Zoo Entertainment (record label)

The label was formed in 1990 by Lou Maglia, former president of Island Records. As early as 1993, Zoo was having financial difficulties.^[2] In November 1991, Zoo signed Los Angeles band Tool, and released their debut EP Opiate early the following year. The label wanted to market them as a heavy metal band, and insisted they only put their most aggressive material on the EP.^[3] In 1993, Zoo released Tool's full-length debut Undertow, and by September 1994 it was certified platinum for sales of a million copies.^[4] The record label also distributed Gamble & Huff's Philadelphia International Records for a short time. Being its distributor, the late Phyllis Hyman enjoyed a chart entry with "Don't Wanna Change The World," a song that was taken to US radio by radio promoter Jesus Garber, then a VP at Zoo; the single ultimately peaked at No. 59 on the Billboard R&B charts.^[5] In 1995, BMG reduced the staff at Zoo, foreshadowing problems for the label.^[6]

The label released Our Little Visionary, the 1996 debut album of Dogstar, founded by actor Keanu Reeves. However, by the following year Dogstar had been dropped from Zoo.^[7] In August 1996, BMG sold Zoo to Kevin Czinger's newly formed Volcano Entertainment.^[1] It began as a partnership between the two labels, and new albums continued to be released under the Zoo name in late 1996 and 1997. By the end of 1997 the Zoo name had been phased out, with the label's only releases that year being Matthew Sweet's Blue Sky on Mars and Free Mars by Lusk (a band founded by ex-Tool bassist Paul D'Amour). All of Zoo's artists were absorbed by the new Volcano imprint. Volcano went through changes and was eventually sold to the Zomba Label Group in the spring of 1998. When Zomba was purchased by BMG in 2002, any remaining Zoo artists were returned to the BMG fold. BMG's assets were sold in 2008 to Sony Corporation of America and the back catalog is now handled by Sony Music Group through Volcano.