
Paddle Wheel Records is a division of King Record Co.[3]
You! Be Cool was the official sub-label for AKB48.
Venus-B is the company's official urban music imprint.
Evil Line Records is the label's new division, established in April 2014, and comprises artists like Momoiro Clover Z and Meg, among others.[4][5][6]
Nexus is the label's division specialized for metal/underground music from Japan also overseas. Notable artists in it label are Earthshaker, etc.
Seven Seas is the label's division focusing on world music from overseas artists in many genres.
