!K7 Music

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

!K7 Music is a Berlin-based electronic music company. It was founded in 1984 by Reiner Bumke, Stephan Guntli, Michael F. Huse, and Horst Weidenmüller, and since 1996 Weidenmüller has led it. The name comes from its original address, Kaiserdamm 7. The company has since moved to different buildings and now operates from Gerichtstrasse 35, with branch offices in New York City and London.

The label group runs five independent imprints: !K7 Records, 7K!, Strut, Soul Bank, and Eternal Source Of Light. It also offers label services, licensing, and music publishing. !K7 has distributed many other labels and works with artists worldwide. It has distributed Turbo Recordings, Sonar Kollektiv, Luaka Bop, and Rushhour, among others, and previously had a licensing deal with Frenchkiss Records.

In April 2025, !K7 Music was acquired by Create Music Group.

Studio K7 is known for its electronic music and the DJ-Kicks series. The company began in 1985 with the idea of releasing digital video clips. In 1991 it released the 3LUX series, followed by the X-Mix series (1993–1998). The DJ-Kicks series debuted in 1995 and helped popularize the concept of full-album DJ mixes. Early contributors included Kruder & Dorfmeister, Nightmares On Wax, Thievery Corporation, and Stereo MC’s, with later contributions from artists like Chromeo, Booka Shade, Jackmaster, Nina Kraviz, and John Talabot.

From 1996, !K7 started releasing artist albums. By 2014 the label’s catalog included albums from Kruder & Dorfmeister, Matthew Herbert, Dani Siciliano, Ursula Rucker, Swayzak, and Boozoo Bajou.

In 2001, the subsidiary Rapster Records focused on urban, soul, and hip-hop music, releasing work by DJ Jazzy Jeff, Pete Rock, and Roy Ayers. Rapster also partnered with Peter Adarkwah of BBE Records. In 2006, Ever Records was created for indie bands and singer-songwriters such as Cortney Tidwell and Howie Beck. Strut Records and Gold Dust Media joined !K7 in 2008.

Strut released music spanning Nigerian Afrobeats to Leftfield Discos and Grandmaster Flash in the early 2000s, with A&R led by Strut’s founder Quinton Scott. In 2013, !K7 began a collaboration with Tricky for releases on his label, including the 2013 album False Idols. A contemporary-music subsidiary was launched in May 2017 to support artists like Niklas Paschburg, Hior Chronik, Echo Collective, Henrik Schwarz, Luca D’Alberto, Maike Zazie, and Martyn Heyne. In October 2017, !K7 acquired the catalogs of Patrice Rushen, Miriam Makeba, and The Beginning of the End from Warner Music Group as part of EMI-related divestments.