It was named Zomba Records and relocated to London, England, four years later; their first client was a young Robert "Mutt" Lange.

[4] In 1981, Zomba formed Jive Records, whose operations began with the release of British dance and pop music from groups such as Q-Feel, A Flock of Seagulls, and Tight Fit.

[5] Clive Davis had hoped that Zomba's connection with Mutt Lange would help alleviate the difficulties Arista was having with launching rock acts to success.

[1][7] In 1987, Jive cut distribution ties with Arista, effectively separating them from Davis, who eschewed hip hop music at his label.

At this time, Bertelsmann Music Group acquired a minority share of the label and began to distribute its records directly.

[13] Jive opened branches in Chicago and had also become a premier label in the genres of hip hop and R&B with the success of acts like D-Nice, E-40, UGK, A Tribe Called Quest, Hi-Five, KRS-One/Boogie Down Productions, R. Kelly[14] and Aaliyah.

[15] In 2002, Calder sold Zomba to BMG for US$2.74 billion,[16][17] which at the time was the largest-ever acquisition of an independent label with major-label distribution.

[36] On September 27, 2021, singer R. Kelly was found guilty by a federal jury of acts including bribery and sexual exploitation of a child.

[13] In 2018, the Washington Post ran a lengthy article alleging industry executives at Jive had been aware of Kelly's sexually abusive behavior towards young women for years, but did nothing about them due to his success as a performer and songwriter.

[13] Larry Khan, another Jive executive who worked closely with the singer even after viewing the sex tape, similarly implied Kelly’s misconduct was not the label's responsibility and pointed to Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis as musicians whose labels also continued to release and promote their records despite public awareness that they were involved with underage girls.