Cory Robbins

[1] Robbins formed a band in high school called The Centrifugal Force, and wrote songs with the hope of pitching them to publishers, record companies, and artists.

[citation needed] At Panorama, Robbins signed groups like Frank Hooker & Positive People and The Fantastic Aleems.

And in late 1979, during the novel success of "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugar Hill Gang, he attempted, unsuccessfully, to sign the first "rapping" Christmas song.

[citation needed] Earlier that same year, Robbins also signed and produced a Top 5 Billboard disco song called "Love Insurance," (co-produced and arranged by Rick Tell) released under the name of Front Page.

The songwriter, Steve Plotnicki, became friendly with Robbins, and they began to discuss opening their own record company to release 12-inch singles.

[1] Run-DMC's first single "It's Like That/Sucker M.C.s," was an almost instant smash in the streets of New York City, and ended up a hit on national Black radio, rising to #15 on the Billboard R&B charts in the Spring of 1983.

The result was that "I Wanna Be A Cowboy" rose to #12 on the Billboard Hot 100, an almost impossible feat for a small, independent label like Profile.

[4] Profile Records also had respected artists in the genres of freestyle (Judy Torres), Heavy Metal (Murphy's Law), and eventually Dancehall (Barrington Levy).

[citation needed] The so-called Golden Era of hip-hop was in some ways was made possible by Profile Records and the success of its main signing, Run-D.M.C.

EZ Rock, Special Ed, Poor Righteous Teachers, DJ Quik, King Sun, 2nd II None, and N2Deep, among others.

Instead, Profile made a bid to become a "mini-major" by buying up and/or starting a number of regional record distributors across the country and uniting them into a network, thus giving them national coverage similar to the major labels.

[citation needed] The rift between Robbins and Plotnicki grew throughout 1993 as they fielded yet another purchase offer, this one from Tom Silverman's Tommy Boy Records and its owner, Time Warner.

[citation needed] In late 1994, Cory Robbins began talks with major labels to form a new record company.

Freestyle artist Rockell debuted with "I Fell In Love," which was a top 10 dance single and spent 18 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.

[7] At first, Robbins followed the tried-and-true model he had created at Profile Records, focusing on singles from a variety of genres, and compilation albums of licensed material.

[citation needed] In 1996, Robbins launched the "Strip Jointz" series — compilation albums of songs favored in "gentlemen's clubs."

Robbins launched its Best of Trance and Best of House compilations, and in 2002, scored its first Billboard Top 10 pop hit with a remake of Bryan Adams' "Heaven" by DJ Sammy & Yanou featuring Do.

[citation needed] Robbins spelled out his digital music philosophy in a 2002 interview with Radio & Records: "The business as a whole should figure out a way to give the people what they want.