Founded by United Artists in 1958 to distribute soundtracks from its movies.

The label's releases became very popular in the 1960s, with the albums from the James Bond and Beatles movies. Gordon Lightfoot recorded his first major label albums with United Artists from 1966-1969.

In 1969, United Artists acquired Liberty Records and its subsidiary Imperial Records.

United Artists involvement with jazz was significant, including albums by Duke Ellington and Art Farmer, although there were only a few jazz titles after about 1963.

Around 1966, a subsidiary jazz label Solid State was founded, which lasted until 1969, on which recordings by Chick Corea, among others, were issued. Liberty's ownership of Blue Note resulted in Solid State's artists being transferred to the more prestigious label and Solid State itself being wound up.

Mainstream pop acts continued to be signed to the label, among them Traffic, the Spencer Davis Group and Hawkwind.

Acquisition of the small Mediarts Records label and a distribution deal with Jet Records added other valuable artists, including Dr. Feelgood, the Buzzcocks and the Stranglers.

EMI purchased United Artists in 1979 and absorbed its artists into EMI's worldwide operations, returning the name of the record label to the film company. The Liberty label was briefly revived in the early 1980s before the company was absorbed into EMI, and many albums from the United Artists Records catalogue were reissued on Liberty during these years.