Beginning as a European mid-price offshoot of Virgin from 1973 to 1976, Caroline Records was reborn in 1983 as a U.S. distributor and (in 1986) pseudo-indie label operated by Virgin/EMI until 2011. In 2013 the brand was relaunched by Universal Music via the Capitol Music Group. This entity can be used as a label for releases bearing the Caroline or Caroline Records brands (1973–1976 and 1986–present), as well as for distributor or other company roles, although Caroline (3), Caroline Records, Inc., Caroline Distribution, Caroline International, or another Caroline entity may be more appropriate if printed on the release as such.

Caroline catalog number formats varied over the years. CAROL and CAR were common prefixes, sometimes appearing interchangeably on the same release. When submitting, please use the number exactly as it appears on the release to avoid confusion. If multiple numbers appear, add additional fields and use the notes to clarify what appears where. More recently, Caroline adopted the standard EMI numbering system in addition to the CAROL-prefix number

Much the same as Island Records, Caroline was inconsistent about incorporating the word "Records" into their logos and contact information over the years so please use "Caroline Records" even when only "Caroline" appears on the release. In another similarity, the oldest logo was brought back for a number of new releases in the mid-2010s. In hindsight, the canonical name would omit Records, but there are too many releases to edit to do this now.

Labelcode: LC 03261