The label was distributed in the USA by Warner Bros. Records, PolyGram Records, BMG, and, since 1999, by Universal Music, the successor of PolyGram.

Its album covers have been profiled in two books thus far, Sleeves of Desire and Windfall Light, both published by Lars Müller.

History
The first ECM release was Free at Last in 1969 by American pianist Mal Waldron. For some years the label specialised in jazz, releasing recordings by pianists Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Paul Bley, Egberto Gismonti and Art Lande; saxophonist Jan Garbarek, vibraphonist Gary Burton; drummers Jon Christensen and Paul Motian; guitarists Pat Metheny, John Abercrombie, Ralph Towner, Bill Connors and Terje Rypdal; bassists Eberhard Weber, Arild Andersen, Charlie Haden and Dave Holland; and the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

There is a clear link between some ECM recordings and world music, especially the folk recordings by Jan Garbarek and the work of Steve Tibbetts and Stephan Micus. Other examples of ECM's world music are records by Codona, Tunisian oud musician Anouar Brahem, Indian violinist L. Shankar, Jon Hassell, Dave Liebman and Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos.

The ECM New Series was created to document Western classical works. It has released work by various composers, from the early (such as Thomas Tallis, Carlo Gesualdo and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina) to the contemporary (such as John Cage, Elliot Carter, and Steve Reich). Keith Jarrett, better known as a jazz musician, recorded several classical works by Bach, Mozart, Shostakovich, and others for the New Series. The soundtracks of several works by the filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard are on the ECM New Series label.

On many releases, the jazz and classical sides of ECM are combined: For example, Garbarek's Officium (1994) features him playing saxophone solos over the Hilliard Ensemble singing Gregorian chant, early polyphony and Renaissance works. Garbarek's work with guitarist Ralph Towner draws on, and is as apparently influenced by, 20th century chamber music as by any overtly jazz-oriented material. John Potter, formerly of the Hilliard Ensemble, has recorded works by John Dowland with jazz saxophonist John Surman and others, and Surman's Proverbs and Songs is a suite of choral settings of Old Testament texts, recorded in Salisbury Cathedral. The label has also released unique works that fit into no obvious genre at all (like the records of composer Meredith Monk).

In 2002 and 2004 ECM released a series of compilation CDs titled :rarum. Twenty of the label's artists were asked to compile a single CD of their work for the label (Garbarek and Jarrett's compilations are double CDs). Artists who contributed to this series are Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Bill Frisell, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Terje Rypdal, Bobo Stenson, Pat Metheny, Dave Holland, Egberto Gismonti, Jack DeJohnette, John Surman, John Abercrombie, Carla Bley, Paul Motian, Tomasz Stanko, Eberhard Weber, Arild Andersen, Jon Christensen.

Manfred Eicher continues to take an active interest in the music released by ECM, acting as producer on the vast majority of its recordings, although Steve Lake, Thomas Stoewsand, Robert Hurwitz, Lee Townsend and Hans Wendl have also produced discs for the label. The typical ECM session is just three days — two days to record, one day to mix. Many of the albums have been recorded with Jan Erik Kongshaug (of Talent Studios and later Rainbow Studios) in Oslo, Norway, as sound engineer; other engineers have included Martin Wieland (who recorded Jarrett's "Köln Concert"), James Farber, Stefano Amerio and, on classical recordings, Peter Laenger.

In fall 2012 the Munich museum Haus der Kunst opened an exhibition about the work of the label called ECM - A Cultural Archaeology. It pointed out the early jazz-focused years till mid '80s before the New Series was initiated. In close relation with Eicher and ECM the exhibition was created by Okwui Enwezor and Markus Müller. In contrast to the historic-based content of the exhibition, it was accompanied with a concert series of current artists of the label which included François Couturier, Enrico Rava, Meredith Monk, András Schiff, Evan Parker, Gidon Kremer or Tomasz Stanko. Some of them, anyway, do have a long past with the label - even if their 'home' are ECM or New Series.

Awards
1980: Down Beat: Record Label of the Year
2007: MIDEM Classical Awards: Label of the Year; Jazz Journalists Association: Label of the Year
2008: Down Beat: Record Label of the Year
2010: Down Beat: Record Label of the Year
2012: Down Beat: Record Label of the Year