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Blackground Records

Blackground Records 2.0 is an American record label founded and owned by Jomo and Barry Hankerson. Initially named Blackground Enterprises, the label switched its name to Blackground Entertainment then later Blackground Records in 2000. In 2021, the label rebranded as Blackground Records 2.0, reviving its company and catalogue onto streaming services, with a partnership with Empire Distribution. It co-operated with a publishing company founded by Hankerson, named Black Fountain Music.

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Blackground Records 2.0 (legal name Blackground Records, LLC, formerly known as Blackground Records, also known as Blackground Entertainment) is an American record label founded and owned by Jomo and Barry Hankerson. Initially named Blackground Enterprises, the label switched its name to Blackground Entertainment then later Blackground Records in 2000. In 2021, the label rebranded as Blackground Records 2.0, reviving its company and catalogue onto streaming services, with a partnership with Empire Distribution. It co-operated with a publishing company founded by Hankerson, named Black Fountain Music.

1993–1996: Jive Records

Barry Hankerson formed Blackground in 1993, as a result of unsuccessful efforts to sign his niece Aaliyah to big record labels. Using his connection with singer R. Kelly, who he managed at the time, Hankerson obtained a contract with Jive to distribute the release of Aaliyah's debut album Age Ain't Nothing but a Number.

1996–2000: Atlantic Records

After Aaliyah and R. Kelly parted ways, Jive and Blackground agreed to terminate their contract in 1996 and Hankerson signed a lucrative distribution deal with Craig Kallman at Atlantic. Months later Aaliyah released her second studio LP, One in a Million, and Blackground signed two singing groups, Both Ends and Kashmere (their music was never released).

After positive reviews for Aaliyah's album, her producer Timbaland got his own artist deal with Blackground and in 1997 released Welcome to Our World, a collaboration album with rapper Magoo, as well as his solo album Tim's Bio: Life from da Bassment in 1998. Aaliyah's backup singer Tank also got his contract with Blackground in 1998.

2000–2001: Virgin Records

After Atlantic contract expiration in 2000, Blackground switched over to Virgin.

Aaliyah served as an executive producer of the soundtrack to the 2000 film Romeo Must Die, in which she made her acting debut. Aaliyah contributed four songs to the soundtrack. "Try Again" was released as a single from the soundtrack; the song topped the Billboard Hot 100, making Aaliyah the first artist to top the chart based solely on airplay; this led the song to be released in a 12" vinyl and 7" single. The music video won the Best Female Video and Best Video from a Film awards at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. It also earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocalist. The soundtrack went on to sell 1.5 million copies in the United States.

In 2001, after the death of Aaliyah, her self-titled and final album Aaliyah rose to #1 on the Billboard 200 becoming Blackground's first number one and best-selling album. Aaliyah sold over 13 million albums worldwide. Aaliyah's plane crash in August 2001 resulted in Blackground and Virgin parting ways a few weeks later. A new distribution deal was signed with Universal Records in December 2001.

2001–2012: Universal and Interscope Records

Starting in 2003, Blackground's focus shifted towards pop and rock, signing predominantly white artists beginning with New England tween Joanna "JoJo" Levesque. Her self-titled debut album JoJo was released the following year, entering the Billboard 200 chart at number four and being certified platinum by the RIAA. In 2006, her sophomore album The High Road debuted at number three on the album chart and was certified gold. To date, JoJo sold over 7 million records worldwide. Her singles "Leave (Get Out)" and "" were written by Soulshock & Karlin and Billy Steinberg respectively. JoJo was involved in a years-long legal dispute with the label which began in 2009 and ended in 2014. During this time JoJo received support from her friend Taylor Swift, who referred to the Blackground situation as "fucked up" years before facing a similar battle with her label over music ownership. Out of necessity, JoJo re-recorded her out-of-print albums in 2018, while the entire Blackground catalog was added to streaming outlets in 2021.

2012–2019: Reservoir Media Management

In July 2012, after its distribution deal with Interscope Records expired, Blackground signed a new contract with Reservoir Media Management. After speaking with Reservoir's CEO, Rell Lafargue, Billboard reported that Reservoir would find sync placements for Aaliyah's music to television and film, digitally re-release her music, and offer licensing of songs for sampling and cover versions. These plans were put on hold after another company, Craze Productions claimed the rights to distribution of the late artist's music. On March 20, 2013, Reservoir filed a lawsuit against Craze and in September 2015, the jury agreed that Craze illegally distributed music through online services and that the rightful distributor of Blackground Records' catalog is Reservoir Media Management. Despite the positive ruling, the promised release to streaming services did not happen, and Craze Productions continues today to illegally distr

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