Walt Disney Records
Background
Walt Disney Records is the flagship label of Disney Music Group, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. It primarily releases soundtracks and other musical media from Disney films, Radio Disney, Disney Channel original movies, the Star Wars franchise, Disney theme parks, and Walt Disney Theatrical productions, among others. It was founded in 1956 as Disneyland Records; before that time, Disney recordings were licensed to other labels, such as RCA, Decca, Capitol, ABC-Paramount, and United Artists. The suggestion for Disney to make their very own record label came from Walt Disney's brother, Roy O. Disney. In 1959, Buena Vista Records was formed as the company's contemporary label, while Disneyland Records remained a children's label. The label was also called Disneyland/Vista Records by 1971. In 1989, the label was renamed to Walt Disney Records, and in 2007, Buena Vista Records was folded into it.
1st Logo (1995- )
Visuals: Just an in-credit text saying "SOUNDTRACK AVAILABLE ON" with the 1995 Walt Disney Records print logo below it.
Variants:
- Starting in 2007, the current 2007 print logo is used.
- The 1995 print logo is used again only for Walt Disney Animation Studios films starting with Zootopia.
- The arrangement of the logo may vary; sometimes, it's stacked, with the print logo atop the text, or sometimes it's just the text.
Technique: A still graphic.
Audio: The ending theme of the movie.
Availability: Seen on most current films from Walt Disney Pictures, as well as Disney Channel Original Movies.
- It is also seen on films from Lucasfilm starting with Strange Magic.
- The only 20th Century Studios film to use this logo was Ron's Gone Wrong, other films use the Hollywood Records logo.
- Current prints of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) plaster the 1995 logo with the 2007 logo.
2nd Logo (2002-2003, 2006)
Visuals: On a moving starfield background, there is a burst of light. From the burst of light is a CGI model of the Walt Disney Records logo, which consists of a circle with the silhouette of Mickey Mouse as a conductor cut out off it. Below the circle is "WALT DiSNEY" and underneath is "RECORDS", both sets of text are separated by a line. The CGI model swivels into view, then zooms back to a comfortable position.
Variants: On Disney Read-Along DVDs, after the logo zooms out, it spins into a disc, and the logo segues into the Disney Read-Along DVD logo.
Technique: CGI.
Audio: A majestic fanfare.
Availability: Seen on Disney Read-Along DVDs. The standalone version appears on DVDs such as The Best of Winnie the Pooh & Friends Funtime Favorite Songs bonus DVD.
3rd Logo (April 6, 2004)
Visuals: On a black background, the screen zooms out on Conductor Mickey on what appears to be a silvery circular "vault door"-like object with "digital" triangular and arc indicators spinning around it and a spinning roulette of rectangles around the edge of the object with "WALT DISNEY RECORDS" written below in the Manifold Extended font, colored the same electric blue as Mickey and the indicators, before tilting up and exploding into its constituent 3D objects and zooming in to black.
Technique: CGI.
Audio: A spinner wheel clicking sound and metallic clunks.
Availability: Found on the music video DVD included with Radio Disney Ultimate Jams.
