WBR Evolves Into Warner Records
• Sixty-one years after the founding of Warner Bros. Records, the renowned label is being rebranded as Warner Records across the globe. This move marks the latest step in the company’s evolution, following Aaron Bay-Schuck joining as U.S. Co-Chairman & CEO in October 2018, Tom Corson being appointed U.S. Co-Chairman & COO in January 2018 and Phil Christie being named President of the U.K. label in 2016. The name change also follows the U.S. company’s recent move into a new, state-of-the-art headquarters in downtown L.A.’s Arts District.
To that end, “Warner Records has unveiled a bold new logo, with an artful simplicity and impactful typography that are ideally suited to the digital world. The circular icon — suggesting a record, a sun, and a globe — is a nod to the label’s past, present, and future. The openness of the design gives it the flexibility to embrace all Warner Records artists and all genres of music around the world.” The new Warner Records brand identity and logo were developed in partnership with Emily Oberman and her team at Pentagram, the world’s largest independently-owned design studio.
In a joint statement, Bay-Schuck (left) and Corson (right), said, “For the first time in the label’s history, we’ve had the opportunity to create a distinct, modern identity entirely of our own. The timing couldn’t be better, since we all feel the label is at a moment of reinvention that builds on our legacy, while moving into a future driven by fearlessness and creativity. We have a growing roster of world-class artists, a rejuvenated team, and an incredible new location. It’s a new day for Warner Records, an iconic label that was born in the California sun, and is at home everywhere on earth.”
Christie said, “We’re signing and developing the next generation of British artists to move global culture, so we wanted the Warner Records brand to have the power and freedom to mean different things to different people around the world. A new logo isn’t meaningful on its own, and our label will always be defined by the originality of our artists, our music, and our people.”
• A bit of history: Warner Bros. Records was founded in March 1958 as an arm of Warner Bros. Pictures, whose famous “shield” logo was adopted by the fledgling label and has been used by the company ever since. In 2004, when Warner Music Group was sold by Time Warner and became the world’s largest independent major music company, it was agreed that Warner Bros. Records would continue to use the Warner Bros. name and logo for 15 years… or 2019, whichever came first. Watch the introductory video on the new warnerrecords.com.
