A&M Records

A&M Records is a record label formed in 1962 by Jerry Moss and Herb Alpert.
It began its life as Carnival Records in 1961, but after problems with an existing record label of that name, Alpert and Moss changed the name to "A&M."

A&M releases were issued in the United Kingdom by Pye Records until 1967, when it formed a UK branch to handle further distribution. Similar branches were formed later: A&M Canada in 1970, A&M Europe in 1977. Vendetta Records and Perspective Records were launched as subsidiaries.

A&M had a long history of distributing records for other labels, including Dark Horse Records (1974-1976), IRS Records (1979-1985), Windham Hill Records (and their subsidiary labels) (1982-1985), Gold Mountain Records (1983-1985), Word Records (1985-1990), and Cypress Records (1988-1990.) A&M also distributed Ode Records and purchased Shelter Records.

A&M was sold to PolyGram in 1989 for about half a billion dollars. It is now a part of the Interscope Records group, which also includes Geffen Records. Interscope is in turn part of Universal Music Group which is owned by the French water company Vivendi.

From 1966 to 1999, A&M Records was located on the grounds of the Charlie Chaplin Studio near the corner of Sunset and La Brea Blvds. in Hollywood, California (the studio is now the location of Jim Henson Productions).