Stud!o K7 has produced electronic music artists, especially for the
DJ-Kicks compilations. It began in 1985 with the idea of releasing digital video clips. In 1991, the first of the 3LUX series (three volumes) was released, followed by the
X-Mix series (from 1993 to 1998). In 1995, the
DJ-Kicks series was released. At that time it was unconventional to play complete albums with DJ cuts on home stereos. Artists such as
Kruder & Dorfmeister,
Nightmares On Wax,
Thievery Corporation and Stereo MC's
Chromeo,
Booka Shade contributed to its release. The compilation series has since included mixes from
Jackmaster,
Seth Troxler,
Marcel Dettmann,
Michael Mayer,
DJ Koze,
Nina Kraviz,
Daniel Avery and
John Talabot. In 1996, !K7 started launching artist albums. As of 2014 the !K7 discography features albums from artists such as
Kruder & Dorfmeister,
Matthew Herbert, Dani Siciliano,
Ursula Rucker,
Swayzak, and
Boozoo Bajou. In 2001, Rapster Records, a new subsidiary of !K7, started focusing on urban, soul and hip-hop music. Since then, Rapster has released records by
DJ Jazzy Jeff,
Pete Rock, and
Roy Ayers, among others. Rapster also forged an alliance with UK-based soul aficionado Peter Adarkwah, head of
BBE Records. !K7 founded another subsidiary, Ever Records, in 2006, for indie bands and singer-songwriters such as
Cortney Tidwell,
Cyann & Ben, and
Howie Beck. In 2008
Strut Records & Gold Dust Media joined the !K7 label group. Between 1999 and 2003 Strut released Nigerian
Afrobeats, Leftfield Discos, Rare Groove and
Grandmaster Flash's latest album. Strut's founder, Quinton Scott, is responsible for A&R. In 2013 !K7 started a cooperation with
Tricky for releases on his label, including his 2013 album
False Idols. In May 2017, !K7 created a subsidiary focused on
Contemporary music, producing artists such as Niklas Paschburg, Hior Chronik, Echo Collective,
Henrik Schwarz,
Luca D'Alberto, Maike Zazie and Martyn Heyne. In October 2017, !K7 acquired the catalogues of
Patrice Rushen,
Miriam Makeba and
The Beginning of the End from
Warner Music Group, as part of the major's divestments after acquiring
Parlophone as a result of the sale and break-up of
EMI.
Create Music Group acquired the company in April 2025. == Artists ==