Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 80% certainty 4/5 debate potential 1/5

Branson founded Virgin Records because seven labels rejected Mike Oldfield's demo

Richard Branson · Virgin: Richard Branson · Jan 30, 2017 · at 8:13

Virgin Group founder Richard Branson explains how he transitioned from operating a retail record store to starting Virgin Records to release Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.

0:00 / 0:09exact quote · 9.4s

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“We didn't have a record company, so I took it to seven record companies, nobody would put it out, and so I thought, screw it, let's do it, let's, let's start our own record company.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

Richard Branson founded Virgin Records after seven record labels rejected Mike Oldfield's demo tape.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

Historical and biographical records confirm the core sequence of events: after Mike Oldfield recorded the demo for what became Tubular Bells, Richard Branson and his team pitched the tape to established record labels (including EMI/Harvest, CBS, and Mercury), but all rejected it or demanded unacceptable commercial changes (such as adding vocals). Consequently, Branson and his partners founded the Virgin Records label to release the album as its inaugural catalogue entry (V2001) in May 1973. While the exact figure of seven labels originates from Branson's accounts, published biographies and music retrospectives corroborate that widespread label rejections directly triggered the founding of Virgin Records.

Oldfield's demo for Tubular Bells was rejected by major UK labels including EMI/Harvest, CBS, and Mercury in 1971-1972.
Branson and partners launched Virgin Records in 1972-1973 specifically to release Tubular Bells after failing to license the album to external labels.
Tubular Bells became Virgin Records' debut catalogue release (V2001) on May 25, 1973.
Branson's published memoirs and interviews consistently cite seven record labels turning down the demo prior to establishing the label.

Checked against

[1] tubular.net [2] quora.com [3] quora.com [4] loudersound.com [5] theguardian.com [6] facebook.com [7] bath.ac.uk [8] wikipedia.org

"Losing My Virginity" "Mike Oldfield" demo rejected labels Mike Oldfield Tubular Bells demo rejected by labels Richard Branson founded Virgin Records "Mike Oldfield" "seven" record labels rejected demo "Tubular Bells" Richard Branson Mike Oldfield demo rejected seven record labels Virgin Records "went to seven record companies" OR "went to 7 record companies" "Branson" "Tubular" "Changeling" "Mike Oldfield" demo rejected record labels Virgin "rejected by every record label" "Mike Oldfield" "Virgin"

assessed as of 2026-09-03

This assessment is an AI reading of a public statement, made against the cited references with the confidence shown. It can be wrong. The quote, the tape and the references are all on this page; if something is off, use report an error below. full disclaimer →

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Mike Oldfield Richard Branson Virgin Records

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