Genie Records
Genie Records () is a Thai record label and a subsidiary of GMM Grammy that focuses on rock music genre. The label's current acts include Paradox, Big Ass, Bodyslam, Potato and . It was founded by , who was also its managing director for more than twenty one years. History. Genie Records was formed on 1 January 1998 through GMM Grammy and appointed Wichian Rerkpaisan to be its pioneering managing director. The record label initially produced several acts which covered a variety of music genres, one of which was Sumet and the Pang, a musical duo who became popular with  their first album. It also introduced new artists in the entertainment industry, which eventually produced hit songs, such as (Tai), , (Num Kala), , Venus and Dajim. At that time, it was competing with More Music, the country's leading rock music record label, which had veteran rock artists such as Asanee–Wasan, Loso, , Blackhead, Silly Fools and . The rock band Big Ass, who was previously with the record label Music Bugs, became part of Genie Records in 2004. It was followed by the new pop-rock band Bodyslam who also came from the same record label. Both bands later released their  respective albums, "Seven" by Big Ass and "Believe" by Bodyslam which topped the music charts at that time. Underground bands were also introduced by the record label to the mainstream music listeners with the introduction of bands such as Ebola, and . Around 2012, the record label was rebranded into "genie rock" to focus primarily on producing music in the rock genre. They welcomed both new and veteran rock artists such as , , Palmy, , Paper Planes and Potato, who came back to Genie Records after its short-lived stint in and WerkGang. They held their first major concert "Genie Fest G16" on  10 May 2014 at IMPACT Muang Thong Thani celebrating Genie Records' 16th founding anniversary and was followed by "Genie Fest G19" held on 10 February 2018 at Rajamangala National Stadium. On 1 July 2019, its founder and managing director Wichian Rerkpaisan, who also goes by the name of "Nick Genie", confirmed in a Facebook post that he was ending his role in Genie Records after his contract with GMM Grammy expired. He later expounded in an interview after leaving Genie Records that he was initially disappointed with the abrupt decision since he already considered it as his home but made  it clear that he respected the decision. Controversies. Some of Genie Records artists have been embroiled into legal disputes among which was the incident involving (Num Kala) who was charged with a copyright violation in 2018 by the record label Music Bugs for performing the 90's hit song "Yam" by . He acknowledged the violation and was released on bail after a surety of ฿100,000. In the same month, the band Big Ass was also charged with piracy by Music Bugs, which was their previous record label, for performing the song "Gorn Tai" ("Before I Die") which they released  in 2000.