Satbel

South African music/film company active during the seventies and eighties which had a distribution network that included Rhodesia, Malawi, Zanzibar, and South West Africa.

Its history can be traced back to 1969 when local insurance giant [b]Sanlam[/b] bought out the US-based film distributor Twentieth Century Fox, renamed it "Kinekor", formed [b]Satbel[/b] (Suid-Afrikaanse Teaterbelange Beperk), and, together with its other recently-attained "Ster Films", ended up controlling some 76 percent of South Africa's film distribution network -- in an effort to provide Afrikaans films as a counter to US-American culture.

In May 1973 Satbel formed the [b]Comunico[/b] music division which included "The Record and Tape Company" and "Impact Music Publishing", with Allart Constandse (ex- International) and Robin Taylor (ex-of and ) assuming the roles of executive director and managing director, respectively.

Sometimes known as "Satbel Record and Tape Company", "", "RTC" or any permutation thereof, the company could boast one of the country's first 16-track (located in Marshall Street, Johannesburg and originally built by ) as well as the skills of long-serving engineer/producer . It was also the Africa-wide distributor for and had a number of imprint labels that concentrated on "black" music.

In 1979 the two film distributors were merged to form "Ster-Kinekor", and in 1984 Satbel was bought by casino/hotel magnate Sol Kerzner who promptly went about rearranging the company.

Please use this "Satbel" label only if [u]no[/u] other label/brand appears. Sleeves and/or smallprint will most likely always mention "The Record and Tape Company (Pty) Ltd." or "Satbel Record and Tape Company", regardless.