From James Brown in 1965 to Lil Wayne in 2008, one address in North Miami and one name from New York account for an implausible share of the American songbook. A documentary now in development, executive produced by Sir Michael Fomkin and VIP Ignite Live with Abundance Studios, sets out to tell how.
NEW YORK and NORTH MIAMI — There is a low building on 149th Street that most drivers pass without a glance. There is also a name, The Hit Factory, that has moved six times and crossed an ocean. Between them, they outlived nearly every studio they competed with.
Between them they account for Layla, Hotel California, Double Fantasy, Born in the U.S.A., Rumours in part, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Life After Death, Ray of Light and The Black Album. Twenty-seven RIAA Diamond certifications. Ten Grammy wins for Album of the Year. More than 750 gold and platinum awards at the Miami address alone.
A feature documentary on that history is now in development. Sir Michael Fomkin and VIP Ignite Live serve as executive producers, alongside Abundance Studios. The cause-driven film studio and producer collective named Fomkin an executive producer in September 2025.
This article is the index to the series The Miami News has been publishing alongside it.
Two Studios, One Name
The Hit Factory began in 1969 as a room rented on Seventh Avenue by the songwriter Jerry Ragovoy. Edward Germano bought it in 1975 and redesigned it. Then he spent two decades turning it into an institution: 48th Street, Broadway, a London partnership with Sony, and finally the 100,000-square-foot headquarters at 421 West 54th Street.
Criteria was already famous by then. Mack Emerman opened it in North Miami in 1958. In 1965 he added a room built for a 72-piece orchestra. Meanwhile Atlantic Records adopted the place so thoroughly that it acquired a nickname: Atlantic Studios South.
In January 1999 the Germanos bought Criteria. For eighteen years the sign read The Hit Factory Criteria Miami.
The Artists
The Bee Gees. In 1975, three brothers whose American career was finished moved into a rented house in Golden Beach. Eric Clapton and manager Robert Stigwood had suggested it. Every day they drove to Criteria. The expansion joints on the Julia Tuttle Causeway gave them the rhythm of “Jive Talkin’.” Producer Arif Mardin asked Barry Gibb whether he could scream in tune, and the falsetto that defined the late 1970s arrived. Within three years they held six No. 1 singles in six months, breaking a record set by the Beatles. Read the full story.
Eric Clapton and Duane Allman. On August 26, 1970, Clapton attended a benefit show in Miami. Duane Allman stopped mid-solo when he saw him. Hours later the two were at Criteria, trading guitars until sunrise. Allman then stayed for eleven of the fourteen songs on Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. That includes the seven-note riff he devised, which Clapton has always credited to him. Read the full story.
John Lennon. In August 1980, after five years away, Lennon booked The Hit Factory on West 48th Street under his accountant’s name. He hired a band and never told them whose record it was. He chose the building precisely because nobody would think to look for him there. Read the full story.
Beyond the Headliners
Everyone else. James Brown cut “I Got You (I Feel Good)” at Criteria in 1965, the studio’s first gold record. Aretha Franklin recorded there under Atlantic. So did Bob Marley, the Allman Brothers Band and Black Sabbath. The Eagles worked on Hotel California in the building; Fleetwood Mac tracked portions of Rumours. John Mellencamp cut “Jack & Diane” in Studio E.
New York holds its own list. Bruce Springsteen made Born in the U.S.A. there. The Notorious B.I.G. made Ready to Die and Life After Death. Mariah Carey made Daydream and Butterfly; Whitney Houston recorded for The Bodyguard. Madonna made Ray of Light, and Lauryn Hill made The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Meanwhile the Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Talking Heads, Celine Dion, U2 and TLC all passed through.
Back in Miami, meanwhile, the second era belonged to hip-hop and R&B. Michael Jackson recorded Invincible. Jay-Z made The Black Album. Timbaland and Jennifer Lopez worked there, and Lil Wayne effectively moved into Studio E for a multi-year residency beginning in 2005.
Why a Documentary Now
Because the window is closing.
Consider the timeline. Ed Germano died in 2003. The New York headquarters closed in 2005 and the site became residences, which is what happened to most of the great rooms. Mack Emerman is gone. The engineers who built these records are in their seventies and eighties.
Criteria itself survives. Six studios, still at 1755 NE 149th Street, back under its original name since 2017. However, it survives without staff engineers, and without the social density that made it work. The era when three sessions’ worth of musicians ended up in the parking lot together is over.
What remains is a building where an unbooked jam between two strangers produced “Layla,” and a set of people who were in the room and can still describe it.
That is the case for making the film while it can still be made.
The Miami News | Quick Take
- Subject: The Hit Factory and Criteria Studios, 1958–present
- Addresses: 1755 NE 149th Street, North Miami; 421 West 54th Street and 353 West 48th Street, New York
- Founders: Jerry Ragovoy (1969, New York); Mack Emerman (1958, North Miami)
- Owners: Edward and Troy Germano, from 1975; Criteria acquired January 12, 1999
- Honors: 27 RIAA Diamond certifications; 10 Grammy Album of the Year wins; 3 Academy Awards for Best Original Song; 750+ gold and platinum awards at the Miami address
- Documentary: In development — Abundance Studios, with Sir Michael Fomkin and VIP Ignite Live as executive producers
