Jive

The Jive label was launched in 1981 by Clive Calder and Ralph Simon of the [l=Zomba] Group of Companies. In 1983, the label was introduced in the United States.

In December 2002, the Zomba Group of Companies (including the Jive label), was acquired by BMG. Two years later, the label became part of the newly-formed [l=Zomba Label Group], a unit of [l=Sony BMG Music Entertainment]. From 2008 to 2011, it was part of the Jive Label Group (also known as the [l=RCA/Jive Label Group]) under [l=Sony Music].

On September 26, 2011, while a certainty of Jive’s artists migrated to sister label [l=Epic], the [l=RCA Music Group] was disbanded by [l=Sony], and on October 7, Jive, alongside sister labels [l=Arista], [l=LaFace Records] and [l=J Records], were all absorbed into [l=RCA Records], bringing all of its artists to the RCA family.

The Jive label would later be relaunched in January 2020 as a division of Sony Music Entertainment Italy, releasing hip hop/R&B/pop from up-and-coming Italian artists. The label’s relaunch was led by Antonio Dikele Distefano, founder and editor of Esse Magazine.

Label codes
LC 7925: (BMG distribution—74321: international catalog-number prefix, 01241: North American catalog-number prefix)
LC 5661 / LC 05661 (Rough Trade Distribution, [i]RTD[/i] cat#s)