CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

MTM Records

defunct American country music record label

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 25, 2026
Entity authorityQ6718478
Source-derived summary

MTM Records was an American independent record label specializing in country music. It was founded in 1984 as a subsidiary of the production company of the same name owned by actress Mary Tyler Moore.

Alan Bernard was the label's CEO, Howard Stark was the label's President, and Tommy West, originally of the musical duo Cashman and West, was Senior Vice President (both Stark and West worked together at ABC Records in the 1970s); staff songwriters included Radney Foster and Bill Lloyd of Foster & Lloyd, as well as Larry Boone and Hugh Prestwood.

In its four years of existence, fifty-one singles on the MTM label charted on the Billboard country singles chart. The label also signed three rock music acts: The Metros from Minneapolis, Minnesota, who were discovered on Star Search; In Pursuit, a New Wave rock group, and The Voltage Brothers, a family R&B act from Rochester, NY. None of those groups' output charted.

After MTM Enterprises was sold to Britain's Television South PLC in July 1988, the label was purchased by and absorbed into RCA Nashville. Becky Hobbs, Paul Overstreet, and Judy Rodman were then transferred to RCA's roster. Holly Dunn signed with Warner Bros. Nashville, and her MTM masters went with her (Warner Bros. re-released the original MTM hit version of Dunn's hit, "Daddy's Hands," as the B-side of her 1991 single "Maybe I Mean Yes", and also Warner issued the Milestones: Greatest Hits compilation in 1991 featuring a mix of MTM and Warner Bros.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “MTM Records” is defunct American country music record label. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Records, defunct and American, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1984, 1988, 1991—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1984. For this dossier, Records, defunct and American is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “defunct American country music record label” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6718478. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1984, 1988 and 1991.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “MTM Records”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow MTM Records primary sources, MTM Records archive and Records research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “MTM Records”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from MTM Records” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.