Cory Robbins

Cory Robbins (born September 23, 1957) is an American record executive. Robbins founded two influential record labels.

The first, Profile Records (in business from 1981 to 1996; Robbins left in 1994), grew to become a large independent label that proved key in the rise of hip-hop as a commercially viable genre, most notably in breaking hip-hop's first multiplatinum act, Run-D.M.C.

The second, Robbins Entertainment (founded in 1996), has been a pioneer charting dance music's course into the 21st century.

Robbins is currently the owner and president of Robbins Entertainment, which is based in New York City's Tribeca neighborhood.

Early life Robbins was born to Warren and Paula Robbins in Brooklyn, NY. His family spent the first part of his life in Hollis, Queens — the same neighborhood where the members of his future artists Run-D.M.C. grew up. Robbins father was a "closeout specialist" of wholesale clothing and ran a small chain of clothing stores in suburban New York and New Jersey called the Sample Nook. The Robbins family relocated to Rockland County, north of the city, in 1964.

Baskin Robbins rumor Contrary to some accounts, Cory Robbins was not the heir to any "Baskin Robbins" fortune. Irvine "Irv" Robbins, the co-founder of Baskin Robbins, was born in Canada and lived on the West Coast. Cory Robbins' father Warren was in the retail clothing business.

Robbins and Plotnicki decided to concentrate more of their efforts on rap music, and increased their signings in that area. Profile had another rap hit with the Disco Four ("Whip Rap"), and its first notable success in R&B with Sharon Brown's "I Specialize In Love." Robbins handled the A&R and promotion end of the company's affairs, and Plotnicki focused on sales and finance.

Run-DMC followed with their second album, "King Of Rock," in 1985 (which eventually went Platinum with more than 1,000,000 copies sold) — and then "Raising Hell" in 1986 (the first rap album to be certified Triple-Platinum).

Profile Records also had respected artists in the genres of freestyle (Judy Torres), Heavy Metal (Murphy's Law), and eventually Dancehall (Barrington Levy).

The Golden Era The so-called Golden Era of hip-hop was in some ways was made possible by Profile Records and the success of its main signing, Run-D.M.C. That period of time, from the late 1980s into the early 1990s, was also Profile's greatest period of creative and commercial success.

Cory Robbins signed or oversaw the signings of the following artists: Dana Dane, Rob Base & D.J. EZ Rock, Special Ed, Poor Righteous Teachers, DJ Quik, King Sun, 2nd II None, and N2Deep, among others.

Landmark In the late 1980s, following Profile Records' Gold and Platinum successes with Run-D.M.C., Dana Dane, Rob Base and others, Cory Robbins and Steve Plotnicki entertained distribution and purchase offers from major record conglomerates. Robbins and Plotnicki vowed not to sell off their best assets to major labels — as other independents had done — and rejected distribution offers. Instead, Profile made a bid to become a "mini-major" by buying up and/or starting a number of regional record distributors across the country and uniting them into a network, thus giving them national coverage similar to the major labels.

The distribution company, Landmark, was an important player in the indie record landscape in the 1990s, also selling records from labels like Tommy Boy and Select.

In its first months, Robbins Entertainment scored hits. Its second single, "Jellyhead" by Crush, spent over 20 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. Freestyle artist Rockell debuted with "I Fell In Love," which was a top 10 dance single and spent 18 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.

At first, Robbins followed the tried-and-true model he had created at Profile Records, focusing on singles from a variety of genres, and compilation albums of licensed material.

In 1996, Robbins launched the "Strip Jointz" series — compilation albums of songs favored in "gentlemen's clubs." The first Strip Jointz album sold over 100,000 copies. That series was followed by the Super Rare Disco and Dance Party and Trance Party compilations, which sold millions of albums for the label.

Focusing on dance Non-dance artists did not prove to be profitable for Robbins Entertainment. Notably, rock artists and Meg Hentges were well-played on radio, but sales were anemic. After these disappointments, Cory Robbins decided in the year 2000 to focus exclusively on dance music.

The following years were the most successful for the label. Robbins launched its Best of Trance and Best of House compilations, and in 2002, scored its first Billboard Top 10 pop hit with a remake of Bryan Adams' "Heaven" by DJ Sammy & Yanou featuring Do.

Robbins' successes enabled him to buy back BMG's share of the label, and in 2002 took complete ownership of the company, retaining the distribution deal with BMG.

Robbins Entertainment continues to have pop and dance successes, as well as steady income from sync licensing. Among their latest hits are "Evacuate the Dancefloor" by Cascada (2009) and "Take Over Control" by Afrojack (2011).

Awards Robbins Entertainment won Best Dance Label in 2002 and 2003 at the Winter Music Conference. Cory Robbins won Best Label Executive in 2011 and 2012 at the Promo Only Summer Sessions. Robbins Entertainment has 9 R.I.A.A. certified Gold or Platinum singles in the US. Robbins Entertainment has had three top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100: "Heaven" by DJ Sammy & Yanou featuring Do (2002, #8) "Listen To Your Heart" by D.H.T. (2005, #8) "Everytime We Touch" by Cascada (2006, #10)

Discography Profile Records Discography Robbins Entertainment Discography Cory Robbins Discography