Please Note: Mute Records Ltd. was the UK parent company of the Mute label. For the 'Label' entry please use the company labels (e.g. Mute, NovaMute, Future Groove etc.), as indicated by the logo on the release.
Mute Records Ltd. has operated under this name from 12 May 1982 to 3 May 1983, and again since 1 November 1983. The company emerged from the Mute label, that had been founded by Daniel Miller in 1978. Releases until about 1984 usually refer to Mute Records as the legal label owner.
Company branch offices existed in Germany (Mute Tonträger) and in North America (Mute Corporation).
In 2002 the company was sold to the EMI Group Plc. In 2010 Daniel Miller reached an agreement with EMI to handle Mute as an independent label again. For this he licensed the Mute name from EMI.
In 2012, the recorded music businesses of the EMI Group were acquired by the Universal Music Group. In order to comply with international regulators, Universal divested itself of several divisions and sold former parent EMI Records Ltd., since renamed as Parlophone Records Ltd., to Warner Music Group in February 2013. In the same period Mute Holdco Ltd. was established for this divestment (of which Mute Records Ltd formed part of). On 30 April 2013 Mute Holdco Ltd. was sold to BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited subsidiary, The Echo Label Ltd.
Ownership was transferred to BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited on 28 March 2019.
Sometimes appears as:
- Mute Records Limited
- Mute Records Ltd
First legal entity:
UK Company number: 01622637
Incorporated: 17 March 1982 as 'Jayway Limited'
First name change: 12 May 1982 - this page
Second name change: 3 May 1983 to label
Third name change: 20 August 1997 to Mute Song Ltd.
Second legal entity:Full legal entity name: Mute Records LimitedUK Company number: 01766113Incorporated: 1 November 1983Immediate parent: BMG Rights Management (UK) LimitedUltimate parent: Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA (registered in Germany)