Editing ECM Records (section)

{{Short description|German independent record label}}

{{Infobox record label <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Music -->
| name        = ECM Records
| image       = ECM Records.svg
| founded     = {{start date|1969}}
| founder     =  [[Manfred Eicher]]
| distributor = [[Universal Music]]
| genre       = [[Jazz]], [[classical music|classical]], [[world music|world]]
| country     = [[Germany]]
| location    = [[Munich]]
| url         = {{URL|www.ecmrecords.com/}}
}}
'''ECM''' (Edition of Contemporary Music) is an independent [[record label]] founded by Karl Egger, [[Manfred Eicher]] and Manfred Scheffner in [[Munich]] in 1969. While ECM is best known for [[jazz]] music, the label has released a variety of recordings, and ECM's artists often refuse to acknowledge boundaries between genres. ECM's motto is "the most beautiful sound next to silence", taken from a 1971 review of ECM releases in ''[[Coda (magazine)|Coda]]'', a Canadian jazz magazine.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ecmrecords.com/About_ECM/History/index.php?mainrubchooser=1&rubchooser=103 |title=ECM Records |publisher=ECM Records |access-date=2015-11-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150406120926/http://ecmrecords.com/About_ECM/History/index.php?mainrubchooser=1&rubchooser=103 |archive-date=2015-04-06 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

ECM has been distributed in the U.S. by [[Warner Bros. Records]], [[PolyGram Records]], [[Bertelsmann Music Group|BMG]], and, since 1999, [[Universal Music]], the successor of PolyGram, worldwide. Its album covers were profiled in two books: ''Sleeves of Desire'' and ''Windfall Light'', both published by Lars Müller.