Vik Records was a subsidiary of RCA Victor Records established in April 1953. In the Billboard issue of the 11th of that month, it was announced that RCA was launching, namelessly, a new label that was the company's first to be distributed independently. Billboard opted to use the name Label "X" for the new company. The name was kept, as the label began to hire a series of staffers and decide on a direction. Label X was officially formed on April 20, 1953. Though wholly owned and operated by RCA, it had its own independent distribution. was the head of the new company. RCA spent the rest of the year trying to establish an identity for "X", eventually settling on cover records of R&B hits and quasi-R&B sides by artists such as The Three Chuckles, Eddie Fontaine, and Louis Jordan.