Liberty Records, Inc.

Parent company of the Liberty label in the U.S.A. until 1968, when the company was acquired by Transamerica Corporation and merged into Liberty/UA, Inc./Liberty/United Artists, Inc. The company was re-established in 1981 as a subsidiary of Capitol Records, Inc. The company was initially formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1955 by Si Waronker, Alvin Bennett and Ted Keep. Over the years, Liberty licensed and distributed for several other US independent labels. Approximately 1963/64, the company was sold to Avnet Electronics Corp., an electronics concern, but sold back shortly thereafter. Labels acquired: Dolton Records, 1963 Imperial and subsidiaries Aladdin Records and Minit, 1964 Blue Note, 1965 World Pacific and subsidiaries, May 1965 In 1965, the budget label Sunset Records was launched. In mid-1967, some European branches were launched: Liberty Records GmbH in Germany; Liberty Records Limited in the UK.