Cleopatra Records
Founded	1992
Founder	Brian Perera
Genre	Gothic rock, hard rock, and heavy metal
Country of origin	United States
Location	Los Angeles, California
Official website	http://www.cleorecs.com/

Cleopatra Records is a Los Angeles-based independent record label. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Gothic rock (sometimes called goth rock or simply goth) is a genre of rock music that originated during the late 1970s. ... Hard Rock redirects here. ... Heavy metal redirects here. ... Los Angeles and L.A. redirect here. ... Los Angeles and L.A. redirect here. ... An independent record label is variously described as a record label operating without the funding (or outside the organizations) of the major record labels, and/or a label that subscribes to indie philosophies such as DIY and anti-corporate art. ...

History

Founded in 1992 by long-time music fan Brian Perera, it specialises in gothic rock, hard rock, heavy metal and reissues of out-of-print music. It is widely known for its compilations, usually collections of cover songs performed by bands signed to the label. See also: 1992 in music (UK) Musical groups established in 1992 Record labels established in 1992 // 1992 was a pivotal year in the development of music. ... Gothic rock (sometimes called goth rock or simply goth) is a genre of rock music that originated during the late 1970s. ... Hard Rock redirects here. ... Heavy metal redirects here. ... In pop music a cover version is a new rendition of a previously recorded song. ...

In the mid-1990s, Cleopatra released tribute albums of goth, techno, industrial bands covering influential artists such as The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sisters of Mercy, and New Order. These sold so well that the label kept coming up with more artists they considered ripe for tribute. As goth and industrial acts were compiled to cover songs by AC/DC, Pink Floyd, Smashing Pumpkins (see: A Gothic-Industrial Tribute to The Smashing Pumpkins), Guns N' Roses, and the arguably un-coverable Dead Can Dance and Skinny Puppy, some fans in the dark music scene began to perceive the label as having jumped the shark. This article is about the band. ... Siouxsie and the Banshees are a British gothic rock band. ... The Sisters of Mercy are a rock band that emerged out of the British post punk scene in 1980-1981. ... This article is about the alternative rock/electronic band New Order. ... This article is about the band. ... Pink Floyd are an English rock band that initially earned recognition for their psychedelic rock music, and, as they evolved, for their progressive rock music. ... The Smashing Pumpkins (circa 1995) left to right: James Iha, DArcy, Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Guns N Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985. ... Dead Can Dance is a band comprising Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry. ... Skinny Puppy is a prominent industrial band, formed in Vancouver, BC, Canada in 1982. ... Jumping the shark is a slang term used by television critics since the 1990s. ...

Early success

Cleopatra made very big waves in the early 1990s US goth and industrial scene with several important compilations and reissues.

• Industrial Revolution series
• The Goth Box
• The Gothic Rock double disc sets and
• In Goth Daze

All of these introduced a new generation of listeners to the dark genres, and their releases of classic albums by Kraftwerk, Nico, and Hawkwind were for many years the only US versions in print of these discs. Kraftwerk (pronounced [], German for power station) is a German musical group from Düsseldorf that has made immense contributions to the development of improvisational rock and electronic music, most notably within the latter categorys sub-genres which later became known as synthpop, electro, techno, house and IDM. Early musical... For the prequel to Ico, see Shadow of the Colossus. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Market dominance

Cleopatra's dominance of the US goth/industrial market was strong into 1997, when it signed legendary synthpopper Gary Numan, joining an already impressive roster that included (either by contract or license) Electric Hellfire Club, Switchblade Symphony, Leæther Strip, X Marks the Pedwalk, Mephisto Walz, Kill Switch...Klick, Information Society, Heaven 17, Download, Noise Box, and Razed In Black. Synthpop is a subgenre of New Wave in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. ... For the video game programmer Garry Newman, see Garrys Mod. ... // The Electric Hellfire Club is an industrial metal band mixing elements of glam metal, techno, gothic rock, psychedelia and experimental noise. ... Switchblade Symphony was a San Francisco, United States based darkwave band which was formed in 1989 by composer Susan Wallace and vocalist Tina Root. ... Claus Larsen Leæther Strip is a Danish musical project whose influence has been most felt in the Electronic body music, Industrial music, and Gothic music genres. ... André and Thorsten Schmechta X Marks the Pedwalk was a German musical project whose styles ranged from industrial dance to electronic body music. ... The band Mephisto Walz was formed in 1985 and have an accomplished and prolific discography, having released several full-length albums over years. ... d. ... For other uses, see Information society (disambiguation). ... Heaven 17 are an English synthpop band originating in Sheffield in the early 1980s. ... Download is an electronic music group formed by Dwayne Goettel and cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy during 1994. ... Noise Box is the Techno-Industrial Seattle duo of Andre Robinson and Josh Helm. ... Razed in Black is an electronic music act created by Romell Regulacion (vocals, keyboards, guitars). ...

Subsidiaries

The label hatched several smaller subsidiaries according to Perera's musical tastes, including one for Krautrock and a techno imprint. The factor that was most influential in Cleopatra's financial boom in this era, however, was the tribute album. Krautrock, also known as Kosmische Musik, is a generic name for the experimental music scene that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s. ... A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of a specific artists songs. ...

Furthermore, many of the label's acts disbanded or signed with other labels: Switchblade Symphony imploded after disappointing sales of their second and third albums, Electric Hellfire Club, Information Society and Dead or Alive stopped making records, Kill Switch...Klick formed their own Go-Kustom Rekords label and Heaven 17, Download, Gary Numan, X Marks the Pedwalk, and Ikon all were signed by other companies. Switchblade Symphony was a San Francisco, United States based darkwave band which was formed in 1989 by composer Susan Wallace and vocalist Tina Root. ... // The Electric Hellfire Club is an industrial metal band mixing elements of glam metal, techno, gothic rock, psychedelia and experimental noise. ... For other uses, see Information society (disambiguation). ... Dead or Alive is a British New Wave band from Liverpool that rose to popularity during the 1980s. ... d. ... Taken from the 2006 CD Mechanoid Collection Kill Switch. ... Heaven 17 are an English synthpop band originating in Sheffield in the early 1980s. ... This article is about the computer terms. ... For the video game programmer Garry Newman, see Garrys Mod. ... André and Thorsten Schmechta X Marks the Pedwalk was a German musical project whose styles ranged from industrial dance to electronic body music. ... fuckin ell im like seigmen post OPM more info coming soon your trying to be like seigmen but cant cause only ikon can be like seigmen listen to björk listen to dual structure complex listen to zeromancer listen to Doktor MT listen to ljungblut ...

Add to this that two European labels with whom Cleopatra had licensing deals—Zoth Ommog and Hard Records—both folded, and Cleopatra was suddenly in very dire straits. However, artists such as Razed In Black, and later Zeromancer and Bella Morte, generated some sales for the label. Zoth-Ommog (the Dweller In The Deep) is a fictional character in the Cthulhu mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. ... Zeromancer is an Alternative/Industrial Rock group with members from Norway and one from the USA. // The core of Zeromancer met in the influential Norwegian band Seigmen. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Present situation

Today, Cleopatra is largely funded by its sub-labels (Hypnotic, Dead Line Music, Stardust Records, Master Classics, Magick Records, Purple Pyramid, and Goldenlane Records), which between them offer prog rock reissues, metal and techno acts, as well as pop and easy listening tributes. Having relegated the tribute albums largely elsewhere, the Cleopatra brand itself is now focusing again on non-cover-oriented compilations and on digging up out-of-print gems of the goth/industrial scene.

See also

• List of record labels
• List of electronic music record labels

This is a list of record labels. ... This is a list of notable electronic music record labels: 12 Inch Records 12k 3 Beat Music 4-Sight Records 8bitpeoples Accidental Music AD Music Ad Noiseam ADP Records Additive Records A Different Drum Alex Tronic Records Alfa Matrix All Around The World A-Musik Anjunabeats Anjunadeep Ant-Zen Architecture...

External links

• Official site
• Cleopatra Records entry on Allrecordlabels.com