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Rounder Records

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Rounder Records
File:Rounder logo.jpg
Parent companyConcord Music Group
Founded1970
Distributor(s)Decca Records[1]
GenreVarious
Country of originUS
LocationNashville
Official websiteOfficial Web Site of Rounder Records

Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Nashville, Tennessee ,[2] is an American independent record label, founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were university students. It once served as a major distributor[citation needed] and central sales location for other independent labels specializing in roots music, at one point representing as many as 450 other labels.[citation needed] In the 1990s, though, the company cut back on the distribution effort in order to focus on its own productions. In the early 2000s, shortly after the merger of the PolyGram and MCA label families, Rounder signed a manufacturing and distribution deal with Universal Music, which also purchased an interest in the label.

Starting with blues, blues-rock, string band, and bluegrass, Rounder expanded to over 3,000 titles of folk, soul, soca, Cajun, and Celtic. The name was chosen partly because of its association with the band Holy Modal Rounders. The word rounder also means a hobo or tramp. One of their earliest successes was the blues-rock band George Thorogood and the Destroyers.

One of the label's projects is the Alan Lomax Collection, a series of releases of the work of the pioneering ethnomusicologist and folklorist.

Among Rounder's artists, bluegrass superstar Alison Krauss (who had been with the label for the duration of her career) was offered a number of major label deals following her commercial breakthrough in the late 1990s, but Krauss opted to remain with Rounder.[citation needed] Rounder was one of the very first labels to become involved with compact discs, in 1985. In 2004, the company launched a book division known as Rounder Books.

Rounder formed a children's music division called Rounder Kids in the 1990s. Its current label roster is the Canadian children's entertainer Raffi Cavoukian.

In 2010, Rounder was purchased by the Concord Music Group. It will continue to be distributed by Concord.[3]

New Rounder is a subset label of Rounder.[4]

Notable artists

Subsidiary labels

  • Bullseye Blues
  • Dolphin Safe
  • Easydisc
  • Flying Fish
  • Grand Illusion
  • Greenhays
  • Heartbeat
  • Heavy Rotation
  • Henry Street
  • Hudson Music
  • Moon Junction
  • Philo
  • Rounder Select
  • Rounder Specials
  • Symmetry
  • Tone Cool Records
  • Trampoline
  • Upstart
  • Varrick
  • Vestapol
  • Zoë

See also

References

  1. ^ "About". Decca. Retrieved 2013-07-13.
  2. ^ "Rounder Records Completes Move to Nashville". Rounder.com. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  3. ^ "Rounder Records founders say sale best way to preserve business - The Boston Globe". Boston.com. 2010-04-15. Retrieved 2013-07-13.
  4. ^ "Label: New Rounder". l HDtracks. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
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