Naxos (company)
| Naxos Records | |
|---|---|
| File:Naxos Records logo.jpg | |
| Founded | 1987 |
| Founder | Klaus Heymann |
| Genre | Classical, jazz, modern, audiobooks, ebooks |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom (Hong Kong) |
| Location | Hong Kong |
| Official website | www |
Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres.[1][2][3] The premier label is Naxos Records, which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about 17 labels including Naxos Records, Naxos Audiobooks, and Naxos Books (ebooks). They distribute a number of additional labels that are independent of the Naxos Musical Group with a wide range of offerings.[4]
The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.[5] In September 2025, Kuke Music Holding Ltd (NYSE: KUKE), a leading classical music services platform in China, acquired a controlling interest in Naxos Music Group for US$106 million.[6]
Naxos Records
[edit | edit source]Naxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. The company was known for its budget pricing of discs,[7] with simpler artwork and design than most other labels.[8] In the 1980s, Naxos primarily recorded central and eastern European symphony orchestras, often with lesser-known conductors, as well as upcoming and unknown musicians, to minimize recording costs and maintain its budget prices.
In more recent years, Naxos has taken advantage of the expiring copyrights of other companies' studio recordings by selling discs remastered from gramophone records. Examples include the complete recordings of opera singers such as Enrico Caruso, Amelita Galli-Curci, and Titta Ruffo and the 1934 world première performance of Howard Hanson's opera Merry Mount. Legal restrictions prevented some of these recordings from being sold in the United States. Naxos has also recorded the music of contemporary composers, including Leonardo Balada, Bechara El-Khoury, Laurent Petitgirard, and Alla Pavlova. The label has branched out into jazz, world music, and books on musical subjects. Naxos Spoken Word Library contains non-music products, such as audiobooks and radio dramas.[4]
In 2003, it began a paid subscription service for listening on the Internet that offers its complete catalogue and the Naxos Music Library.[9] In 2015, it launched a high-definition download and streaming service, ClassicsOnline HD•LL, with a catalogue drawn from a number of classical record labels.[10]
Distribution
[edit | edit source]Naxos Global Logistics, based in Poing near Munich, was founded in 2008[11] to expand the services offered to its distributed labels, including manufacturing, marketing, and licensing.[12]
Awards
[edit | edit source]In 2005, Naxos won the Label of the Year Award[13] at Classic FM/Gramophone awards. In 2023, they won the Label of the Year Award[14] at the International Classical Music Awards.
Other divisions
[edit | edit source]- ARC Music
- ArkivMusic
- Capriccio
- Chandos
- Dynamic
- Marco Polo
- Oehms Classics
- Ondine
- Orfeo
See also
[edit | edit source]- Lists of record labels
- Capitol Records, Inc. v. Naxos of America, Inc., 2005 ruling in Capitol Records' favour that US state common law copyright protection is available to pre-1972 recordings.
References
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- ^ a b "Labels", naxos.com
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- ^ "2023 Winners", icma-info.com
External links
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