Jimmie Dodd

Having already built a leading position in family and children’s filmmaking, Disney moved into the music business in 1949 by launching the Walt Disney Music Company to publish scores from its productions, beginning with the 1950 release Cinderella. During the 1950s the studio introduced two further labels: Disneyland Records, which specialized in film soundtracks, spoken stories, and selections from The Mickey Mouse Club, and Buena Vista, which issued recordings by Disney performers such as Fess Parker, Annette Funicello, and Darlene Gillespie in addition to singles drawn from its motion pictures. In 1989 the separate imprints were unified under Walt Disney Records, an entity that re-released earlier soundtracks, produced read-a-long and sing-a-long packages, compiled both vintage and recent Disney material, and supplied scores for new studio films, among them the multi-platinum successes The Lion King, Beauty & the Beast, Aladdin, and The Little Mermaid. Cinematic and musical momentum extended into the new millennium as the company secured four major properties—Pixar, The Muppets, Marvel, and Star Wars.