Autumn 1984. Giacomo Maiolini, a 21-year-old accounting-school graduate from Brescia, founds Time Records. He teams up with the production duo Farina-Crivellente - Mauro Farina and Giuliano Crivellente. The label's first releases go out through Discomagic Records distribution. Time Records, in plain words, is an Italian label from Brescia that within five years became one of the biggest Italo Disco producers, and in the 90s requalified into Eurobeat for the Japanese market.
The founder and the team
Giacomo Maiolini was born on 8 March 1963 in Pedrocca, a village in Franciacorta, province of Brescia. After graduating from accounting school in 1982, he created Time Records in 1984. Farina and Crivellente became the label's artistic producers. In Farina's recollection, "Giuliano and Giacomo and I decided to establish Time Records. Giacomo was very young - 20 years old - but had a deep knowledge of dance music."
Time Records was distributed through Discomagic Records - the same label that released Savage, Ryan Paris and other Italo-disco hits. This connection is described in our Discomagic Records deep dive. Time Records was not simply a sublabel - Maiolini retained independent A&R and signed artists himself.
Catalogue: who played on Time Records
The label's main artists in the Italo-disco era: Atrium, Danny Keith, Riky Maltese, Aleph, Alan Barry, Virgin, Gipsy & Queen, De Niro, Sophie. They were joined by Italo "old glories": Fred Ventura, Albert One, Jock Hattle, Stylóo, Silver Pozzoli, Max Coveri, Rose.
Mauro Farina was the voice behind half the label's projects. He sang under the names Danny Keith, Atrium, Kajay, Alan Barry, Tension, Max Coveri, Stylóo, De Niro, Fellini. Clara Moroni, who joined at the end of 1986, became the main female voice - backing vocals and choruses on most releases. Laurent Gelmetti worked as sound engineer, replacing Sandro Oliva in 1986.
Key releases
- Atrium - "Pilot" (1985) - an early label hit
- Danny Keith - "Keep on Music" (1985)
- Aleph - "Fly to Me" (1985)
- Albert One - "Turbo Diesel" (1985)
- Fred Ventura - "Wind of Change" (1986)
- Sophie - "My Love" (1986)
- Ken Laszlo - "Hey Hey Guy" (1984)
- Vanessa - "Eternity" (1989)
Detail: Rise Records was a sublabel of Time Records, founded for a different genre line. It was also part of Maiolini's company structure.
The Japanese pivot: Eurobeat
In 1987-88 Italo-disco began to fade - house took over. Italian labels found a new market: Japan. Time Records, A.Beat-C, Flea Records, Asia Records and High Energy signed deals with Japanese record companies. The style was dubbed Eurobeat - faster Italo-disco adapted for Japanese dance compilations. Time Records became one of the main content suppliers for the Super Eurobeat series - CD compilations that sold in the millions in Japan. More on this transition in our deep dive into the evolution from disco to Eurodance.
The 1988 split
At the end of 1988 Farina and Crivellente left Time Records and founded Asia Records. For Maiolini this was a blow: Farina was the voice of half the catalogue. But Moroni and Gelmetti continued. In 1996 Maiolini switched distributors - Discomagic was replaced by Self Distribuzione. Time Records still exists today, although the catalogue has changed beyond recognition: from Italo-disco to Eurobeat, then to house and dance-pop.
According to Maiolini's website, Time Records is "the Italian label with the most worldwide hits" and "the only Italian label owner to reach #1 in the UK four times." The figures cannot be independently verified - but Time Records' influence on Italo-disco and Eurobeat is undeniable. Twenty artists, hundreds of releases, one label from Brescia.