[5] Founded independently in the mid-seventies by Clive Calder and Ralph Simon, the group has had interests in music release, distribution, production, publishing, equipment rental, recording studios, and artist management.

Although Calder has no stake in it now, it still exists as a wholly owned subsidiary of Universal Music, having acquired most of EMI in 2013, specializing in the recording, development and marketing of domestic artists.

[9] Having landed right in the middle of the British punk rock movement, they opted to create a publishing company; Zomba Corporation was officially registered in Switzerland in 1975, operating out of Calder's bedroom space in London.

[11] This led to Lange becoming one of the world's leading hard-rock producers, later adding Def Leppard, Foreigner and Bryan Adams to his resume.

[9] Over the next few years, Zomba's songwriters achieved success and the publishing profits kicked in, marking the beginning of the company's first major expansion into record labels.

Arista had been having trouble pushing rock acts in the US, and Clive Davis had hoped that with Zomba's Mutt Lange connection, Jive would fill that role.

In 1981, Jive began operations by releasing British dance and pop music such as Q-Feel, A Flock of Seagulls and Tight Fit.

Calder was immediately impressed with the man and had him scanning sales data all over the country searching for unknown acts on small labels selling large numbers.

KRS-One, the primary force behind Boogie Down Productions, released a string of solo albums with Jive beginning with Return of the Boom Bap in 1993.

R. Kelly began his solo career with 12 Play in 1993, and would go on to spend eighteen years with Jive in a partnership that produced ten studio albums.

While the co-ownership only lasted between 1989 and 1991, the two companies continued working together in other avenues, including a publishing deal with Sanctuary artists Iron Maiden.

[26][27] An important asset of the Brentwood acquisition was the publishing arm, founded in 1902, that included 46,000 copyrights from artists such as Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Willie Nelson.

[9] While Pearlman and Watson were breaking the Backstreet Boys overseas, Jive A&R man Steve Lunt was busy in the US seeking a female star, and was greeted with 15-year-old Britney Spears.

[39] Initially horrified by Spears' karaoke demo of a Toni Braxton song sung in the wrong register, Lunt was intrigued by a brief moment at the end where he heard the "kind of soul she had.

"[9] As was the standard at Zomba, Lunt took Spears to in-house songwriter and producer Eric Foster White in the company's publishing division, and the two recorded "You Got It All."

Within four months of debuting on radio in September 1998,[40] Spears' song "...Baby One More Time" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in January 1999, a position it would hold for four consecutive weeks.

[43] As a response to the suit, and in reference to treatment by Trans Continental, NSYNC released a statement citing the company's poor conduct as "the most glaring, overt, and callous example of artist exploitation that the music industry has seen in a long time.

[46][47] The lawsuit, which Rolling Stone called "the music industry's nastiest legal skirmishes in years," was problematic for Zomba for two main reasons.

[49][50] As part of BMG's 1996 agreement with Zomba, the music giant was required to follow through on a put option and buy the remaining shares it did not already own before 31 December 2002.

Though the merger was plagued with controversy and eventually ended with Sony buying out BMG's stake in late 2008, Zomba executives continued to expand the company's operations in various aspects.

[59] The deal ensured that all artists under the Zomba aegis would receive, for the first time, a full range of benefits and protections, among which are scale payments, industry standard working conditions and pension contributions.

[60][61] Verity Records president Max Siegel was charged with heading the new entity which included Zomba labels Verity and GospoCentric, as well as four artist owned imprints: Quiet Water Entertainment (Donald Lawrence), Fo Yo Soul Entertainment (Kirk Franklin), New Life Records (John P. Kee) and F. Hammond Music (Fred Hammond).

Beginning with the appointment of David Mantel in 2005 as the head of Zomba Music Publishing US operations, the company began to take a different signing approach that focused on unknown or unsigned artists.

In October 2008, Zomba made an all-inclusive multiyear joint-venture deal with Hitz Committee Entertainment, an imprint that had been in the making for almost 5 years from Jive VP of A&R Mickey "MeMpHiTz" Wright.

The structure of the Zomba Group during the independent era (1975 to 2002) is difficult to precisely pinpoint due to the private nature of Clive Calder's managing style.

Zomba only controls one small vinyl pressing plant; therefore, most of their manufacturing has been outsourced to companies such as Sonopress (BMG affiliated), Sony, and Technicolor.

In France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, Zomba had its own marketing and sales; however, distribution was handled by EMI (through Virgin in most cases).

The main facility, located in New York City, is constantly associated with high-profile clients including R. Kelly, 'N Sync and Britney Spears.

[78] Apart from the actual studio, the venture included a production team that helped forge the sounds of Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and NSYNC.

[111][112] In May 2001, Zomba created Ingenuity Entertainment, a full-service management company for artists, producers, composers and music supervisors in the film and television industries.