Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Music Group and Interscope Communications, it differed from most record labels by letting A&R staff control decisions and allowing artists and producers full creative control. Interscope's first hit records arrived in under a year, and it achieved profitability in 1993. Chair and CEO until May 2014, Iovine was succeeded by John Janick.
In 1992, Interscope acquired the exclusive rights to market and distribute releases from hardcore hip hop label Death Row Records, a decision that ultimately put the label at the center of the mid-1990s gangsta rap controversy. As a result, Time Warner, then the parent of Warner Music Group, severed ties with Interscope by selling its 50 percent stake back to Field and Iovine for $115 million in 1995. In 1996, 50% of the label was acquired for a reported $200 million by MCA Inc., later known as Universal Music Group.
Interscope's artist roster includes 2Pac, Eminem, Lady Gaga, OneRepublic, Dermot Kennedy, Blackpink, Dr. Dre, DaBaby, Billie Eilish, Imagine Dragons, Olivia Rodrigo, Selena Gomez, Playboi Carti, Kendrick Lamar, Lana Del Rey, Maroon 5, Moneybagg Yo, Gwen Stefani, Rae Sremmurd, Machine Gun Kelly, U2, Yungblud, Cuco, d4vd and others.
History
1990–1995: Origins, early success, and joint ventures
In mid 1990, Ted Field began to build Interscope Records as a division of his film company, Interscope Communications. To run it, he hired John McClain, who had played a central role in Janet Jackson's success at A&M Records, and Tom Whalley, who had been the head of A&R at Capitol Records. Separately, Iovine, who had produced records for U2, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Nicks, and John Lennon, among others, was trying to raise money to start a label. "I thought, 'Music is going to change,'" Iovine said in 1997. "'Young bands aren't going to be asking for me.' But I love working with the new thing. I always liked the part of the business that's the first time you hear something, and I knew I wasn't in that business anymore."
Iovine and Field were introduced by Paul McGuinness, then U2's manager. After a series of negotiations led by David Geffen, they came to an agreement, and in 1990, Interscope Records was founded as a joint venture with Atlantic Records. In a 1997 article in Rolling Stone, David Wild wrote: "Interscope's start-up coincided with a period of incredible change in the music world. Nirvana had ushered in the alternative revolution... While the major labels were packed with rosters full of expensive veteran artists who had to redefine themselves for a new rock era, Interscope was in the business of signing new artists and could – as Iovine puts it – 'move on a dime.'"
Based in Los Angeles, California in the Westwood neighborhood at an office building on 10900 Wilshire Boulevard, Interscope was run by "music men". It was a departure from the music industry practices of the 1970s and 1980s, when labels traditionally appointed lawyers and promotion executives to senior positions. A founding tenet of the label was that artists would have complete creative control.
Interscope's first release was "Rico Suave" by Ecuadorian rapper Gerardo in December 1990; the single reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in April 1991. Primus' Interscope debut, Sailing the Seas of Cheese, was released in May, followed by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch's Music for the People in July. It included the number-one single "Good Vibrations". Two days after first hearing his demo, Whalley signed Tupac Shakur in August 1991, and by November, Interscope released 2Pacalypse Now, Shakur's studio debut.