Type Private Website Concord Music Group | Industry Music, entertainment Founded 2004 | |
 | ||
Owner Wood Creek Capital Management Headquarters Beverly Hills, California, United States Parent organizations Universal Music Group, Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, Lionsgate Subsidiaries Concord Records, Rounder Records Artists Paul McCartney, Mindi Abair, REM, Peter White, The Record Company Albums Green Onions, Band on the Run, Pipes of Peace, AFI (The Blood Album), Wings over America Profiles | ||
Concord Bicycle Music is a wholly owned independent music company based in Beverly Hills, California, with world-wide (including the U.S) distribution through Universal Music Group. Concord Music Group's active roster includes Paul McCartney, James Taylor, Chick Corea, Alison Krauss, Ben Harper, Esperanza Spalding, Christian Scott, Arturo Sandoval, Booker T. Jones, Kenny G, George Benson, Steve Martin and Alejandro Escovedo. The company’s master catalog recordings includes John Coltrane, John Fogerty, Frank Sinatra, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Little Richard, Otis Redding, Thelonious Monk, Isaac Hayes, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett and Albert King.
History
The company was founded in 1973 in Concord, California by Carl Jefferson, an auto dealer and jazz enthusiast. Jefferson produced the first Concord Jazz recording by guitarists Herb Ellis and Joe Pass. He named the label after the Concord Jazz Festival, which he had organized some years earlier. Jefferson sold Concord to Alliance Entertainment in 1994 and died the following year. In 1999, film/television producer Norman Lear and entertainment executive Hal Gaba purchased the company. In 2002, the label's headquarters were moved to Beverly Hills, California.
In 2004 Concord Records acquired Fantasy, Inc., owner of Prestige, Fantasy, Milestone, Riverside, and Specialty, and the post-Atlantic Stax catalog. Concord then combined with Fantasy to form the independent Concord Music Group. That same year, Concord first partnered with Starbucks to release Ray Charles’s Genius Loves Company – which won 8 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. In 2005, the company acquired the classics and jazz label Telarc International. On December 18, 2006, Concord announced the re-launch of the soul label Stax; rights to the name were formerly held by Fantasy. New signings included Isaac Hayes and Angie Stone.
On March 12, 2007, Concord Music Group and Starbucks jointly founded the Hear Music label. Hear Music’s initial release, Paul McCartney’s Memory Almost Full, was released in June of ‘07. Hear Music has since released albums by artists that include Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, John Mellencamp and more. In 2008, Village Roadshow Pictures Group (VRPG) and Concord completed their merger resulting in the creation of the new diversified entertainment group, Village Roadshow Entertainment Group. In April 2010 it was announced that Paul McCartney transferred the distribution rights of his post-Beatles output to Concord from EMI.
Concord purchased Rounder Records in 2010. Distribution is mainly handled by Universal Music Group. In smaller markets, such as those in Africa and Eastern Europe, local independent labels that represent Universal license the catalogue. In 2012 Concord Music Group designated four distinct operating units: Fantasy Label Group (Hear Music, Stax, Fantasy), Rounder Label Group, Concord-Telarc Label Group (Concord Jazz/Heads-Up/Telarc) and Prestige Group.
Esperanza Spalding was honored with the Best New Artist Grammy in 2011, a first for Concord. Concord Music Group artists won 8 Grammy Awards at the 2013 Awards ceremony, the most of any label.
On March 25, 2013, Wood Creek Capital Management, an affiliate of MassMutual Financial Group, purchased Concord Music Group from Village Roadshow Entertainment Group. On October 31, 2013, The Bicycle Music Company acquired Wind-up Records back catalog including the master recordings of 1,600 songs including albums by Creed, Evanescence, Seether and Alter Bridge. The Bicycle Music Company then cut a service agreement deal with sister company Concord Music Group to market the acquired Wind-up Records back catalog to retailers and consumers.
On July 1, 2014, Tom Whalley's label, Loma Vista Recordings (home to St. Vincent, Little Dragon, Spoon, Cut Copy, Marilyn Manson, Ghost, and the Grammy-nominated Django Unchained soundtrack, among others) agreed to a new multi-year, worldwide strategic partnership with Concord Music Group. Under the terms of the agreement, Concord provides funding for new talent relationships and artist development, as well as comprehensive label services for Loma Vista. On July 8, 2014, Concord Music Group announced the acquisition of the Vee-Jay Records catalog including over 5,000 master recordings from Little Richard, John Lee Hooker, Betty Everett, Jimmy Reed, Jerry Butler, The Staple Singers, Gene Chandler, and the Dells, among many others.
On April 1, 2015, Concord Music Group announced that it had acquired Vanguard Records and Sugar Hill Records from the Welk Music Group. Simultaneously, it was also announced that Concord Music Group merged with the Bicycle Music Company, a leading independent music publisher, record label, and rights manager to form the fully integrated recorded music and publishing company Concord Bicycle Music. Concord Music and Bicycle Music will operate as individual divisions within Concord Bicycle Music, with Concord Music Group being primarily responsible for recorded music activities and Bicycle overseeing publishing and rights management. In May 2015, Concord Bicycle Music acquired Fearless Records and the rest of Wind-Up Records, the latter's back catalogue having been acquired by The Bicycle Music Company in October 2013. The Fearless acquisition also included Fearless Records' Fearmore Music Publishing, along with the company’s in-house merchandise operation.
In September 2015 Concord acquired a significant stake in Razor & Tie, which includes the Razor & Tie and Washington Square labels, a publishing company, and the Kidz Bop franchise. Artists on the Razor & Tie label include The Pretty Reckless, All That Remains, Red Sun Rising and Starset.