Jugoton
Founded	July 10, 1947; 76 years ago (1947-07-10)[1]
Defunct	1991 (1991), now Croatia Records
Genre	Various
Country of origin	SFR Yugoslavia
Location	Zagreb, SR Croatia
Slogan	Nova ploča! (New record!)

Jugoton was the largest record label and chain record store in the former Yugoslavia based in Zagreb, SR Croatia.

History

Jugoton was formed in 1947. It is notable for releasing some of the most important former Yugoslav pop and rock records. In addition, the company owned a widespread network of record shops across SFR Yugoslavia.

The company changed its name to Croatia Records in 1991, after Croatia seceded from Yugoslavia.

Artists

Jugoton notable for signing numerous eminent former Yugoslav pop and rock acts. Some of the artists that have been signed to Jugoton include:

Jugoton also released the influential compilation album Paket aranžman. Many artists that represented Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest were signed with Jugoton, including the 1989 winners Riva.

Like other former Yugoslav labels, Jugoton also had a licence to release foreign titles for the Yugoslav market including notable international popular music stars such as: Rick Astley, The Beatles, David Bowie, Kate Bush, Deep Purple, Eurythmics, Iron Maiden, Kraftwerk, John Lennon, Madonna, Gary Moore, Mötley Crüe, Elvis Presley, Pink Floyd, Public Image Limited, Queen, The Rolling Stones, Scorpions, U2, Whitesnake, Kim Wilde and others.

Competition

Other major labels in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were: PGP-RTB and Jugodisk from Belgrade, Suzy from Zagreb, Diskoton from Sarajevo, ZKP RTLJ from Ljubljana, Diskos from Aleksandrovac, and others.

Legacy

Yugonostalgia

Jugoton, as an important part of the former Yugoslav culture is one of the subjects of Yugonostalgia.

The former Jugoton record shop located in the main shopping mall in Skopje (Gradski Trgovski Centar), North Macedonia, still operates under the same name managed by the Macedonian record label Lithium Records.^[2]

An example of different kind is the online radio and web tv station called Jugoton which operates in the Yugoslav diaspora in Vienna, Austria.^[3] It plays music from the former Yugoslavia, but also from all the contemporary former Yugoslav countries, including pop, rock and folk. However, it is not formally related to the actual Jugoton, and not all the Yugoslav artists represented in its program were really signed to the label.

Yugoton

Yugoton is a Polish tribute album to the former Yugoslav rock scene released in 2001. Its title is a nod to Jugoton.