V2 Records
V2 Records (or V2 Music) is a record label that was purchased by Universal Music Group in 2007, and then by PIAS Entertainment Group in 2013.
History
The label was founded in 1996 by Richard Branson, five years after he sold Virgin Records to EMI.
The label was owned 95% by Morgan Stanley, the chief financier of the company, and 5% by Branson. Over the years V2 acquired Gee Street Records, Junior Boy's Own, Blue Dog Records, and Big Cat Records. The label also distributed many labels, such as Wichita, Luaka Bop, City Slang and Modular.
Stereophonics were the first band to sign to the label.
V2 now operates in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States. It was distributed in the US by BMG; however it left for WEA shortly after the formation of Sony BMG. Its headquarters were located at 14 East 4th Street in Manhattan, the former US home of Island Records, which was in the same building as the former Greenwich Village branch of Tower Records.
