In the early 1960s, Warner Records revolutionized the music industry. Rather than adhering to the practice of the times – signing artists who could be shaped for a mainstream audience – Warner signed trailblazers and visionaries, and gave them complete creative control. After acquiring Frank Sinatra’s Reprise Records and tapping its head, Mo Ostin, to run Warner, it became the most successful label in the history of the American record industry,

Led by Ostin and an A&R team that included producer Lenny Waronker, the early Warner Records catalog included debut albums by Peter, Paul and Mary, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and the Grateful Dead as well as Are You Experienced, the first Jimi Hendrix album available in the United States. During Ostin’s tenure, he and Waronker signed or oversaw the signing of Randy Newman, the Who, Van Dyke Parks, Van Halen, Cher, Fleetwood Mac, Funkadelic, REM, Prince, Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Tom Petty, among many others. And, while the label racked up many gold, platinum, and multiplatinum albums, Warner was never just about sales; with a roster that later included Michael Bublé, Linkin Park, Deftones, Brandy Clark, Mac Miller, Josh Groban, Andra Day, Gary Clark Jr., and Green Day, Warner has always been music-first.

A division of Warner Music, Aaron Bay-Schuck (co-Chairman & CEO) and Tom Corson (co-Chairman & COO) have served as co-chairman of the label since 2018. In 2019, along with a move from its longtime headquarters in the San Fernando Valley suburb of Burbank to the vibrant downtown Los Angeles arts district, the Warner Bros. Records logo was redesigned and its name changed to Warner Records. Despite the changes, the label’s music-first past has remained intact as groundbreaking Warner artists such as Zach Bryan, Dua Lipa, Benson Boone, Teddy Swims, Rufus Du Sol, Omar Apollo, and NLE Choppa, among others, define the future.