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Def Jam Recordings: The First 25 Years of the Last Great Record Label

Bill Adler and Dan Charnas

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Summary

Adler and Charnas combine an oral history of Def Jam with photographs and archive material. The publisher credits Rick Rubin among the preface writers and founding subjects. The licensed text excerpt includes the partners’ choice to release a record independently, their division of work and the attention paid to the label’s design.

  • SourceRizzoli Fall 2011 catalog · Def Jam Recordings entry: Bill Adler and Dan Charnas; Rubin preface and founder; ISBN 9780847833719
  • SourceLicensed book excerpt: The Arrival of LL Cool J · Rubin and Simmons: independent release versus Profile, partner work split, $2,100 seed funding; label design and audience trust

Why read it Our view

Use the founders’ own account to examine whether to rely on a distributor or launch independently, and how partners divide the work. The excerpt also links careful product identity to the audience’s trust in a label. The operating text supplies the founder use; photographs alone would not.

Written about

  • Rick RubinCo-founder subject and preface contributor
    Rizzoli credits Rubin as a preface writer and founding subject. The book’s oral history includes his account of starting the label with Russell Simmons.
    Source