Nonesuch Records is an American record label. It was founded in 1964 by Elektra Records head Jac Holzman, who used the imprint as a budget label that focused on Classical Music. It became part of what is now Warner Music Group when the company bought Elektra in 1970. Today, Nonesuch is distributed by Warner (Bros.) Records, and releases a variety of different artists and genres.
The label primarily focuses on 20th century classical music, Americana, folk rock, world music, and related genres. One of its earliest major releases was Time's Encomium by Charles Wuorinen, which in 1969 became the first electronic composition to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. In the 1970s and '80s, the label made a name for itself by releasing avant-garde classical and experimental music by artists such as the Kronos Quartet, John Zorn, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. The label began moving towards roots music in the late 1990s, when it began releasing albums by artists such as Emmylou Harris, k.d. lang, and the soundtrack for the acclaimed documentary Buena Vista Social Club. This culminated with the 2002 release of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the critically acclaimed fourth album by indie rock band Wilco, which became one of the best-selling albums in the label's catalog and made Wilco into the label's flagship artist. Nonesuch had subsequent success with The Black Keys, whose albums Brothers and El Camino are the label's joint-best-selling albums.
Notable Nonesuch Records artists with TV Tropes pages:
- Laurie Anderson
- Leonard Bernstein
- Björk
- Billy Bragg
- The Black Keys
- Buena Vista Social Club
- Ken Burns
- David Byrnenote
- John Cage
- Brian Eno
- Bill Evans
- Fatboy Slim
- Fleet Foxes
- Ben Folds
- George Gershwin
- Philip Glass
- Audra McDonald
- Pat Metheny
- Randy Newman
- Mandy Patinkin
- Robert Plant
- Allen Toussaint
- Wilco
- Brian Wilson
- John Zorn
