Editing Elektra Records (section)

==={{anchor|Founding}}1950–1971: Founding and early history===
Elektra was formed in 1950, as the ''Elektra-Stratford Record Corporation'', with a singles label called Stratford Records,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Unterberger |first1=Richie |title=Liner Notes for 'Elektra Non-LP Rarities' |url=http://www.richieunterberger.com/rareelektra.html |website=Richie Unterberger |access-date=30 January 2022}}</ref> by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt in Holzman's [[St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe)|St. John's College]] dorm room.<ref name="npr-1">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4954635|title=Warner Music Struggles to Restore Its Luster|date=October 11, 2005|work=NPR.org|access-date=March 9, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150603224151/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4954635|archive-date=June 3, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Each invested $300. The usual spelling of the [[Greek mythology|Greek mythological]] [[Pleiades (Greek mythology)|Pleiad]] [[Electra (Pleiad)|Electra]]<ref name="FTM_6">Follow the Music p6</ref> was changed. Holzman famously explained, "I gave her the 'K' that I lacked". He found the 'C' in the original name "too soft", but liked the "solid bite" of the letter 'K', citing its use in the [[Kodak]] name.<ref name="FTM_6"/><ref>Ηλέκτρα in the original Greek.</ref>

The first Elektra LP, ''New Songs'' (EKLP 1 released March 1951), was a collection of ''[[Lied]]er'' and similar art songs, which sold few copies. During the 1950s and early 1960s, the label concentrated on [[folk music]] recordings, releasing a number of best-selling albums by [[Theodore Bikel]], [[Ed McCurdy]], [[Oscar Brand]], and [[Judy Collins]], and [[protest song|protest singers]] such as [[Phil Ochs]] and [[Tom Paxton]].<ref name="Larkin50">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Guinness Who's Who of Fifties Music]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Guinness Publishing]]|date=1993|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-732-0|page=121}}</ref> Holzman also recorded [[Josh White]], who was without a record deal as a result of [[House Un-American Activities Committee|McCarthyite blacklisting]].
[[File:Elektra logo (without wordmark).svg|thumb|200x200px|"E" logo used from 1966–1983 and from 2009–2022.]]
In 1964, Elektra launched [[Nonesuch Records]]. This classical budget label was the best-selling budget classical label of the era. Other labels followed suit by starting their own budget series, but Nonesuch remained the most popular and Jac Holzman states in his book that profits from the budget classical label made it possible for Elektra to experiment with their pop releases by the mid-1960s.

In 1965, Elektra began a short-lived joint venture with Survey Music called Bounty Records, which was Elektra's first foray into pop music.<ref>{{Cite journal | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HCkEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22bounty+records%22+%2B+elektra&pg=PA30 | title = Billboard  |publisher=Nielsen Business Media Inc | date = September 25, 1965}}</ref> The most notable signing for Bounty was the [[Paul Butterfield]] Band who was moved over to Elektra when Bounty folded.<ref>{{Cite journal | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TykEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22bounty+records%22+%2B+elektra&pg=PA16 | title = Billboard  |publisher=Nielsen Business Media Inc | date = June 26, 1965}}</ref>

Elektra's entrance into pop gained the label considerable prestige within the music scene by being one of the first labels to sign up leading acts from the new wave of American [[psychedelic rock]] of 1966–1967. The label's most important signings were the Chicago-based [[Paul Butterfield|Paul Butterfield Blues Band]] (with [[Mike Bloomfield]]), the Los Angeles bands [[Love (band)|Love]] and [[The Doors]], and the Detroit bands [[The Stooges]] and [[MC5]].<ref name="Larkin50"/> Included in Elektra's Los Angeles-based signings were [[Tim Buckley]] and [[Bread (band)|Bread]].<ref name="Larkin50"/> In 1968, the label also signed pioneering rock guitar soloist [[Lonnie Mack]] to a three-album deal.

Also in 1967, Elektra launched its Nonesuch Explorer Series, one of the first collections of what is now referred to as [[world music]]. Excerpts from several Nonesuch Explorer recordings were later included on the two [[Voyager Golden Record|Voyager Golden Discs]], which were sent into deep space in 1977 aboard the [[Voyager 1]] and [[Voyager 2]] space probes.