The Denon label was founded in 1968 as a Nippon Columbia subsidiary. It originally focussed on Japanese pop music, and was under the management of Nippon Columbia's third division. The label was created at a pivotal moment in Japan's music industry. Until the mid-1960s record companies had signed singers and writers to exclusive contracts. However, during the 1960s a new wave of independent music publishers (such as Pacific Music Publishing) began to train freelance writers and singers, and then market masters produced by the music publishers to the record companies. Denon was created to respond to this change and make use of songs by freelance writers, effectively competing with Nippon Columbia's exclusive writers. Denon was also used as a label for overseas export records, since the Columbia trademark could only be used within Japan. On these records, Denon stickers were affixed to the cover and labels to conceal the original Columbia logos. In 1973, Denon was revived as a classical and jazz label, focussing on releases with high-quality sound. (Rondo DB)

Parent label	Savoy Label Group
Labels
Wikipedia	Denon_Records
Country	Japan
Started	1968