Multinational label, started by Richard Branson in the early 1970s as an independent label based in London, UK.
The record company Virgin Records Ltd. and subsidiaries which used the Virgin brand was sold to Thorn Emi Plc on 1 June 1992, the various Virgin trademarks however remained the property of Virgin Enterprises Ltd., since 2012 the imprint has been licensed from Virgin Enterprises Ltd. and is used by various companies that form part of the Universal Music Group.
Many Virgin issues also carry an EMI logo, indicating Virgin was part of the EMI Group.
The Virgin disc label designs/logos:
Roger Dean was the designer of the original famous Virgin label with snakes and dragons.
In some countries the white or the black-white Dean label was longer in use (Germany, 1977). Spain was the only country that used the coloured Dean label on singles (instead of the white or black-white Dean label).
The blue twin label (which has never been used for albums) was issued in UK only.
The blue label with double Virgin writing logo was used from 1976 until 1978 in the UK. In some countries it was longer in use (Spain, 1979).
CD label designs:
Older CD's normally had a blue label (a kind of light blue layer on the silver disc) because the producers had problems with the printing on the blank silver surface.
Some of the later editions have silver labels with red printing.
Newer editions have black printing.
