From the Music Corporation of America to Universal Music Group

MCA records would start as a talent agency in Chicago, evolve into a top agency in Hollywood before breaking into the music business and serving as the cornerstone to what is currently known as the Universal Music Group.

Based out of Chicago, Jules Stein and William R Goodhard formed a booking agency called the Music Corporation of America in 1924. MCA would book notable acts over the years before Lew Wasserman joined the company and would usher in a new chapter. Wasserman would have multiple successes that spanned decades including a radio show on NBC radio. He was eventually promoted to the New York market, but convinced Stein that they needed to head west to conquer Hollywood.

With Stein’s “Rules of the Road” as the foundation of MCA began purchasing talent agencies representing established talent such as Henry Fonda, Betty Davis and Ronald Reagan and quickly began dominating the entertainment industry. MCA was the first agency to pioneer having clients that took home a piece of the box office, residuals and package deals. In 1962, MCA entered the record industry with the purchase of Decca records and several other acquisitions.

Who knew that years later, when MCA became the sound recording leg of Universal Studios called Universal Music Group artists like 50 cent, Kanye West, Eminem and Dr. Dre would package their business visions and directly benefit from MCA’s rich history and experience in entertainment by starting labels, starred in and produced movies and TVs shows with lucrative backends. MCA’s dominance in entertainment would earn it the nickname “the octopus” and prompt an antitrust investigation by the US Department of Justice.

Music industry ‘record men” lik Jimmy Bowen dominated the 70’s with George Strait and Vince Gill. In 1979, MCA purchased ABC Records thereby adding Jimmy Buffet and Steely Dan to the roster before going on one of the greatest music industry decade long run by distributing Motown, purchasing the now legendary, Chess Records that housed blues and early rock n roll acts including John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, chuck Berry, Etta James and Howlin’ Wolf and singing some of the biggest stars of the 80s such as Tiffany and Bobby Brown.

The 90’s would be no different with hit’s from Petty, Fine Young Cannibals, Meatloaf and Mary J. Blige along with the soundtrack to the future cult classic Pulp Fiction.

After an acquisition by Japanese conglomerate Matsushita Electric and then Seagrams MCA would be rebranded as Universal Music Group in 1996. In the late 90s, the internet slowly went mainstream and failing labels with valuable catalogs would be gobbled up until on 3 labels remained; UMG, Sony and Warner Music Group.

In the late 90s, hits from Blink-182 and K-Ci and JoJo would soon follow as well as another acquisition by French utility company Vivendi. The MCA label name would still survive before landing under the Interscope, Geffen A&M umbrella being folded into Geffen. Universal continues to manage MCA’s back catalogs and release’s various compilations and albums.