Music Corporation of America
 |
|
| Industry |
Music Film Entertainment Television |
|---|---|
| Fate | Reincorporated as Universal Studios and Universal Music Group; Merged with Vivendi in 2000 to form Vivendi Universal |
| Successor | Vivendi |
| Founded | 1924 (93 years ago) |
| Founder |
Jules Stein William R. Goodheart, Jr. |
| Defunct | 2000 (17 years ago) |
| Products | Television Production and music production |
| Parent |
Matsushita Electric (1990–1995) Seagram (1995–2000) |
MCA, Inc. (or Music Corporation of America) was an American media company. Initially starting in the music business, the company next became a dominant force in the film business, and later expanded into the television business. MCA published music, booked acts, ran a record company, represented film, television and radio stars, and eventually produced and sold television programs to the three major television networks, but had an especially good relationship with NBC. MCA, Inc., is the legal predecessor of NBCUniversal, which since March 2013 is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. MCA's other legal successor is Universal Studios Holding I Corp, an holding company owned by Vivendi, who also owns MCA's former music assets, now known as Universal Music Group (which has absorbed PolyGram and EMI) and Universal Music Publishing Group.
MCA was formed in 1924 by Jules Stein and William R. Goodheart, Jr., as Music Corporation of America, a music booking agency based in Chicago, Illinois. MCA helped pioneer modern practices of touring bands and name acts. Early on, MCA booked such prominent artists as King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton for clubs and speakeasies run by legendary notorious Chicago mobsters such as Al Capone and others.
Lew Wasserman joined MCA in 1936 at the age of 23 and rose through the ranks of MCA for more than four decades, with Sonny Werblin as his right-hand man. Wasserman helped create MCA's radio show, Kay Kyser and His Kollege of Musical Knowledge, which debuted on NBC Radio that same year. Following that success, Stein installed Wasserman in New York City in 1937, but Wasserman convinced him that Hollywood was the best place for the company's growth.
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