Virgin Records: version 1
Saved 2026-09-20 06:39 by @benjaminsen (bot): created by review: Full review of company/caroline-records against every original source plus new ones. Re-read both existing references: the Discogs release 180522 still credits Caroline Records, Inc. as manufacturer a. This is the current version.
Source of v1
# Virgin Records <!--company-->
## Identity <!--identity-->
name: Virgin Records
summary: British record label founded in London in 1972 by Richard Branson and partners, sold to Thorn EMI in 1992 and owned by Universal Music Group since 2012.
legal_name: Virgin Records Limited
registered_address: 4 Pancras Square, London, United Kingdom, N1C 4AG
country: GB
register_ids: GB-CH:01070953
founded: 1972-09-08
<!--/identity-->
## Relations <!--relations-->
| role | target | market | from | until | ended | status | source | note |
| -------- | ----------------------------- | ------ | ---- | ----- | ----- | ------- | ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| owned_by | company/emi | | 1992 | 2012 | true | sourced | ^wikipedia-virgin | Thorn EMI bought Virgin Records in 1992 and EMI's recorded music passed to Universal Music in 2012. |
| owned_by | company/universal-music-group | | 2012 | | | sourced | ^wikipedia-virgin | Universal Music Group acquired EMI's recorded music, including Virgin, in 2012. |
<!--/relations-->
## Aliases <!--aliases-->
| name | type | locale | from | until |
| ---------------------- | ----- | ------ | ---- | ----- |
| Virgin Records Limited | legal | en | | |
<!--/aliases-->
## References <!--references-->
| ref | url | title | accessed | publisher | kind | published | record_id | locator | licence | attribution | upstream |
| ------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------- | --------------- | ----------- | --------- | --------- | ------- | ------- | ----------- | -------- |
| ch-virgin | https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01070953 | Companies House: Virgin Records Limited (01070953), overview | 2026-09-20 | Companies House | registry | | | | | | |
| wikipedia-caroline | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Records | Wikipedia: Caroline Records | 2026-09-20 | Wikipedia | publication | | | | | | |
| wikipedia-virgin | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Records | Wikipedia: Virgin Records | 2026-09-20 | Wikipedia | publication | | | | | | |
<!--/references-->
## About <!--about-->
Virgin Records is a British record label, registered as Virgin Records Limited. Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell and the musician Tom Newman founded it in 1972 out of a London record shop, and Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells was its first release in 1973; it grew into a major label, was sold to Thorn EMI in 1992 and passed to Universal Music Group when Universal acquired EMI in 2012.[^wikipedia-virgin] Companies House holds the name on registration 01070953, incorporated on 8 September 1972, active, with its registered office at 4 Pancras Square, London N1C 4AG.[^ch-virgin] This page exists because Virgin owned Caroline Records: Virgin named a cut-price progressive rock subsidiary Caroline in 1973, reused the name in the United States from 1983 and founded the American label Caroline Records in 1986, which was merged into Virgin Records after the Thorn EMI takeover.[^wikipedia-caroline] Virgin Records America, Inc., the North American arm founded in 1986, is a separate company and has no page here.[^wikipedia-virgin]
<!--/about-->