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MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack album (later LP record) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the 1970s. The company also released soundtrack albums of the music for some of their non-musical films as well, and on rare occasions, cast albums of off-Broadway musicals such as The Fantasticks and the 1954 revival of The Threepenny Opera. In one instance, MGM Records released the highly successful soundtrack album of a film made by another studio, Columbia Pictures's Born Free (1966).
MGM Records called these "original cast albums" in the style of Decca Records's Broadway show cast albums. They also coined the phrase "recorded directly from the soundtrack". Over the years the term "soundtrack" began to be commonly applied to any recording from a film, whether taken from the actual film soundtrack or re-recorded. The phrase is also sometimes incorrectly used for Broadway cast recordings.
Among MGM's most successful soundtrack albums were those of the films Good News (the 1947 version), Easter Parade, Annie Get Your Gun, Singin' in the Rain, Show Boat (the 1951 version), The Band Wagon, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and Gigi. When the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz was first shown on television in 1956 (by CBS), the label issued a soundtrack album of songs and dialog excerpts recorded directly from the film, as they had done with their LP of music and dialog from Quo Vadis in 1951. Aba Daba Honeymoon, performed by Debbie Reynolds and Carleton Carpenter in the film Two Weeks With Love, became the first soundtrack single to become a national hit, selling a million copies and charting at No. 3.
By 1950, magnetic tape had been perfected for recording use. This markedly improved the sound quality on long play (LP) albums from 1951 forward.
MGM Records also issued albums of film scores, including Ben-Hur, King of Kings, Doctor Zhivago, How the West Was Won, the 1967 simulated-stereo 70mm re-release of Gone With the Wind, and . The Ben-Hur and King of Kings albums were studio recreations of the scores, but done with the original orchestrations, while How the West Was Won, Gone With the Wind, 2001, and Doctor Zhivago albums were the genuine soundtracks. MGM Records also released a second soundtrack album of Quo Vadis, this one containing only music from the film.
Beginning in the 1990s, authentic soundtrack albums of the musical scores to Ben-Hur and King of Kings became available. The Rhino Records editions of these albums featured literally the entire scores, including outtakes. Rhino also released a full-length two-disc album of the score of Gone with the Wind, recorded from the soundtrack in the original mono.
As in the case of the non-musical films, Rhino Records, which obtained the rights to the MGM soundtracks (owned by Turner Entertainment Co.) in the 1990s, issued longer versions of their movie musical albums, containing virtually all of the songs and music. Rhino's license expired at the end of 2011 and the albums Rhino issued were deleted. Warner Bros. now owns the MGM soundtracks first issued by MGM Records and Warner Bros.' WaterTower Music unit now has the rights to release the MGM soundtracks.
MGM moved successfully into the rock and roll era with many hit records by Connie Francis, Herman's Hermits, the Animals, the Cowsills, Lou Christie, the Osmonds, and Cub Records-subsidiary singer Jimmy Jones, whose hits were on MGM in the UK. Pre-rock pop singer Joni James and country singer Conway Twitty also scored hits on the rock and roll charts. James' "There Goes My Heart" in 1958 was promoted as the first 45 rpm record to be released in stereophonic sound. Although it was the first stereo single to come out of the major record companies, edging out the RCA Victor release of Perry Como's "Love Makes the World Go 'Round" by mere days, the single was issued in September 1958, while the first overall 45 rpm records to be released in stereophonic sound were issued by Bel Canto Records in June 1958.
MGM also distributed Cameo-Parkway Records briefly in 1967. Four albums and two singles were released under this arrangement before Allen Klein bought the Cameo-Parkway catalog and renamed the label ABKCO.
Another label distributed by MGM was American International Records, the record label division of American International Pictures, whose film library is now owned by MGM.
With PolyGram's abandonment of the MGM Records trademark, MGM was able to reclaim its rights to that trademark in 1997.[1]
The MGM Records catalog is now split. Although the first three entities remain under the aegis of Universal Music Group, the pop music catalog is managed by Universal Music Enterprises and bears the Polydor imprint, with distribution in North America by Republic Records, the musical theater catalog is now released by Decca Broadway, and the country music catalog is managed by Universal Music Group Nashville with reissues bearing the Mercury Records Nashville imprint.
MGM's film soundtracks are owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment via its WaterTower Music unit and the catalogs of a few other artists also have new owners. Frank Zappa regained control of his MGM/Verve recordings (including those with his group the Mothers of Invention) in mid 1977 after two years of negotiations. Zappa later licensed the recordings to Rykodisc, starting in 1987. In 2012, Gail Zappa licensed her deceased husband's catalogue to Universal Music Enterprises.
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