Island Records is a major
record label that operates as a
division of
Universal Music Group (UMG). It was founded by
Chris Blackwell,
Graeme Goodall, and
Leslie Kong in
Jamaica and has been based in the United Kingdom since 1962. Blackwell sold the label to
PolyGram in 1989. Both Island, and another recent PolyGram acquisition,
A&M, were at the time the largest
independent record labels in history, with Island in particular having exerted a major influence on the progressive UK music scene in the early 1970s. The label has been operating as one of Universal Music's standalone labels since 2014, also handling
Mercury Records.
