A division of German media group Bertelsmann. Ariola was founded in 1958; it went on to be one of Germany's most successful record labels. It first appeared on these shores in 1976 in the form of Ariola America (q.v.), via a licensing agreement between its American arm and EMI, but in 1977 plans to introduce the Ariola label to the U.K. bore fruit. An independent operation, Ariola Eurodisc U.K., was set up under Robin Blanchflower, who had previously been A&R director at CBS ('Music Week', 9th July), and a link-up with Hansa Productions followed shortly after. 'MW' of the 20th of August was able to report that Ariola had signed a three-year licensing deal with Pye for two new labels: Ariola itself, and Ariola Hansa (q.v.), for records that had been made by Hansa. The Ariola America label was discontinued, and in October 1977 Ariola and its sister label duly appeared. Presumably as a result of Ariola America's licensing deal with EMI a few of its singles came out on EMI International in the following year, but by August 1978 all of the company's product was being issued on Ariola. In July 1979 the licensing deal with Pye became a pressing and distribution one, Ariola intending to have its own sales force on the road by September of that year ('MW', 21st July).
Ariola's catalogue contained Europop / Eurodisco things from the continent alongside British material and recordings from America. Catalogue numbers were in the ARO-100s. According to the '45 Sleeves' site early Ariola singles came in a company sleeve with a chequered design but no identification (3). The chequered design appears to have been quickly replaced by a more identifiable one (4). The company's address in 1978 was 48, Maddox St, London W1. The discography below only covers the 1970s.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.