Featured Attractions

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Disney Divisions: Hollywood Records

In 1988, Touchstone Pictures released Beaches, a massive hit starring Bette Midler, who also produced a hit soundtrack. Touchstone Pictures licensed the soundtrack out and saw the profits mostly flow out to the record company. That attracted the attention of Disney's then-CEO who saw the potential profits for the company if the Touchstone soundtracks were brought in house.



Enter Hollywood Records, which would release all of Touchstone and Hollywood Pictures' soundtracks. In order to give the label something to release between films, the company purchased the back catalog for the famed band Queen and began cultivating talent. One of its first bands was The Party a tween band of Mickey Mouse Club members.



The band didn't find much success, though the label could more than make up for its misses through exploiting the Queen catalog and releasing hit soundtracks, like the one for Sister Act.



The label currently releases tween pop, mostly featuring Disney Channel celebrities.