History
ABC-Paramount (full name "American Broadcasting-Paramount Theaters") -- the direct antecedent of the present-day American Broadcasting Company -- evolved from federal antitrust actions taken against the movie studios and broadcasting companies in the 1940s and early 1950s. As a result of a 1943 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) action against anti-competitive practices, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was forced to sell off its broadcast subsidiary the Blue Network, the sister network of NBC, and Blue was purchased by the American Broadcasting System, Inc. In 1953 American Broadcasting merged with United Paramount Theaters, the divested former exhibition/cinema division of Paramount Pictures. The newly merged corporation was chaired by former Paramount Theaters executive Leonard Goldenson and was originally headquartered at 1501 Broadway in New York City, above the Paramount Theater in Times Square.

In addition to producing records directly, ABC licensed finished masters from independent producers and purchased regionally-released records for national distribution. The corporate name of Am-Par Record Corporation was changed to ABC-Paramount Records, Inc. in 1962, and then to ABC Records, Inc. in 1967.

In 1965, Clark was promoted to vice-president in charge of AB-PT's non-broadcast operations and national sales manager Larry Newton was named ABC-Paramount president.The label was officially renamed ABC Records in 1966. They distributed Dunhill Records until this label was purchased under Newton to form ABC-Dunhill Records. They also distributed 20th Century Fox Records, Sire Records and UK-based Anchor Records. In 1970, ABC-Dunhill moved its headquarters to Los Angeles and Newton was promoted by ABC to vice-president in charge of ABC Pictures and Dunhill co-founder Jay Lasker was named president. Lasker left ABC to join Ariola America Records.In 1974, ABC switched British distribution from EMI to the EMI-distributed Anchor Records, allowing ABC recordings to be issued on the ABC label in the UK and Anchor records to be distributed by ABC on the Anchor label in the USA.As a cost cutting, but in retrospect ill-conceived move in the mid-1970s, ABC Records discarded their multitrack master tapes to save storage space. So when the affected recordings were reissued on compact discs in the 1980s and beyond, the CDs had to be mastered using the finished album masters which often had inferior sound. The record company's final president, Steve Diener, was named president in 1977 after serving as head of ABC Records' international division.Because the company was suffering financial problems, ABC Records was sold in 1979 to MCA Records, which discontinued the ABC label on March 5, 1979.The better selling albums in the ABC Records catalog were reissued on the MCA label.

Types of output
Pop
Country music
Jazz
Rhythm and blues
Rock and roll
Children's
Ethnic music (including Irish)
Polka
Calypso
Flamenco and Hawaiian
Spoken Word
Soundtrack album: Song of Norway and Cabaret (LP version only, the CD was reissued on MCA, later on UMG's Hip-O Records. The film soundtrack of Song of Norway has not yet appeared on CD.)

Artists associated with ABC Records and its labels Amazing Rhythm Aces
Paul Anka
Louis Armstrong
Kevin Ayers
Florence Ballard
Count Basie
Joe Bennett
Stephen Bishop
Art Blakey
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Bobby "Blue" Bland
Charles Brown
Roy Brown
Jimmy Buffett
Solomon Burke
Shirley Collie
Carl Carlton
Betty Carter
Ray Charles
Roy Clark
Ornette Coleman
Christian Harmonizers
John Coltrane
Billy "Crash" Craddock
Jim Croce
Crosby and Nash
Crowfoot
The Crusaders
Danny & the Juniors
James Darren
Billy Davis, Jr.
The Dells
Fats Domino
Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods
The Dramatics
The Elegants
The Floaters
Frank Fontaine
Four Tops
Ferrante & Teicher
The 5th Dimension Genesis
Eydie Gormé
The Grass Roots
George Hamilton IV
Bobby Hammack
Richard Harris
Coleman Hawkins
Isaac Hayes
Roy Head
Hello People
Levon Helm
Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs
Eddie Holman
John Lee Hooker
Freddie Hubbard
James Gang
The Impressions
B. B. King
Kracker
Frankie Laine
Yusef Lateef
Steve Lawrence
J B Loyd
Eddie Lund
Barbara Mandrell
The Mamas and The Papas
Barry Mann
Shelly Manne
Guy Marks
The Marvelows
Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr.
Brownie McGhee
Barry McGuire
Mighty Clouds of Joy
Charles Mingus
The O'Kaysions
The Oak Ridge Boys
Pavlov's Dog
Paxton Brothers
Poco
The Pointer Sisters
The Poni-Tails
Lloyd Price Rare Bird
Jimmy Reed
Emitt Rhodes
Cliff Richard
Tommy Roe
Sonny Rollins
Royal Teens
Rufus featuring Chaka Khan
Jimmy Rushing
John Wesley Ryles
Soupy Sales
The Sapphires
Bobby Scott
Jack Scott
Shirley Scott
Archie Shepp
Beverly Sills
Otis Spann
Dusty Springfield
Joe Stampley
Steely Dan
Steppenwolf
Stepson (band)
Sonny Terry
B. J. Thomas
Three Dog Night
Joe Turner
Eddie Vinson
Bobby Vinton
T-Bone Walker
Joe Walsh
Wha-Koo
Josh White
Chico Williams
Lenny Williams
Jimmy Witherspoon
O. V. Wright