Editing Warner Music Group (section)

===Kinney, WEA, and Warner Communications (1969–1989)===

In 1969, the Kinney National Company purchased Warner Bros.–Seven Arts for $400 million. Kinney's chairman Steve Ross moved aggressively to build a vertically integrated entertainment conglomerate. In 1970, Kinney acquired [[Elektra Records]] and its sister label [[Nonesuch Records]] for $10 million, adding the [[The Doors|Doors]], [[Tim Buckley]], and [[Love (band)|Love]] to its roster along with Nonesuch's acclaimed classical catalogue. Kinney merged its record labels under a new parent umbrella known as WEA (Warner-Elektra-Atlantic) in the early 1970s and in 1972 shed its non-entertainment assets, renaming itself Warner Communications Inc. That same year, Warner acquired [[David Geffen]]'s [[Asylum Records]] for $7 million, gaining the [[Eagles]], [[Jackson Browne]], and [[Joni Mitchell]]. In 1977–1978, Warner Bros. took over distribution of [[Sire Records]] and then purchased the label outright; Sire's president Seymour Stein had signed the [[Ramones]], [[Talking Heads]], and later [[Madonna]], whose recordings would prove among the most lucrative in the company's history. By the mid-1980s Warner Bros. Records was the largest label in the United States, driven by [[Prince (musician)|Prince]], Madonna, [[Genesis (band)|Genesis]], and [[Van Halen]].