Charisma

British label ("The Famous Charisma Label").
Label Code: LC 1409 / LC 01409
Established in 1969 by former journalist Tony Stratton-Smith and made its name with acts like Van Der Graaf Generator, Peter Hammill, The Nice and Genesis.

In most of Europe Charisma releases were manufactured, marketed and distributed via Phonogram Ltd. companies from the early 1970s until 1983. Between 1983 and 1986 releases were distributed via Virgin Records Ltd.. After Virgin Records Ltd. has acquired the issued share capital of Charisma Records Ltd. for a consideration of 100,000 pounds on 31 January 1985, Charisma Records Ltd. was finally acquired by Virgin Records Ltd. (Virgin Group Ltd. as the ultimate holding company) on 13 June 1985. Virgin continued to operate the Charisma brand and absorbed the label after 31 July 1986.

Continental European manufacturing and distribution from 1985 were carried out by Sonopress / The Ariola Group Of Companies and their trade name successors respectively.
In the US, Charisma was distributed by Buddah Records until 1973, Atlantic from 1973 to 1974, PolyGram from 1978-1979, and EMI from 1990 until the label was shut down in 1992.

On April 27th 2004 label 146171 reassigned the rights to the trademark (imprint) to EMI (IP) Ltd., an intellectual property holding company for ultimate parent EMI Group Plc. In 2007 EMI Group Plc reactivated the Charisma brand as part of its restructuring, relaunching it as part of the Angel Music Group. When Universal acquired EMI in 2013, the label was absorbed into Capitol Music Group, the successor of 3/4 of EMI, as Parlophone was sold to Warner Music.

The illustration of "The Famous Charisma Label" label was designed by artist 405627 with sketches taken from artist 2272090.

Clues on how to work out the approximate year of release based on center labels (valid for UK editions only):

1969-1970 : Scroll label + rim without any manufacturing/distribution credit
1970-1972 : Scroll label + rim with B&C Records Ltd.
1972-1974 : Large Mad Hatter label + B&C Records Ltd.
1974-1975 : Small Mad Hatter label + B&C Records Ltd.
1975-1979 : Small Mad Hatter label + Phonogram Ltd.
1979-1983 : Blue label + Phonogram Ltd.
1983-1986 : Blue label + Virgin Records Ltd.

Clues on how to work out the approximate year of release based on center labels for German LP editions:
1972 - 1976: Label rim text = "Urheber- und Leistungsschutzrechte..." starting at 10 o'clock from left to right. ℗ dates earlier than 1975 indicate reissues.
1977 - 1979: Label rim text = "Alle Urheber- und Leistungsschutzrechte...." starting at 2 o'clock from right to left - earlier ℗ dates indicate reissues.
1980 - 1983: Label Code next to rights society, label rim text = "Alle Urheber- und Leistungsschutzrechte...." starting at 2 o'clock from right to left.