ABSTRACT
Indianapolis, Indiana-based Tyscot Records is the oldest Black-owned and operated gospel music label in the United States. The label is one of three brands housed under the offi cial company, Tyscot Incorporated, which encompasses Tyscot Records, Tyscot Films, and Tyscot Publishing, with its catalog of approximately four thousand mostly Christian-based songs. As an independent recording label that has greatly impacted the careers of numerous artists, executives, and other creative personnel in the gospel music industry, from its inception Tyscot founders conceived the label as a ministry-driven business, a concept that profoundly shapes the character of its day-to-day operations as well as its approach to achieving its fi scal goals. In other words, the intersection of faith and commerce is readily evident in the story of Tyscot Records.
