Sonet Records was established by Sven Lindholm and Gunnar Bergström, who managed the label into the 1980s.

It was distributed by Pickwick Records in North America in the 1960s, where it was involved in releasing some of Bill Haley's latter-day material.

The label set up offices throughout Europe, including the United Kingdom.

It also expanded into film, video, and other visual arts in addition to music.

The label released both new material and reissues, many by Scandinavian artists in addition to albums by American jazz musicians as well as non-jazz material such as pop and rock music.