Harthouse was founded in 1991 by Heinz Roth (and Matthias Hoffmann (Brainchild) & Sven Väth) in Frankfurt. It was distributed via "WEA Music GmbH" and "Eye Q Musukproduktion GmbH". In 1997 Sven Väth and Matthias Hoffmann left Harthouse and the label moved to Berlin. Some months later Harthouse had to declare insolvency. In 1998 UCMG Germany bought the licences to some Harthouse releases and the rights for the use of the label's trademark. Oliver Bondzio of Hardfloor became the new A&R and the "Retrospective"-compilation along with some new releases were published. After the bankrupcy of the UCMG Germany in 2003, Harthouse was discontinued for the second time. In 2004 Daredo Music took over the rights of the Harthouse brand. The label is now called Harthouse Mannheim, but the old design is kept intact.