Which Beach Boys-owned record imprint was launched in 1967?

Brother Records was the Beach Boys-owned record imprint launched in 1967.

The band developed Brother Records as an independent label and business venture during the period surrounding the ambitious Smile project. Plans began in 1966, partly because the Beach Boys wanted greater creative and promotional control than they felt Capitol Records was providing. The company was founded by Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson and their cousin Mike Love, with manager Nick Grillo and David Anderle involved in its organization.

Brother’s first prominent releases arrived in 1967, including the “Heroes and Villains” single and the album Smiley Smile. Capitol handled distribution, so the imprint did not mean the Beach Boys had immediately severed their relationship with their major label. The arrangement allowed the band to use its own corporate identity while retaining Capitol’s distribution network.

The label’s name is sometimes confused with Brother Records, Inc., the holding company that owns intellectual-property interests associated with the Beach Boys. It is also unrelated to Candix Records, the small label behind the group’s earliest single, and to Caribou Records, which became significant much later.