Def Jam Records

Record Label Case Study

Benjamin Smith

Def Jam Records• Overview: Def Jam Recordings is an American record label,

focused mainly on hip hop and urban music, it is owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as a part of The Island Def Jam Music Group. In the UK, the label takes on the name Def Jam UK and is operated through Virgin EMI.

• CEO - Barry Weiss

• Founded - 1984, New York City, New York, United States

• Founders - Russell Simmons, Rick Rubin

• Parent Company - Universal Music Group, Island Def Jam Music Group

Current Artists• 2 Chainz• Big Boi• Big K.R.I.T.• Big Sean• Cyhi Da Prynce• Elijah Blake• Fabolous• Frank Ocean• Gunplay• Jadakiss• Jeezy• Jeremih• Jhené Aiko• Juelz Santana• Kanye West• Logic

• Ludacris• Method Man• Nas• Pusha T• Q-Tip• Redman• Rick Ross• Rihanna• Teyana Taylor• The Roots• The-Dream• Trinidad Jame$• Vince Staples• YG

Brief History of Def Jam Records

• Def Jam was founded by Rick Rubin in his dorm room in Weinstein Hall at New York University and its first release was a single by his punk-rock group Hose. Russell Simmons joined Rubin shortly after they were introduced to each other by Vincent Gallo

• From then on it has been quite a successful run for Simmons and Def Jam Records. They have signed dozens of artists and have created numerous other record labels that stemmed from Def Jam like Def Jam South, Def Jam Island, The Inc., and Disturbing tha Peace.

• They now have an array of artists and talents from Jay-Z to Nas to the Murder Inc. Family, and Ludacris and all of his rappers in Disturbing tha Peace. Russell Simmons has made Def Jam into a empire that branches out into clothing (Phat Farm) , movie production, TV shows (Def Comedy Jam), and Simmons has even moved a live show on Broadway called "Def Jam Poetry". Simmons has sold his share of Def Jam and Phat Farm and is estimated to be worth over 500 million dollars. Although he may not own Def Jam he helped build and maintain it and to build and maintain the rap culture we have today.