Castle Communications was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 independent record label

Independent record label

An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

 founded in 1983 by Terry Shand, Cliff Dane and Jon Beecher. The company was acquired by the American music distributor Alliance Entertainment

Alliance Entertainment

Alliance Entertainment, LLC is a distributor of music, movies, and game software. From 1995 through 2005, Alliance Entertainment was also the parent company of All Media Guide. In 2005, it merged with Source Interlink. Platinum Equity and the Gores Group acquired Alliance in 2010....

 in 1994 and in 2000 it was absorbed into Sanctuary Records Group. The label dissolved when Sanctuary became a subsidiary

Subsidiary

A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...

 of Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...

 in 2007.

Starting out as a mid-price catalogue reissue specialist, with labels including The Collector Series and Dojo, Castle grew into the largest European owner of repertoire outside the major record companies. It purchased a number of record catalogues, including Pye

Pye Records

Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...

, Piccadilly

Pye Records

Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...

, Bradley's

Bradley's Records

Bradley's Records was a UK record label in the mid 1970s. It was founded by ATV Music publishers in 1973 and run by Derek Johns. The label was active for four years with moderate success, but was discontinued in early 1977....

, Bronze

Bronze Records

Bronze Records is an independent English record label set up in 1971 by record producer Gerry Bron, and based in Chalk Farm, London.Bron had been producing Uriah Heep for Vertigo Records, and he set up this new label for future Uriah Heep releases, along with Juicy Lucy, Richard Barnes and Colosseum...

, Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...

, Sugar Hill

Sugar Hill Records (rap)

Sugar Hill Records was the name of a rap music record label that was founded in 1979 by husband and wife Joe and Sylvia Robinson with Milton Malden and financial funding of Morris Levy, the owner of Roulette Records.-History:...

, Transatlantic

Transatlantic Records

Transatlantic Records was a British independent record label. It was established in 1961. It started began primarily as an importer of American folk, blues and jazz records - by many of the artists who influenced the burgeoning British folk and blues boom. Within a couple of years, the company had...

, Beserkley

Beserkley Records

Beserkley Records was an independent record label based in Berkeley, California, from 1973 to 1984. Beserkely is usually regarded as a powerpop & rock and roll label; during the seventies, the band released albums by Earth Quake, Greg Kihn, Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers, The Rubinoos, and...

, All Platinum

All Platinum Records

All Platinum Records was one of the labels which was started by Sylvia Robinson before she started Sugar Hill Records.All Platinum purchased Chess Records in the early 1970s after the latter fell into bankruptcy; however, All Platinum was a much smaller label and was unable to keep releasing steady...

 and Solar

SOLAR Records

S.O.L.A.R. Records was an American record label founded in 1977 by Dick Griffey, reconstituted out of Soul Train Records only two years after it was founded with Soul Train television show host and creator Don Cornelius.-Company history:In 1975, Soul Train Records was founded by Dick Griffey and...

. They possessed most of the Transatlantic and Trailer catalogue.

Starting in the early 1980s, they released compilations and reissued work by Fairport Convention

Fairport Convention

Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...

, John Renbourn

John Renbourn

John Renbourn is an English guitarist and songwriter. He is possibly best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo career before, during and after that band's existence .While most commonly labelled a...

, Barbara Dickson

Barbara Dickson

Barbara Ruth Dickson, OBE is a Scottish singer whose hits include "I Know Him So Well" and "January February"...

, Steeleye Span

Steeleye Span

Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....

, The Watersons

The Watersons

The Watersons were an English folk group from Hull, Yorkshire. They performed mainly traditional songs with little or no accompaniment. Their distinctive sound came from their closely woven harmonies.-Career:...

, Richard Thompson, Geoff Turton

Geoff Turton

Geoff Turton , who also recorded under the name Jefferson, was a British singer. His musical career began as the falsettist lead singer, and rhythm guitarist of The Rockin' Berries in 1961, who scored a number of hits in the UK and Europe...

 and many others. They have also diversified to reissue several early albums by The Fall as well as "Pink Years" and "Blue Years" albums by Tangerine Dream

Tangerine Dream

Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music group founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The band has undergone many personnel changes over the years, with Froese being the only continuous member...

, and compilations by Nurse with Wound

Nurse with Wound

Nurse with Wound is the main recording name for British musician Steven Stapleton. Nurse with Wound was originally a band, formed in 1978 by Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heman Pathak...

 and Current 93

Current 93

Current 93 is an eclectic British experimental music group, working since the early 1980s in folk-based musical forms. The band was founded in 1982 by David Tibet .-Background:Tibet has been the only constant in the group, though Steven Stapleton has appeared on...

. They have also released a comprehensive compilation featuring songs by Canadian rock legends, Triumph

Triumph (band)

Triumph is a Canadian hard rock power trio that was popular in the late 1970s through the 1980s. Eight of the band's albums were certified gold or higher, and Triumph was nominated for multiple Juno Awards, including Group of the Year Award in 1979, 1985, 1986 and 1987.Like their fellow Canadians...

.

In the 1980s they were notable for releasing many heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 compilations albums under the series name Metal Killers. Interest in these licensed releases led them to form their own heavy metal imprint Raw Power, to sign and promote new rock acts, rather than to just license older product from other more established labels. The first signing to the Raw Power label was the NWOBHM act Hell's Belles

HellsBelles

Hell's Belles was a heavy metal band from England active from 1984 to 1987. They are considered part of the latter stages of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal .-1980s - Hell's Belles:...

, releasing their debut album and single in 1985. After several years, the Raw Power imprint was retired with the waning of the heavy metal's popularity in the UK.