Magna Carta Records

Last updated
Magna Carta Records
Founded1989 (1989)
Distributor(s) Warner Music Group
Genre Progressive rock/metal, jazz, alternative rock
Country of originU.S.
Location Rochester, New York

Magna Carta Records is an independent record label located in Rochester, New York. Magna Carta was formed in 1989 and is owned by Peter Morticelli and his partner Mike Varney. [1] [2] The label, named for the 1215 English document advancing democracy, Magna Carta , has a diverse line-up consisting of musicians from many different genres, but is best known for many of its progressive rock/metal acts. Among the artists featured on the label are OHMphrey, Alex Skolnick Trio, Dave Martone, Kris Norris, and Doug Pinnick (of King's X).

Contents

Distribution

As of June 1, 2009, Magna Carta began working with Alternative Distribution Alliance for North American distribution. Magna Carta formerly worked with Rykodisc which was acquired by ADA in early 2009. ADA is a subsidiary of Warner Music Group (WMG).

Magna Carta is distributed by Plastic Head in the UK and by Border Music in Scandinavia.

In June 2018, Magna Carta put its royalties and copyrights up for sale on the music auction site Royalty Exchange. The label had earned $104,000 in the past 12 months and sold for $570,000.

Roster

Magna Carta

Past

Tribute albums

Special projects

See also

Related Research Articles

Island Records British-Jamaican record label

Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another label recently acquired by PolyGram, were both at the time the largest independent record labels in history, with Island having exerted a major influence on the progressive music scene in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. Island Records operates four international divisions: Island US, Island UK, Island Australia, and Island France. Current key people include Island US president Darcus Beese, OBE and MD Jon Turner. Partially due to its significant legacy, Island remains one of UMG's pre-eminent record labels.

Elektra Records American record label

Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1950s and 1970s. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived as an imprint of Atlantic in 2009. In October 2018, Elektra was detached from the Atlantic Records umbrella and reorganized into Elektra Music Group, once again operating as an independently managed frontline label of Warner Music. In June 2022, Elektra Music Group was merged with 300 Entertainment to create the umbrella label 300 Elektra Entertainment (3EE), though both Elektra and 300 will continue to maintain their separate identities as labels.

Epic Records American record label

Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical music label in 1953, but later expanded its scope to include a more diverse range of genres, including pop, R&B, rock, and hip hop.

The Orchard (company) American music and entertainment company

The Orchard is an American music and entertainment company, specializing in media distribution, marketing, and sales. It is a subsidiary of Sony Music, based in New York City. In 2019, the company sold off its film and television division, which was renamed 1091 Media.

Warner Music Group American multinational music conglomerate

Warner Music Group Corp. is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the global music industry, after Universal Music Group (UMG) and Sony Music Entertainment (SME). Formerly part of Time Warner, WMG was publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange from 2005 until 2011, when it announced its privatization and sale to Access Industries. It later had its second IPO on Nasdaq in 2020, once again becoming a public company. With a multibillion-dollar annual turnover, WMG employs more than 3,500 people and has operations in more than 50 countries throughout the world.

Echolyn is an American progressive rock band based in eastern Pennsylvania.

Mike Varney is an American record producer and music publisher. He is the founder of the Shrapnel Label Group, which includes Shrapnel Records, Tone Center Records and Blues Bureau International. He also has a 50% stake in Magna Carta Records, a New York-based label. Varney is often credited with being the individual most responsible for popularizing the mid-1980s shred guitar boom, and has continuously specialized in producing musicians within the genres of instrumental rock, hard rock, jazz, jazz fusion, blues, blues-rock, progressive metal and speed metal.

Four Tet English musician and DJ

Kieran Hebden, best known by the stage name Four Tet, is an English electronic musician. He first came to prominence as a member of the post-rock band Fridge before establishing himself as a solo artist with charting UK albums such as Rounds (2003) and Everything Ecstatic (2005). In addition to his eleven studio albums as Four Tet, Hebden's work includes a number of improvisational works with jazz drummer Steve Reid and collaborations with Burial and Thom Yorke.

Independent music is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording and publishing. The term indie is sometimes used to describe a genre, and as a genre term, "indie" may or may not include music that is independently produced, and many independent music artists do not fall into a single, defined musical style or genre and create self-published music that can be categorized into diverse genres. The term ‘indie’ or ‘independent music’ can be traced back to as early as the 1920s after it was first used to reference independent film companies but was later used as a term to classify an independent band or record producer.

CD Baby Digital music distributor

CD Baby, Inc. is an online distributor of independent music. The company was described as an "anti-label" by its parent company's Chief Operating Officer Tracy Maddux. The CD Baby music store was shut down in March 2020 with a statement that "CD Baby retired our music store in March of 2020 in order to place our focus entirely on the tools and services that are most meaningful to musicians today and tomorrow."

CMC International was an American independent record label founded by Bill Cain and Tom Lipsky in 1991, focused mainly on classic rock, and classic heavy metal. The label was the haven of many hard rock, arena rock, thrash metal, glam metal and AOR artists in the period when all the majors were investing all their financial efforts on grunge and alternative rock acts. In 1995 CMC started a partnership with BMG Entertainment, which in 1999 owned the majority of the company, with founder Tom Lipsky holding a minority stake.

The Music Industry Program Entities, or the MAD Dragon Music Group (MDMG), is an umbrella company owned by Drexel University, run by University students and overseen by faculty and staff. The purpose of the company is to provide industry experience to the students in the Music Industry Program. The companies of MDMG include MAD Dragon Records, DraKo Booking, MAD Dragon Publishing, MADKo Concerts and Bantic Media.

Alternative Distribution Alliance

Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA) is a music distribution company owned by Warner Music Group, which represents the rights to various independent record labels. ADA provides "independent artist and label partners with access to the resources, relationships and experience required to share their creative vision with a global audience."

Eric Gales Musical artist

Eric Gales, also known as Raw Dawg, is an American blues rock guitarist, originally hailed as a child prodigy. As of 2022, Gales has recorded nineteen albums for major record labels and has done session and tribute work. He has also contributed vocals on several records by the Memphis rap groups Prophet Posse and Three 6 Mafia under the name Lil E.

SoundCloud German audio distribution platform

SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio, as well as a digital signal processor enabling listeners to stream audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud has grown to be one of the largest music streaming services in the world and is available in 190 countries and territories. Audience-wise, there are over 76 million active monthly users, with over 175 million global users that SoundCloud reaches, as of November 2021. While its competitors report having roughly 70 million tracks in their systems, SoundCloud has over 300 million. SoundCloud offers both free and paid memberships on the platform, available for mobile, desktop and Xbox devices.

<i>Magna Carta Holy Grail</i> 2013 studio album by JAY Z

Magna Carta Holy Grail is the twelfth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z. It was made available at first for free digital download for Samsung customers via the Jay-Z Magna Carta app on July 4, 2013. It was released for retail sale on July 8, 2013, by Roc-A-Fella, Roc Nation, and Universal Music Distribution. The album features guest appearances by Justin Timberlake, Nas, Rick Ross, Frank Ocean and Beyoncé. Most of the album was produced by Timbaland and Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon, while other producers included Boi-1da, Mike Will Made It, Hit-Boy, Mike Dean, No I.D., The-Dream, Swizz Beatz, and Pharrell Williams among others. The album was promoted through various commercials presented by Samsung and was not preceded by any retail singles.

Independent record label Type of record label

An independent record label is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented by trade associations in their country or region, which in turn are represented by the international trade body, the Worldwide Independent Network (WIN).

Rhymesayers Entertainment American independent hip-hop record label based in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Rhymesayers Entertainment is an American independent hip-hop record label based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was co-founded in 1995 by Sean Daley (Slug), Anthony Davis (Ant), Musab Saad and Brent Sayers (Siddiq). Former members of the Headshots crew. Beginning in 2008, Rhymesayers Entertainment sponsors the annual Soundset Music Festival, a popular attraction that takes place over Memorial Day weekend in Minneapolis. The music festival was postponed in 2020.

Round Hill Music is an American music publishing company founded in 2010 by Josh Gruss along with Richard Rowe, and Neil Gillis. The company runs a music publishing division, sync and royalty administration, music production library business, a record label and label services division as well as a Nashville songwriter services group with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Nashville and London.

Amuse (music company)

Amuse is a digital music distribution service as well as independent record label founded 2015 in Stockholm, Sweden by entrepreneurs Diego Farias, Andreas Ahlenius, Christian Wilsson, Guy Parry and Jimmy Brodd. The company offers free digital music distribution, technology services and license deals to artists and independent labels, who retain 100% of their music ownership rights. Amuse is based in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2021, Roshi Motman was appointed CEO of the company.

References

  1. "WDKX, House of Guitars in class of Music Hall of Fame". Democrat & Chronicle . February 24, 2014. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  2. Woodard, Josef (April 25, 2019). "Label Watch: Tone Center". JazzTimes . Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  3. Hellman, Steve (February 20, 2019). "Celtic Rock band Tempest to perform at Willits Community Theatre". Ukiah Daily Journal . Retrieved September 21, 2020.