Label Guide: BASF

In the late 1960s, German chemical major BASF (Badische Anilin- und Soda Fabrik) was a major producer of recorded music hardware such as vinyl and tape. With the booming music industry at that time, the company decided that starting a record label would be a good match for the company and in early 1971 BASF started distributing the German jazz label MPS Records, while developing its own labels at the same time.

One of these initiatives, the proposed 'Mouse' label, turned into the obscure progressive label Pilz, which did not address the pop mass market and was destined to be commercially unsuccessful. BASF started its own label imprint with a very diverse roster of artists from pretty much all musical genres.

With the 1973 oil crisis the chemical industry was facing a steep downturn all over the world, and saving money was a prime objective (hence the very thin and wabbly vinyl pressings of that time). BASF lost interest in pet projects such as Pilz and cancelled the label contract in July 1973. Soon it lost interest in its entire music production business and BASF's endeavour into music distribution ended with dropping MPS in March 1976.