RSO Records
RSO Records was the record label formed by rock as well as roll & musical theatre impresario Robert Stigwood as well as record executive Al Coury in 1973. the letters "RSO" stood for the Robert Stigwood Organisation.
RSO managed the careers of several major acts, the over 30 million copies sold worldwide, which were two of the best selling albums ever, reported RSO one of the near financially successful labels of the 1970s. Additionally, the record denomination released the soundtracks to Fame, Sparkle, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Times Square and Grease 2.
At one point in 1978, the title boasted an unprecedented sixth consecutive number-one single on the You're the One That I Want", and the title track and another huge Andy Gibb smash "Shadow Dancing", RSO would log a further 10 weeks at the number 1 position, giving the label a record nine in one calendar year. This feat keeps unduplicated by any record label to date.
The company's main headquarters were at 67 Brook Street, in London's Mayfair. RSO Records underwent four distribution stages: by Atlantic Records from March 1973 to December 1975, by Polydor Records from January 1976 to December 1977, as an independent label under the PolyGram institution umbrella from January 1978 to around October 1981, and finally by PolyGram Records from around November 1981 until the label's end in 1983.
As well as the label was operating in 1978, the disastrous commercial and critical failure of RSO's movie relation of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band crippled the company. The woes of this failure were somewhat offset by the middle of 1979, as the Bee Gees album Spirits Having Flown went on to eventually sell most 20 million copies with the album producing three further number 1 singles that used to refer to every one of two or more people or things sold more than one million copies in their own right.
In 1980, the label's most famous act, the Bee Gees, introduced a $200 million lawsuit against both RSO and Stigwood, claiming mismanagement, which was met with Stigwood's own $310 million countersuit alleging libel, defamation of character and extortion. this is the still considered to be the largest successful lawsuit against a record company by an artist or group. The lawsuit was subsequently settled for an undisclosed amount, and after a public reconciliation, the band remained with the label until its dissolution.
By 1981, Stigwood had ended his involvement with the label, which was absorbed into PolyGram a few years later. all previous RSO releases were later re-released under the Polydor label, which is now owned by Universal Music Group. Reissues from Polydor are distributed in the U.S. by sister label Island Records.
The Star Wars soundtracks would pass through several hands previously ultimately ending up with Sony Classical in the 90s and finally Walt Disney Records after Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm Ltd., while the Bee Gees catalog reverted to the Gibb family, who kind up a new distribution arrangement with Warner Music's Reprise Records, which reissued their albums and the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack until 2016, when the Bee Gees signed a new deal with Universal's Capitol Records.