Drakkar Entertainment

Drakkar Entertainment
Founded	1986
Founder	Bogdan Kopec
Distributing label	Edition Drakkar
Genre	Heavy metal Electronic Synthpop
Country of origin	Germany
Official website	http://www.drakkar.de

Drakkar Entertainment GmbH, also called Drakkar Records or Drakkar Publishing, is a German record label with its headquarters in Witten. It is a joint venture with Bertelsmann Music Group and in no way related to the french underground black metal label Drakkar Productions.

History

Originally Kopec Music Publishing, Drakkar Entertainment was founded in 1986 by Bogdan Kopec. It initially only handled publishing, but in 1986, when Kopec changed the name to "Drakkar Promotion", he also expanded its services to include management, booking, and merchandising. The company later signed German metal bands such as Coroner, Raven, Running Wild, and Sodom.

In 1992, the company joined forces with Bertelsmann Music Group to become "DRAKKAR Promotion Musikverlag GmbH". At the same time, another company, "G.U.N. Records GmbH" was created. This second company became so successful that Kopec, who felt overworked, decided to sell his shares to BMG. He then closed the merchandising, booking, and trading departments of Drakkar Promotion, and founded "Drakkar Records". His original company became "Drakkar Entertainment GmbH".

Drakkar Entertainment now has four divisions:

• Drakkar Classic, a label publishing rock and metal with orchestral accompaniment.
• Drakkar Records, their metal label.
• e-Wave Records, their electronic label.
• Edition Drakkar, their publishing company.

Artists

• Akrea
• De/Vision
• Diablo
• Emil Bulls
• Eternal Tears of Sorrow (until 2006)
• Gothminister
• Grantig
• Haggard
• Jesus on Extasy
• Karelia
• The Killer Barbies
• Letzte Instanz
• Lordi
• Los Los
• Loudness
• Lumsk
• My Mind's Weapon
• Nightwish (until 2004)
• Omega Lithium
• Rebellion
• The Sorrow
• Twisted Sister
• Xandria
• Zeraphine

External links

• Official site of Drakkar Entertainment, contains both an English and German version.
• Drakkar archive website run by Drakkar Entertainment, which gives a description of the history of the label listed here. It's mostly in German, but an English version is available.