Allied Artists Music Group

1972 Allied Artists LP Cover for Cabaret Soundtrack

1965 Allied Artists LP Cover for Tickle Me Soundtrack

Prior to 1971, soundtracks were informally released under the "Allied Artists Records" or "Allied Artists Music" names. Allied Artists Records was officially formed by Allied Artists Pictures in 1971 to become the motion picture soundtrack releasing vehicle for its distributed motion pictures. Due to runaway production costs, Allied Artists Pictures was forced into bankruptcy in 1979.[9][4][3] Allied Artists Records, which was an unaffected wholly owned subsidiary of Allied Artists Pictures, sought to expand its trademark and service mark rights to include all forms of entertainment, including those previously held by Allied Artists Pictures. By 1988, Allied Artists Records laid historical claim to recording artists such as Elvis Presley, Lionel Richie, Lawrence Welk, Bob Seger, and Ted Nugent.[4] Allied Artists Records' historical roster and catalog include Exodus, Coolio, Luis Cardenas, David Hasselhoff and Renegade.[10][4][3] In 2000, it was announced that Allied Artists Records would issue a Spanish-language recording by David Hasselhoff.[11][4][3] Shortly thereafter, Allied Artists Records formally consolidated each of its imprint labels into "Allied Artists Music Group" in a cost-cutting measure designed to maximize distribution strength.[8][4][3]

1983 AAMG LP Cover for Renegade's Rock 'n' Roll Crazy!

1986 AAMG LP Cover for Luis Cardenas' album cover for Animal Instinct

Shortly after the 2000 realignment of AAI's music holdings, Kim Richards, AAI's chief executive officer and chairman of the board, announced that former lawyer to The Beatles and co-manager of The Bee Gees, Robert Fitzpatrick had been named as AAMG's maiden president.[12][4][3] Among Fitzpatrick's music contributions while helming AAMG were soundtracks for such box-office hits as Pulp Fiction, Remember the Titans and The 51st State.[12] Fitzpatrick notably broadened AAMG's domestic distribution into a global distribution network. As part of the "Fitzpatrick Plan," existing home video licensing agreements held by Allied Artists Film Group would be converted into direct distribution for a new wholly owned, but specialized entity to be combined with existing distribution held by AAMG. Today, the home video distribution arm of Allied Artists Film Group has been merged with AAMG's music distribution network, to create "Allied Artists Music & Video Distribution" (AAMVD), with global reach and presence on every continent.[13][4][3] Fitzpatrick was elevated to president of parent AAI in June of 2006, naming former managing director of Warner Bros. Records U.K., Stephan Bauer-Stace, as his replacement.[12][3] Bauer had an extensive history with such music icons as Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and Jeff Beck, which was a direction Richards envisioned for AAMG. Bauer was diagnosed with cancer in November of 2015, taking a leave of absence shortly thereafter. Longtime friend of both Richards and Bauer, John Velasco, former head of United Artists Music U.K., known for his decades of experience in the music industry, having played crucial roles in the careers of Michael Jackson, ABBA, ELO, John Denver, Marvin Gaye and Davy Jones, stepped in to manage AAMG during Bauer's absence. Bauer's health continued to decline until June of 2016 when he succumbed to the cancer. After Bauer's death, Richards announced that Velasco was being named permanent president of AAMG.[14][3][15][4] Prior to Bauer's death, he signed Norwegian "Master Guitarist" Rocky Kramer to AAMG.[16][17] Bauer passed away before Kramer's debut album "Firestorm" was released. Under Velasco's leadership, Kramer's first single "Rock Star" spawned a hit music video and reached Number One on the Global DRT Chart.[18][19] Kramer has been described as "[o]ne of the strongest and most poignant guitarists since [Jimi] Hendrix."[20]