In the modern world, Concord (entertainment company) has become increasingly relevant in different areas of society. Since its inception, Concord (entertainment company) has aroused great interest and has been the subject of various studies and research. In this article, we will explore in detail the impact and influence of Concord (entertainment company), as well as its implications in different contexts. Throughout history, Concord (entertainment company) has played a fundamental role in people's lives, both individually and collectively. Through an exhaustive analysis, we aim to offer a complete and updated vision of Concord (entertainment company), addressing its most relevant aspects and its possible future developments.
Concord is an American independent creative rights company that develops, manages and acquires sound recordings, music publishing rights, theatrical performance rights and narrative content. It is a private company, funded by long-term institutional capital and members of Concord's management team.
Concord holds rights to more than 1.2 million songs, composed works, plays, musicals and active recordings.
Auto dealer and jazz enthusiast Carl Jefferson started the Concord Jazz record label in 1973. He sold the label to Alliance Entertainment in 1994. 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.
In 2004, Concord Records acquired Fantasy, Inc., owner of Prestige, Fantasy, Milestone, Riverside, Specialty, and the post-AtlanticStax catalog. Concord then combined with Fantasy to form the Concord Music Group. Several label acquisitions and partnerships followed including Telarc (2005) and Rounder Records (2010).
In 2013, Concord Music Group was acquired by an investor group led by Wood Creek Capital Management and Sound Investors, LLC. Many of the same investors also owned a majority interest in independent music publisher Bicycle Music Company.
In 2017, Concord Bicycle Music purchased European-based publishing company Imagem Music Group. After acquiring two theatrical licensing companies, Tams-Witmark Music Library and Samuel French in 2018, the company formed its own Theatricals division.
The company changed its name to Concord in early 2019.
On April 26, 2021, Concord acquired Downtown's copyrights consisting of 145,000 owned and co-published copyrights for $300 million.
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 current Concord CEO Scott Pascucci. Pascucci reported that Concord received several bids that were "extremely aggressive" but none that were "extraordinary plus."
In September of 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.
Concord successfully closed $1.8 billion of senior notes in December 2022, secured by a significant portion of its highly diversified catalogue of sound recordings and songs. It is 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 will be reinvested to support Concord's continued growth in 2023 and beyond.
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.
Additionally in September 2023, Concord made an offer to acquire the entirety of Round Hill Music Royalty Fund (RHM) – the UK-listed fund operated by Round Hill Music. In October 2023, the RHM shareholders approved the acquisition, with over 99% of shareholders supporting the deal.
Divisions
Concord Music Publishing
In 2017, when Concord purchased the Imagem Music Group, it tripled the size of its catalog bringing it to nearly 800,000 copyrights. The Imagem purchase also brought classical music publisher Boosey & Hawkes and The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization into Concord Music Publishing. Concord's publishing catalog now includes a vast array of popular music, classical music and many song and stage standards.
In January 2020, Concord acquired a stake in PULSE Music Group, a move into chart-focused A&R. Effective July 2020, Concord will administer the catalog and future signings for PULSE, an additional 10,000 songs. PULSE's current songwriter roster includes James Blake, Cordae, Trevor Daniel, El-P, Brent Faiyaz,FNZ, Tyler Johnson, Kehlani, Bonnie McKee, OG Parker, OZ, Rich The Kid, Starrah, Ty Dolla $ign, and YEBBA. The PULSE roster is credited with over 150 million units of recorded music sales, 10 billion streams and more than 250 Platinum and Gold RIAA certifications.
Concord Music Publishing has also launched the new, Nashville-based talent and creative development venture Hang Your Hat Music, in partnership with GRAMMY®, CMA and ACM awarded songwriter Hillary Lindsey.
In April 2021, Concord acquired the roster and catalogue of Downtown Music Publishing bringing its catalog to nearly 600,000 works.
In August 2022, Concord acquired Australian music publisher Native Tongue, effectively launching Concord Music Publishing ANZ.
In September 2022, Concord acquired the assets of L.A. Reid's HitCo Entertainment.
In June 2023, Concord and PULSE Music Group launched a new label, dubbed PULSE Records. The deal builds on a partnership between Pulse and Concord started in 2020 when Concord's music publishing division acquired a stake in Pulse Music Group to form a joint venture that included Concord administering Pulse's catalog and future signings.
Concord's KIDZ BOP label has sold 23 million albums, generated 8 billion streams, has a featured channel on Sirius XM and an international tour under its name.
Concord Theatricals
Concord purchased theatrical licensing companies Tams-Witmark and Samuel French, and combining then with R&H Theatricals, launched its Theatrical division in 2018. Concord Theatricals services both creators and producers of musicals and plays with theatrical licensing, script publishing and cast recordings. It also develops, licenses, produces and invests in musicals and plays for production.
Concord Theatricals is a co-producer on the currently running Broadway shows Hadestown and the 2022 revival of Into The Woods for which Concord Theatricals/Craft Recordings released the cast album. The Into the Woods(2022 Broadway Cast Recording) won the GRAMMY Award for Best Music Theater Album on February 5, 2023.
Concord Originals
In 2019, Concord formed a Film & Television Development and Production Department to oversee all long-form audio-visual content produced by both Concord and third-party companies. In 2021, the Company launched Concord Originals as its narrative content creation business that will focus on developing and producing stories anchored by Concord's artists, music and theatrical works. The division's slate consists of feature films, series, documentaries and podcasts, including remakes and re-imaginings of properties from Concord's iconic portfolio.
Concord Originals recently executive produced Billie, a documentary about Billie Holiday which premiered at Telluride Film Festival in 2019. The business is in development on several major screen projects based on iconic musicals by Rodgers & Hammerstein: a TV series reimagining of Oklahoma!, which Concord Originals is producing alongside Skydance TV, a remake of The King and I with Temple Hill at Paramount Pictures and a contemporary take on Flower Drum Song with Daniel Dae Kim's 3AD and Janet Yang Productions. Additional announced projects include a scripted series centering the history-making label Fania with Sherry Marsh, Jorge Granier and Sergio Pizzolante, an elevated genre film inspired by the music of blues legend Robert Johnson and a scripted podcast that tells the story behind the classic Mexican ballad Peregrina with Prodigal Entertainment. Concord Originals has also partnered with Skydance and Jennifer Lopez's Nuyorican Productions to develop a slate of original projects based on Concord's catalog of theatrical works.