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Warner Communications

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American music and record company umbrella founded out of Kinney National Service Inc. and renamed to Warner Communications Inc. in early 1972. Please determine the correct term on the release. [b]A [l=Warner Communications] Company[/b] usually appears on releases from the other umbrella labels [l=Warner Bros. Records], [l=Atlantic], and the [l=WEA International Inc.] branches. [b]A Division Of [l=Warner Communications Inc.][/b] usually appears on releases from [l=Elektra]-based labels like [l=Elektra], [l=Nonesuch], [l=Asylum Records]. [b]History:[/b] [b]July 1969[/b] Kinney National Service Inc. acquires [l=Warner Bros. - Seven Arts Records]. U.K. branch [l=Warner Bros. Seven Arts Records Ltd.] established. [b]July 1970[/b] Kinney National Service Inc. buys [l=Elektra]. [b]October 1970[/b] Record distributorship in Cleveland opened. Australian branch [b]Warner Bros. Records (Pty) Ltd.[/b] established. [b]November 1970[/b] [a=Nesuhi Ertegun] will be director of newly created international record department [l=Kinney Record Group International] ([b][l=Kinney Music] International[/b] as licenscee) with Phil Rose as managing director. Japanese subdiary [l=Warner Bros.-Pioneer Corporation] established. [b]February 1971[/b] Share-holders voted to change the name of the company from [b]Kinney National Service Inc.[/b] to [b]Kinney Services Inc.[/b] [b]July 1971[/b] The Warner-Elektra-Atlantic-distributing corporation (W-E-A) has been set up by [b]Kinney Services Inc.[/b], but it will take one more years till the international department and the branches will be renamed officially to WEA. [b]1971[/b] German branch [l=Kinney Music GmbH] and french branch [l=Kinney Filipacchi Music] S.A. established, UK branch renamed to [l=Kinney Music Ltd.], canadian branch to [l=Kinney Music Of Canada, Ltd.] and australian branch to [l=Kinney Music (Pty) Limited]. [b]February 1972[/b] Kinney Services Inc. renamed to [l=Warner Communications Inc.] [b]1972[/b] Reflecting of the initials of the parent record companies, [l=Warner Bros. Records], [l=Elektra] and [l=Atlantic], [b][l=Kinney Music] International[/b] will be called [l=WEA International Inc.]. Similar name changes will be undertaken for WEA’s subdiary companies. [b]1972[/b] All international branches were officially renamed [l=Kinney Music Ltd.] to [l=WEA Records Ltd.], [l=Kinney Filipacchi Music S.A.] to [l=WEA Filipacchi Music] S.A., [l=Kinney Music Of Canada, Ltd.] to [l=WEA Music Of Canada, Ltd.] and [l=Kinney Music (Pty) Limited] to [l=WEA Records Pty. Limited] [b]January 1973[/b] German branch was the last to be renamed from [l=Kinney Music GmbH] to [l=WEA Musik GmbH] [b]Early 1975[/b] The Company began employing the iconic [a=Saul Bass] 'w' logo on releases in the US, later to become the umbrella brand identity for the [l=Warner Music Group]. [b]In 1989[/b], the company merged with [l447774], to form [l242715]. This way, the Time-Life Music catalog was put under the same roof as WEA. [b]In the late 1990s[/b], [l33244] gets added to the group. [b]In January 2001[/b]: After a merge with AOL to form [l316487], the company accumulated debts and began selling off parts of the conglomerate. [b]By late 2003[/b], [l316487] was reverted to [l242715], which was itself sold off on December 31, 2003 to a group of private investors headed by Strauss Zetnick, a former record company executive.