Concord (incorporated as Alchemy Copyrights LLC) was an independent entertainment company, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.
Concord held rights to more than 1.3 million songs, composed works, plays, musicals and active recordings. In 2020, 45% of its revenue came from music, 38% from music publishing and 17% from theatricals. in 2023, according to its CEO, it derived 85% of its revenue "from catalog, rather than newly-developed, music".
On April 2026, Concord announced they would merge with BMG Rights Management, the merger would be completed on September 1st of that same year.
Headquartered in Nashville with additional offices in Los Angeles, New York City, London, Berlin, Melbourne and Miami and staff in Auckland, Sydney, Toronto and Tokyo, Concord's repertoire is licensed in virtually every country and territory worldwide.
History Concord Jazz (1973–1994)
Auto dealer and jazz enthusiast Carl Jefferson started the Concord Jazz record label in 1973. He sold the label to Alliance Entertainment in 1994, and Glen Barros was appointed as CEO of the resulting company Concord Records.
Concord Records (1994–2004)
In 1999, film/television producer Norman Lear and entertainment executive Hal Gaba purchased the company (Concord Jazz and Concord Records) after Alliance filed for bankruptcy. By 2000, the company had begun to receive financial backing from J.P. Morgan & Co.
Concord Music Group (2004–2015)
Concord Music Group was a Former American independent music company (now Concord) based in Beverly Hills, California, with worldwide (including the U.S.) distribution through Universal Music Group."Concord Music Being Shopped to Private-Equity Firms, Not Strategic Suitors", Billboard, December 5, 2012"Concord Music Group to be Sold to Wood Creek Capital Management", Billboard, March 25, 2013 The company specialized in recordings and music publishing. On April 1, 2015, Concord Music Group merged with Bicycle Music Company to become Concord Bicycle Music.
In 2004, Concord Records acquired Fantasy, Inc., owner of the Prestige, Fantasy, Milestone, Riverside, Specialty, and the post-Atlantic Stax catalog. Concord then combined with Fantasy to form the independent Concord Music Group (CMG). Also in 2004, CMG partnered with Starbucks to release the Ray Charles album Genius Loves Company, which won eight Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. In 2005, CMG bought Telarc. On December 18, 2006, CMG announced the re-launch of the soul label Stax; rights to the name were formerly held by Fantasy. New singers included Isaac Hayes and Angie Stone.
On March 12, 2007, Concord Music Group and Starbucks jointly founded the Hear Music label. Paul McCartney's album Memory Almost Full was released in June 2007. Hear Music went on to release albums by Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Alanis Morissette, Carly Simon and John Mellencamp.
In 2008, Village Roadshow Pictures Group (VRPG) and CMG completed their merger resulting in the creation of the new diversified entertainment group, Village Roadshow Entertainment Group.Suzi Price , JazzReview.com, January 29, 2008 In April 2010, it was announced that Paul McCartney transferred the distribution rights of his post-Beatles output to Concord from EMI.Sean Michaels "Paul McCartney cuts ties with EMI", The Guardian, April 22, 2010
CMG purchased Rounder Records in 2010. 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 Records.Huffington Post "Esperanza Spalding: Grammy Award 2011 Winner For Best New Artist", Huffington Post, May 25, 2011 CMG artists won 8 Grammy Awards at the 2013 Awards ceremony, the most of any label group."Concord, Warner Bros. Lead Record Labels With Most Grammy Awards at 2013 Ceremony", Billboard.com, February 11, 2013
On March 25, 2013, Wood Creek Capital Management, (now Barings LLC, an affiliate of MassMutual Financial Group), purchased Concord Music Group from Village Roadshow Entertainment Group."Concord Music Group to be Sold to Wood Creek Capital Management", Billboard.com, March 25, 2013 On October 31, 2013, music publisher 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 entered into a service agreement deal with sister company Concord Music Group to market the acquired Wind-up Records and other back catalogs to retailers and consumers."Bicycle Music Acquires Wind-Up Records' Back Catalog, Cuts Deal with Concord Music Group (Exclusive)", Billboard.com, October 31, 2013
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, CMG provided funding for new talent relationships and artist development, as well as comprehensive label services for Loma Vista."Tom Whalley's Loma Vista Goes to Concord Music Group", Billboard.com, July 1, 2014 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."Concord Music Group Acquires Famed Soul Label Vee-Jay Records", Billboard.com, July 8, 2014
On April 1, 2015, it was 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 operated as individual divisions within Concord Bicycle Music (CBM), with Concord Music Group being primarily responsible for recorded music activities and Bicycle overseeing publishing and rights management."Concord and Bicycle Merge to Form Concord Bicycle Music, Acquires Vanguard and Sugar Hill Records", Billboard.com, April 1, 2015 CBM then immediately announced that it had acquired Vanguard Records and Sugar Hill Records from the Welk Music Group.
Concord Bicycle Music (2015–2017) On October 28, 2014, Alchemy Copyrights LLC was incorporated, with its headquarters registered as Wilmington, Delaware. On December 23, 2014, its Nashville-based subsidiary and namesake was formed.
On April 1, 2015, Concord Music Group, still led by Glen Barros, announced its merger with Bicycle Music, owned by Wood Creek and led by Jake Wisely. The merged companies became subsidiaries of Concord Bicycle Music, a portfolio company of Wood Creek, with Scott Pascucci as CEO. The Concord Music Group division oversaw recorded music activities, and the Bicycle Music Company division managed publishing and rights. As Concord Bicycle Music, the company acquired Razor & Tie, Vanguard Records, Sugar Hill Records, Wind-up Records, Fearless Records, and Musart Music Group including its Edimusa publishing arm (2016).
Following the merger announcement, the Delaware parent and the California branch of Concord Bicycle Assets LLC were incorporated on October 21 and 22, 2015, respectively.
On June 2, 2017, Concord Bicycle Music purchased European-based publishing company Imagem Music Group from a Dutch pension fund. After acquiring two theatrical licensing companies, Tams-Witmark Music Library and Samuel French in 2018, the company formed its own Theatricals division.
Concord Music (2017–19) During 2017, the Concord Music Group, Bicycle Music and Imagem divisions of Concord Bicycle Music were consolidated as Concord Music, and Barros was appointed as chief operating officer.
In 2017, a streaming rights deal signed between Universal and Spotify gave Concord access to Spotify's marketing tools.
By 2018, in the estimation of its chief business development officer Steve Salm, the company's revenue placed it in between "corporate giants" and "most indies", which gave it "an advantage in deals".
In 2019, Concord purchased the German music publishing company Hans Sikorski, and has since amalgamated it with the previously acquired Boosey & Hawkes.
Concord (2019–26) By May 1, 2019, the company was rebranded as Concord. Concord Music had described itself as "a wholly owned subsidiary" or as "the operating entity of Alchemy Copyrights LLC, an investment company that is owned by Barings Alternative Investments, Sound Investors, and seventy institutional and individual partners, including forty members of Concord Music's management team". After rebranding, Concord would define itself as "a private company funded by long-term institutional capital and members of Concord's management team". By July 2020, Alchemy Copyrights was trading as Concord; the State of Michigan Retirement System was its "ultimate parent".
On January 1, 2021, Jake Wisely, the former Bicycle Music CEO and a partner at Concord, was succeeded by Jim Selby as the chief publishing executive of Concord and joined its board of directors.
On April 26, 2021, Concord acquired Downtown's copyrights consisting of 145,000 owned and co-published copyrights for $300 million.Downtown Sells All Copyrights to Concord in $300 Million-Plus Deal, Will Focus on Music Services variety.com, Retrieved on February 7, 2022
In late 2021, incoming interest prompted Concord majority owner, the Michigan State Retirement System, to consider a sale of its stake in the company. "We got some very strong bids, and we passed on all of them," commented the then Concord CEO Scott Pascucci. Pascucci reported that Concord received several bids that were "extremely aggressive" but none that were "extraordinary plus."
In September 2022, Concord purchased the publishing and recorded music catalogues of Tony Banks, Phil Collins, and Mike Rutherford, as well as the publishing and recorded music catalogue from their years in the band Genesis.
In December 2022, Concord successfully closed $1.8 billion of senior notes, secured by a significant portion of its diversified catalogue of sound recordings and songs. Led by Apollo Global Management and assisted by J.P. Morgan, it was the largest asset-backed securitization offering of music rights in the industry to date in terms of both size of issuance and number of assets (over one million copyrights). Proceeds from the issuance were to be reinvested to support Concord's continued growth in 2023 and beyond.
On July 1, 2023, Bob Valentine (previously the chief financial officer) replaced Scott Pascucci as CEO, and Pascucci was appointed to the board of directors.
On August 11, 2023, Concord, together with its distributor Universal Music Group and Sony Music, the two music industry giants, sued the Internet Archive over its Great 78 Project for $621 million in damages from alleged copyright infringement. The charge was filed before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on the date of its final ruling in the Hachette v. Internet Archive case.
In September 2023, it was announced Concord had acquired the music publishing catalog of the New York, Nashville, and London-based music publisher, Mojo Music & Media. The catalog includes works of bands such as REO Speedwagon, Kiss, and Cheap Trick.