Editing Atlantic Records (section)

===Acquisition by Warner Bros.-Seven Arts===
[[Image:Atlantic Records fan logo.svg|thumb|right|150px|Atlantic logo used from 1966 to 2005, and since 2015.]]
Despite the huge success Atlantic was enjoying with its own artists and through its deal with Stax, by 1967, Jerry Wexler was seriously concerned about the disintegration of the old order of independent record companies; fearing for the label's future, he began agitating for it to be sold to a larger company. Label President Ahmet Ertegun still had no desire to sell, but the balance of power had changed since the abortive takeover attempt of 1962; Atlantic's original investor Dr Vahdi Sabit and minority stockholder Miriam Bienstock had both been bought out in September 1964<ref name="Broven, 2009, p. 71"/> and the other remaining partner, Nesuhi Ertegun, was eventually convinced to side with Wexler. Since they jointly held more stock, Ahmet was obliged to agree to the sale.

In October 1967, Atlantic was sold to [[Warner Bros.-Seven Arts]] for US$17.5 million, although all the partners later agreed that it was a poor deal that greatly undervalued Atlantic's true worth. Initially, Atlantic and Atco operated entirely separately from the group's other labels, [[Warner Bros. Records]] and [[Reprise Records]], and management did not interfere with the music division, since their ailing movie division was losing money, while the Warner recording division was booming. By mid-1968 Warner's recording and publishing interests were generating 74% of the group's total profits.<ref>Wade & Picardie 1990, pp. 144–147.</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Maitland to Head W7 Record-Music Wing |magazine=Billboard |date=July 13, 1968 |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xgoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3}}</ref>

The sale of Atlantic Records activated a clause in the distribution agreement with Stax Records calling for renegotiation of the distribution deal and at this point, the Stax partners discovered that the deal gave Atlantic ownership of all the Stax recordings Atlantic distributed. The new Warner owners refused to relinquish ownership of the Stax masters, so the distribution deal ended in May 1968.<ref>{{cite news |title=Separate Tables For Atl. & Stax |magazine=Billboard |date=May 11, 1968 |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pwoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3}}</ref> Atlantic continues to hold the rights to Stax recordings it distributed in the 1960s.

In the wake of the takeover, Jerry Wexler's influence in the company rapidly diminished; by his own admission, he and Ertegun had run Atlantic as "utmost despots" but in the new corporate structure, he found himself unwilling to accept the delegation of responsibility that his executive role dictated. He was also alienated from the "rockoid" white acts that were quickly becoming the label's most profitable commodities and dispirited by the rapidly waning fortunes of the black acts he had championed, such as Ben E. King and Solomon Burke. Wexler ultimately decided to leave New York and move to Florida. Following his departure, Ertegun—who had previously taken little interest in Atlantic's business affairs—took decisive control of the label<ref>Wade & Picardie 1990, pp. 165–169.</ref> and quickly became a major force in the expanding Warner music group.

During 1968, Atlantic established a new subsidiary label, [[Cotillion Records]]. The label was originally formed as an outlet for blues and deep Southern soul. Its first single, [[Otis Clay]]'s version of "She's About A Mover", was an R&B hit. Cotillion's catalog quickly expanded to include progressive rock, folk-rock, gospel, jazz and comedy. In 1976, the label started focusing on disco and R&B. Among its acts were the post-Curtis Mayfield [[The Impressions|Impressions]], [[Slave (band)|Slave]], [[Brook Benton]], [[Jean Knight]], [[Mass Production (band)|Mass Production]], [[Sister Sledge]], [[The Velvet Underground]], [[Stacy Lattisaw]], [[Lou Donaldson]], [[Mylon LeFevre]], [[Stevie Woods (musician)|Stevie Woods]], [[Johnny Gill]], [[Emerson, Lake & Palmer]], [[Garland Green]], [[The Dynamics]], [[The Fabulous Counts]], and [[The Fatback Band]]. Cotillion was also responsible for launching the career of [[Luther Vandross]], who recorded for the label as part of the trio Luther. Cotillion also released the triple-albums soundtrack of the [[Woodstock festival]] film in 1970. From 1970 it also distributed [[Embryo Records]], founded by jazz flautist [[Herbie Mann]] after his earlier Atlantic contract had expired.

In addition to establishing Cotillion, Atlantic began expanding its own roster to include rock, soul/rock, progressive rock, British bands and singer songwriters. Two female artists were personally signed by Wexler, with album releases in 1969, [[Dusty Springfield]] (''[[Dusty in Memphis]]'')<ref>{{cite web|url=http://atlanticrecords.com/news/jerry-wexler-record-man/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130628112732/http://atlanticrecords.com/news/jerry-wexler-record-man/ |url-status = dead|archive-date=June 28, 2013 |title=Jerry Wexler: Record Man|access-date=May 3, 2013 }}</ref> and [[Lotti Golden]] (''[[Motor-Cycle (album)|Motor-Cycle]]''),<ref name=Barry>Barry, Thomas (September 9, 1969). "The Salty Socking Soul of Lotti Golden". ''[[Look (American magazine)|Look]]'', pp. 76, 78.</ref> although Golden also had a close working relationship with Ertegun, who was instrumental in her signing with the label.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Baron Wolman |title=The Rolling Stone Years |date=2011 |publisher=Omnibus Press |page=155 |isbn=9781847727404}}</ref> By 1969, the Atlantic 8000 series (1968–72) consisted of R&B, rock, soul/rock and psychedelic acts.<ref name="Discography">{{cite web|url=http://www.bsnpubs.com/atlantic/atlantic81988305.html |title=Atlantic Album Discography, Part 5 |website=Bsnpubs.com |date=August 24, 2005 |access-date=January 10, 2016}}</ref> Other releases that year include albums by [[Aretha Franklin]] (''[[Soul '69]]''), [[Led Zeppelin]] (''[[Led Zeppelin (album)|Led Zeppelin]]''), [[Don Covay]] (''[[The House of Blue Lights (album)|House of Blue Lights]]''), [[Boz Scaggs]] (''[[Boz Scaggs (album)|Boz Scaggs]]''), [[Roberta Flack]] (''[[First Take (album)|First Take]]''), [[Wilson Pickett]] (''[[Hey Jude (Wilson Pickett album)|Hey Jude]]''), [[Mott the Hoople]] (''[[Mott the Hoople (album)|Mott the Hoople]]''), and [[Black Pearl (band)|Black Pearl]] (''Black Pearl'').<ref name="Discography" />

In 1969, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts was taken over by the [[Kinney National Company]], and in the early 1970s the group was rebadged as [[Warner Communications]]. After buying [[Elektra Records]] and its sister label [[Nonesuch Records]] in 1970, Kinney combined the operations of all of its record labels under a new holding company, [[Warner Music Group|WEA]], and also known as [[Warner Music Group]]. WEA was also used as a label for distributing the company's artists outside North America. In January 1970, Ahmet Ertegun was successful in his executive battle against Warner Bros. Records President Mike Maitland to keep Atlantic Records autonomous. As a result, Maitland was fired by Kinney president [[Steve Ross (Time Warner CEO)|Steve Ross]]. Ertegun recommended [[Mo Ostin]] to succeed Maitland as Warner Bros. Records president.<ref>{{cite book |author=Barney Hoskyns |title=Hotel California: The True-Life Adventures of Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Mitchell, Taylor, Browne, Ronstadt, Geffen, the Eagles, and Their Many Friends |publisher=Wiley |date=2010 |isbn=978-1118040508}}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2018}} With Ertegun's power at Warners now secure, Atlantic was able to maintain autonomy through the parent company reorganizations and continue to do their own marketing, while WEA handled distribution.