It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note in the United States[1] in 1942 by Johnny Mercer, Buddy DeSylva, and Glenn E. Wallichs.

Capitol Records artist roster also includes Katy Perry, Ice Spice, Sam Smith, Troye Sivan, Kodak Black, Doechii, 50 Cent, Yeat, That Mexican OT, Young Miko, Maggie Rogers, Lewis Capaldi, Niall Horan, Kings of Leon, Paul McCartney, Bee Gees, Royel Otis, and Meovv.

On February 2, 1942, Mercer and Wallichs met DeSylva at a restaurant in Hollywood to talk about investment by Paramount Pictures.

On that same day, Wallichs presented the company's first free record to Los Angeles disc jockey Peter Potter.

On June 12, the orchestra recorded five more songs in the studio, including "Trav'lin' Light" with Billie Holiday.

The earliest recording artists included co-owner Mercer, Johnnie Johnston, Morse, Jo Stafford, the Pied Pipers, Tex Ritter, Tilton, Paul Weston, Whiteman, and Margaret Whiting.

Mel Blanc reprised his own cartoon roles including Bugs Bunny and other Looney Tunes characters, as well as Woody Woodpecker, while several Disney records were narrated by radio announcer Don Wilson.

Examples of notable Capitol albums for children during that era are Sparky's Magic Piano and Rusty in Orchestraville.

3 by Russian composer Reinhold Moritzovich Glière; and César Franck's Symphony in D minor, with Willem Mengelberg and the Concertgebouw Orchestra.

[citation needed] In 1949, Capitol opened a branch office in Canada and purchased KHJ Studios on Melrose Avenue adjacent to Paramount in Hollywood.

[citation needed] Capitol began recording rock and roll acts such as The Jodimars and Gene Vincent.

This was a coup for Capitol, as RCA Victor up to this point had huge predominance in the United States distribution of Cuban music recordings.

In the realm of "Sweet Jazz" big-band music, Capitol also joined forces with the bandleader Guy Lombardo starting in the mid 1950s to issue a series of approximately thirty recordings until the late 1960s.

[13] The Capitol of the World series introduced in 1956 and active into the 1970s encompassed German Beer Drinking Songs, Honeymoon in Rome, Australian Aboriginals, and Kasongo!

[21] Following legal action by Capitol against the ReDigi.com online company in April 2013, the latter was found to have violated copyright law.

[24] Also that year, Capitol rose to number two market share and won four categories at the Grammy Awards for music by Beck and Sam Smith.

Designed by Welton Becket with Louis Naidorf, a young architect from Becket's office, serving as project designer[29][2] the thirteen-story, earthquake-resistant Capitol Records Tower was the world's first circular office building and it is the base for several recording studios.

The building is north of the intersection of Hollywood and Vine and is the center of the company's consolidated West Coast operations.

In September 2006, EMI announced that it had sold the tower and adjacent properties for $50 million to New York-based developer Argent Ventures.

[34] Capitol's recording studios were designed to minimize noise and vibration, then newly important goals in the high-fidelity sound era.

[35] The facility also features subterranean echo chambers that allow engineers to add reverberation during the recording process.

Possibly the best-known treatment of an international artist's recordings was the label's release pattern for various albums by the Beatles.

Unhappy with the way Capitol in the US and other companies around the world were issuing their work in almost unrecognizable forms, beginning in 1967 the Beatles gained full approval of album titles and cover art, track listing and running order in North America.

Universal Music started Capitol as an autonomous label in the UK with the rights to the Beatles' catalog.

In 1959, Capitol of Canada picked up distribution rights for EMI's labels Angel, Pathé, Odeon, and Parlophone.

[42] In 1957, Paul White joined Capitol of Canada and in 1960 established an A&R department independent of the American company to promote talent for the Canadian market.

Beginning in 1962, Capitol of Canada issued albums by British musicians such as Cliff Richard, Helen Shapiro and Frank Ifield.

In 2013, Capitol Germany was acquired by Universal and merged with UMG's Vertigo Berlin domestic division.