Restless Records was founded by Joe Regis & William Hein and released primarily alternative, metal & punk material, but other styles could be released under the imprint of its fully-owned subsidiary, Pink Dust Records. Restless also licensed & released material represented by other labels such as Bar/None, Metal Blade & Mute.
In 1991, Enigma merged with Restless Records, and it's unclear if the deal affected beneficial the outcome of the label's eventual 1992 acquisition of Twin/Tone Records. Another venture paid off a year later when the label teamed with Warner Brothers Music Group (WMG) to co-found Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA), with the latter handling distribution aspects. Restless was granted access to certain titles that were (beforehand) controlled by Warner or an associate label of it, with the latter group to include Elektra, Atlantic, the affiliates of both & the respected Sub Pop Records, which subsequently joined as a third partner in the venture.
The ten years following its inception was blessed by continual success & culminated in ADA becoming the largest distributor of independent music in America.
In 1997, Restless was acquired by Arnon Milchan's New Regency Productions, one of the entertainment industry's largest independent film production companies. Restless remained a subsidiary of New Regency until 2001, during which time Restless released many of New Regency's soundtracks.
In 2001, Restless was bought by Rykodisc as part of their revitalization efforts following a short-lived Rykodisc/Palm Pictures merger. It continues to operate as a division of Rykodisc.
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