An American record label that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony BMG.

Founded in 1974 as the successor label to Bell Records by Clive Davis, it was later acquired by Ariola Records (Bertelsmann) in 1979. Ariola then sold 50% of Arista to RCA Records in 1983.

In 1985, Bertelsmann and RCA started a joint venture for their music divisions, Ariola/RCA Records.

In 1987, Bertelmann purchased all Ariola/RCA stocks and became the sole owner of Ariola, Arista and RCA Records. The three music divisions were united in the same year under BMG.

After the corporate reconstruction of BMG in 2004, Arista, always an independently operated company at BMG, was subsequently demoted to operate under the newly formed RCA Records Group.

In August 2005, Arista's operations were merged with that of J Records. For the time being, the Arista imprint will continue to be use for new releases.