Tommy Boy Music (folded 2002)
~ Label
Annotation
Tommy Boy Records aka Tommy Boy Music
Seminal US hip hop/dance imprint founded by Tom Silverman.
Independent until Warner bought a 50% stake in the label 1985. UPC numbers begin with 01699, 07599, 09362, 08122, or 05439.
In 1990, Warner bought the remaining 50%, but this was bought back by the founder of the label in 1995. Warner effectively folded the imprint in January 2002, with Silverman once more gaining ownership of the brand name "Tommy Boy", which he licenses back to Warner.
Warner maintained the mastertapes and licensing rights for the back catalogue, which has been re-issued by Rhino/Atlantic.
A separate label Tommy Boy Entertainment LLC, with a UPC prefix of 66186, was founded in 2002.