Motown Distributed labels

[tomato tom]

With Motown having distribution rights for labels like Chisa, CTI, KUDU etc over the years, I wondered if anybody knows if they,i.e. Univeral, still own these recordings. I have a few albums by Grover Washington Jr, Al Green, etc on the MOTOWN label, both U.S. and UK releases. However, I recently bought Grover Washington Jrs Feel So Good album on Verve CD reissue. It was originally on Kudu, rereleased on Motown, now on Verve? Confused!.....Paulo xxx

[soulstevie]

Hi Paulo,

when CTI went bankrupt in the late 70s, almost all the rights went to Sony who distributed the releases at that time. As far as I know, Grovers rights went to Motown since CTI had a distribution deal with Motown earlier. And Bob James received the rights to his four albums. Then Motown became part of Polygram and so forth and now it seems, Universal concentrates all the jazz stuff on Verve instead of where they were originally released. Here´s more: http://www.dougpayne.com/cti_900t.htm

[tomato tom]

soulstevie
Thanks for that.Makes some sense now..Paulo xxx

[roger]

What's the story with Hi?

I have '80s reissues of L.Ps by Al Green, Ann Peebles and Willie Mitchell on U.S. Motown.

Subsequent reissues in the U.K. have been via Cream/Demon with no mention of Motown.

Roger

[tomato tom]

thats what confused me too. Then, I discovered that Motown won the rights to distribute / reissue Hi product in the U.S. only. Hence the Motown label. The covers do show the HI logo however. I dont know the time frame for this however. I think this why nothing was released in the UK from the HI back catalogue on Motown as the rights were for the U.S. only, Possibly Canada? Paulo xxx

[soulster]

In 1977, the Hi label was sold to Al Bennett's Cream Records. Bennett, of course, was one of Liberty's founders, and operated from the West Coast. The recording moved to the West Coast, and after a couple of years of trying to record Memphis Soul in Los Angeles, Willie Mitchell left the label.

When the label went to Bennett, the 12000/32000 series of albums was replaced with a 6000 and 8000 series. The 6000 series seemed to be used for newly recorded music, while the 8000 series was used for compilations of previously released material. Since the introduction of the compact disc, Hi has leased their material to several labels, including Motown, MCA, and Right Stuff [[EMI-Capitol Special Markets), with much of the label's output being reissued on CD.

Hi Records is now doing business as ABS Entertainment, Inc., doing business as Cream/Hi Records. Their web page is at www.hirecords.com. Cream/Hi is owned and operated by Adalah Bennett Shaw, Al Bennett's daughter.

http://www.bsnpubs.com/tennessee/hi.html

[tomato tom]

soulster

WOW! Many thanks for this information. Does explain a lot..Thanks again Paulo xxx

[roger]

Yes ..

That info from Soulster does make a lot of sense .. I remember being somewhat bemused back in 1978 or thereabouts, when I bought the UK 45 release of "Belle" [[I Think) by Al Green and it was on the Cream label .. all his previous UK releases [[ apart from "Back Up Train") had been on Decca's London-American label.

Roger

[tomato tom]

I remember seeing, and buying, the Al Green 45, Lets Get Married /Sha La La on the Motown Yesteryear label a few years back, and being very confused. Now it all makes sense...Paulo xxx