# Amalthea

> Swedish record label

**Wikidata**: [Q10407258](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q10407258)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/amalthea

## Summary
Amalthea is a Swedish record label founded in 1977. It is a brand and trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos, operating as a commercial imprint within the phonographic industry. As a Swedish entity, it is headquartered in a highly developed nation known for its significant cultural exports and robust music infrastructure.

## Key Facts
- **Entity Type**: Record label (brand and trademark for marketing music recordings and videos).
- **Origin**: Sweden (officially the Kingdom of Sweden, a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe).
- **Founding Year**: 1977.
- **Industry**: Phonographic industry (specializing in music production, distribution, and sales).
- **Wikipedia Presence**: Swedish language only (sitelink count: 1).
- **Discogs Label ID**: 42892.
- **MusicBrainz Label ID**: b3e366ce-f440-4641-88f5-c0d1badcfb17.
- **Rate Your Music Label ID**: amalthea.
- **Classification**: Subclass of trade name, brand, trademark, and commercial name; distinct from a record company.
- **Disambiguation Criterion**: The name "Amalthea" refers to multiple entities (brand, trademark, band name, or organization name).

## FAQs

**What is Amalthea?**  
Amalthea is a record label founded in Sweden in 1977. It functions as a brand and trademark used for marketing music recordings and music videos, serving as a commercial imprint separate from the operational business of a record company.

**How is Amalthea classified in the music industry?**  
Amalthea operates within the phonographic industry as a commercial name and imprint. It is classified hierarchically as a subclass of trade name, brand, trademark, and music organization.

**Where is Amalthea documented digitally?**  
Amalthea is cataloged in several major music databases: Discogs (ID: 42892), MusicBrainz (ID: b3e366ce-f440-4641-88f5-c0d1badcfb17), and Rate Your Music (ID: amalthea). Its Wikipedia article exists only in the Swedish language.

**What is the difference between Amalthea as a record label and a record company?**  
Amalthea, as a record label, represents the brand identity and trademark used for marketing and public recognition. A record company is the operational entity that manages business functions such as production, distribution, contracts, and logistics.

## Why It Matters
Amalthea represents a specific facet of Sweden's contribution to the global music industry. Established in 1977, the label is part of the cultural and commercial infrastructure that supports artist promotion, content distribution, and intellectual property management. Its existence underscores the importance of specialized brands in the phonographic industry, acting as the public-facing identity for music distribution while operating within Sweden's advanced economic landscape. Furthermore, the documentation of Amalthea across multiple digital databases and semantic ontologies highlights its integration into global music information systems and its role in the machine-readable knowledge ecosystem.

## Notable For
- **Swedish Origin**: Founded in Sweden, a nation with a "very high" Human Development Index (0.947), a top-tier democracy score (9.39 in 2024), and a reputation for significant cultural and technological exports.
- **Historical Establishment**: Created in 1977, situating it within the music industry's analog era before the digital transition.
- **Digital Integration**: Mapped to multiple digital ontologies and databases (Discogs, MusicBrainz, Rate Your Music), ensuring interoperability within semantic web frameworks like DBpedia and the Music Ontology.
- **Brand Distinction**: Functions specifically as a label/imprint, a concept explicitly codified in knowledge systems as distinct from a "record company."

## Body

### Founding and Origin
Amalthea is a record label founded in the year 1977. Its country of origin is Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: *Konungariket Sverige*), a sovereign state and constitutional monarchy located in Northern Europe. Sweden, which has a population exceeding 10.5 million as of 2025, is a highly developed nation and a member of the European Union (since 1995) and NATO (since 2024). The label emerged during a period when Sweden was already established as a representative democracy with a high-income economy, operating under the currency of the Swedish krona.

### Classification and Industry Role
As a record label, Amalthea is defined as a brand and trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. It functions as a commercial name and imprint within the phonographic industry. This classification places it as a subclass of broader concepts, including:
- **Trade name**: A commercial identifier for products or services.
- **Brand**: A recognizable symbol of specific features or reputation.
- **Trademark**: A protected signifier of origin.
- **Imprint**: A trade name under which media is distributed.

In the context of the music industry, Amalthea serves as the public-facing identity for music distribution, separate from a record company, which is the operational entity handling business functions such as production and contracts. This distinction is codified in knowledge systems where "record label" is explicitly differentiated from "record company."

### Digital Presence and Identifiers
Amalthea is documented across several key music databases and digital repositories, ensuring its presence in global information systems. Its primary identifiers include:
- **Discogs Label ID**: 42892.
- **MusicBrainz Label ID**: b3e366ce-f440-4641-88f5-c0d1badcfb17.
- **Rate Your Music Label ID**: amalthea.

The label has a presence on Wikipedia, specifically in the Swedish language, with a sitelink count of 1. This digital footprint aligns with ontological mappings used for record labels, such as `http://dbpedia.org/ontology/RecordLabel` and `http://purl.org/ontology/mo/Label`, which ensure machine-readable data interoperability and linked-data queries.

### Context within Sweden
Amalthea operates within Sweden, a country characterized by its advanced economy and high standards of living. Sweden's economic environment includes a nominal GDP of approximately $585.9 billion (as of 2022) and a high trade union membership rate. The country is also known for its technological and business innovation, being the origin of major multinational companies and successful tech start-ups. Sweden's cultural policy and infrastructure support a robust music industry, and Amalthea's operations are situated within this broader context of a developed, export-oriented economy. The country's digital infrastructure, including widespread internet usage and technical identifiers like the `.se` top-level domain, further supports the label's integration into modern music distribution channels.

## References

1. MusicBrainz
2. Discogs
3. Rate Your Music