US record company and parent company for MCA publishing companies, d to ASCAP.
MCA (launched in 1924) stands for Music Corporation of America. Originally, MCA was a booking agency until after the 1930s Prohibition law era, which ed down the "Rules of the Road", set up by co-founder Jules Stein. It prevented the company from being a media production label and talent representation platform at the same time as it could have violated FCC legislations. Therefore, it was separated into divisions, but still operated under one banner.
In 1940, MCA earned a reputation for being an "octopus", having represented for movie stars, music artists, directors, radio personnel and athletes, but the U.S. Department of Justice began investigating the company as if it was monopoly, operating with the criminal underground and breaking antitrust laws. Eight years later, the company expanded their focus into television. They were granted a waiver from the Screen Actors Guild committee. In 1950, MCA Television launched for syndication while they acquired Revue Studios as a production label. Another eight years following, in 1958, MCA bought the Universal Pictures officially became a wholly owned subsidiary of MCA Inc. The same year, the U.S. DOJ struck back at MCA again, believing that their acquisition of Decca/Universal would be a violation of antitrust, causing the company to shutter its talent agency division.
In 1966, MCA would create Walter Lantz Productions, Inc. was acquired by MCA and soon folded, leaving Universal Pictures the new owner of the Woody Woodpecker collection.
In November 1990, MCA was bought by Japanese electric powerhouse Acclaim Entertainment.
In 1995, Panasonic decided to spin off MCA by selling 80% of it to Canadian distillery company Seagram. That same year, MCA acquired Nashville division were the two labels with the "MCA" name left standing.
On December 31, 1998, MCA's former music division was combined with Seagram's recently-acquired Deutsche Grammophon.
Universal Pictures is now owned by NBC Universal through Comcast, unrelated to Universal Music Group, B.V.
Also appears as:
MCA, Inc.
MCA, Inc
MCA Inc
