Mainstream Records

US label; also appears as "Mainstream" only.
Founded in 1964 by Bob Shad, who also ran the Sittin' In With, Jax (3), Jade, Shad, Brent and Time Records (3) labels. Mainstream issued many new recordings such as the first records by Janis Joplin and Ted Nugent, though also reissued many of the titles from the Shad and Time Records catalogs.
Among the titles reissued were the 10 titles in Earle Brown's Contemporary Sound Series, to which they added 8 more titles.

Early Mainstream releases used the catalog number system 5#### for Mono releases and S/#### for Stereo releases.

In 1970 Shad struck up a partnership with a Florida production company, Red Lion Productions, and relaunched the label with a new look (branded as A Red Lion Production) and new catalog numbering system with a return to focus on jazz. Mainstream also continued to reissue material from its old catalog as well as releasing new material targeted at fans of fusion and jazz-funk.

In late 1976 Shad licensed the Time and Mainstream catalog and 96 masters to Audiofidelity Enterprises, Inc. AFE sub-licensed the masters to Roulette Records, Inc. who had licensed other masters directly from Shad the same year - any release with rim text "Distributed By Roulette Records, Inc." is a reissue from 1977 or later made with these masters. Shad also consigned his inventory of 190,000 unsold copies of Time and Mainstream releases to Roulette in 1977. These copies are identified by the orange circular "Distributed by Roulette Records" stickers affixed to covers.

Bob Shad retired and closed Mainstream Records, Inc. in 1978. In the early 1990s, Shad's daughter Tamara Shad revived the Mainstream label to reissue a number of the jazz and blues recordings from the label on CD. In 1993, Sony acquired a large portion of Mainstream's catalog for reissue. In the early 2000s the Shad family purchased back the label and catalogue under Time / Mainstream Records Group, headed by Shad's granddaughter Mia Apatow.