Concord Records entered a new phase of its storied history in September.
The Los Angeles-headquartered company, the flagship frontline label under Concord’s recorded music division Concord Label Group, merged with sister label Fantasy Records to create what they claim to be one of “independent music’s most prolific and essential companies”.
Concord Records was launched in the mid-nineties as an imprint of Concord Jazz, which was itself founded in 1973 by the late Carl Jefferson – the former owner of a successful Lincoln-Mercury dealership in Concord, California.
The new Concord Records imprint was intended to broaden Concord’s output beyond the jazz it had been releasing for two decades, which included recordings by legendary drummer Art Blakey and virtuoso jazz Saxophonist Stan Getz.
Fantasy, meanwhile, was founded in 1949 in San Francisco by brothers Max and Sol Weiss, and released recordings by legends from Miles Davis andThelonious Monk, to John Coltrane, Odetta, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, and more.
In the 1960’s, Fantasy released records by Credence Clearwater Revival, including their hits like Proud Mary and Fortunate Son.
Now, 20 years later, Concord Label Group has merged the Concord Records and FantasyRecords brands under the unified Concord Records banner, led by Co-Presidents, and music industry veterans, Margi Cheske and Mark Williams.
Cheske and Williams are based in Los Angeles and report to Tom Becci, who was appointed last year to the newly created role of Concord Label Group Chief Executive.
“The ability to combine resources is a benefit for artists and the company in general,” says Williams, commenting on the decision to merge the two labels. “That’s what the situation is here.”
He adds: “We [were on] similar paths [in terms] of what Fantasy and what Concord were doing and Margi and I have known each other a long time, back to our Virgin days.
“Our skill sets complement each other, so it just made sense, from a lot of views, to come together and combine these rosters and the resources.”
Williams is a 44-year music industry veteran with experience across major and indie labels. He’s worked with artists such as R.E.M., No Doubt, Gwen Stefani, Nine Inch Nails, Beck, Queens Of The Stone Age, Harry Styles, Jack White, Leon Bridges, Brandi Carlile, John Legend, John Mayer, Pharrell, and Vampire Weekend, and signed artists including The Smashing Pumpkins, M.I.A., The Shins, First Aid Kit, Nine Inch Nails, Tyler the Creator, and Odd Future.
He previously served as interim President of Concord Records and Rounder Records, where he oversaw releases by artists such as Sierra Ferrell, Billy Strings, and The Revivalists, and signed numerous acts, including Thirty Seconds To Mars, John Vincent III, Bella White, and Amythyst Kiah.
Co-President of Concord Records, Margi Cheske, meanwhile, was previously President of Fantasy Records, and rebuilt the historic label to the point of Grammy success in 2020 with Tanya Tucker’s While I’m Livin’, which won Grammy Awards for Best Country Album of the Year and Country Song of the Year.
Fantasy, under Cheske’s leadership, also established a roster of artists including Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Allison Russell, James Taylor (including his first No.1 album), Seether, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Lake Street Dive, Valerie June, Diiv, Lucius, LS Dunes, Taking Back Sunday, Marcus King Band, Grace Potter, and Devon Gilfillian.
Prior to her role at Fantasy, Cheske was SVP of Marketing at Concord and responsible for marketing campaigns for Ray Charles’Genius Loves Company, plus Paul McCartney, Sia, Paul Simon, James Taylor, and Carole King.
Before joining Concord, Cheske worked at Virgin Records, marketing acts like The Smashing Pumpkins, Lenny Kravitz, Blur, and Ben Harper. Williams also previously worked at Virgin Records in A&R (where he worked with Margi Cheske, then The Smashing Pumpkins’ product manager), and founded Outpost Recordings before joining Interscope Records in 2001 and Columbia Records in 2010.
The new iteration of Concord Records features a roster of rising artists, including emerging indie act Daffo, Los Angeles-based band Nitefire, singer-songwriter Luke Tyler Shelton, and Australian indie rock band Spacey Jane.
It also features a slate of artists whose stories the label says “are not done being told” – like Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Taking Back Sunday, Seether, The Offspring, and Thirty Seconds To Mars.
Allison Russell, John Vincent III, and Matt Berninger are also on the roster.
“We’re passionate about both established artists that might need a little bit more push, or brand new artists,” says Cheske. “There’s nothing like starting an artist from nothing and growing their career.”
Adds Cheske: “Alison Russell [for example], started with absolutely no socials. No one knew who she was really, and now she’s got Grammys and Junos, and she’s writing a book, and is going to be on Broadway. Those are the kind of artist development stories we love.”
Looking ahead, Concord’s Mark Williams tells us that “[artist] development is the lifeblood and the future of the new Concord Records”.
Here, Williams and Cheske discuss the merger of two historic labels, their views on artist development, and their predictions for the independent music sector…
Concord Records and Fantasy both have long-established legacies; Fantasy goes back decades. You mentioned the opportunity for the two labels to complement each other. Could you hone in on that? How would you say the two brands and their rosters complement each other creatively?
MW: We’ve always looked – and going back in history prior to me and Margi – for artists that have their own unique story to tell; their own vision.
They might not necessarily have lived in the center at times, but they’re musically and culturally relevant in a way that evolves and moves towards the center. To me, it’s more about focusing on the artists themselves, regardless of genre, and what the right fit is.
“We’ve always looked for artists that have their own unique story to tell; their own vision.”
Mark Williams
MC: Mark, you brought up the history. If you look at Credence, which is still such an incredibly relevant band from back in the day, we want to build career artists [like that]. We have that in common. Both Mark and I have always thought that way.
In the press release about the merger you said that you ‘have a commitment to patiently developing new artists, but at the same time the established artists on the roster’. How do your marketing techniques and approach to telling the artists’ story differ today between working with new artists or frontline releases, versus catalog releases and more established acts?
MC: In some ways, there are similarities, and it’s evolving. In many ways, we approach the artists who are still telling their story, who have been around a while, similarly [to new artists].
It’s really important that we serve the artist with resources that can help them tell their story. It doesn’t matter whether they’ve been around for a minute or if they’re new. It all comes down to that. Our job is to help them tell their story and have their vision come to life.
MW: What Concord offers is that we look at those artists with a big sense of priority, understanding, and patience. To answer your question a little bit, it’s that [with established acts], you engage their fanbases more so directly, whereas with new developing artists, the challenge is to build those fanbases in various ways.
With older artists, it’s more about a broader approach. Radio is still an important part of it. Press tells the story; touring tells the story.
Whereas with new artists that are just starting to tell the story, like Daffo, we’re leaning in and growing those fan bases, building on some independent releases they had [previously]. The key to dealing with both is a sense of patience and an understanding that nothing happens overnight.
Is there currently enough investment in artist development across the recorded music industry globally to produce a solid slate of catalog stars of the future?
MW: For a period in our business, that word was gone, particularly at a major level, where it was more about data mining. Development wasn’t really there. We have always taken the approach that we’re going to take our time and grow things from the ground up.
Now, that’s changed across the board in our business. In the last year in particular, I’m seeing interest in artists that wasn’t really there three years ago.
How can a modern record company strike a balance on resource allocation between identifying and developing new artists and developing new stories and opportunities for established artists and catalog releases?
MC: We’re always looking at both. We’re looking at established artists, you know, we’ve, we signed the band Lake Street Dive, which had a few records out already, but we felt that we could take them to it another level.
They’re now going to play Madison Square Garden. We’ve really doubled down on the international marketing support for that band to help them grow their career internationally.
We’re passionate about both established artists that might need a little bit more push, or brand new artists.
MW: Yeah, we’re excited about this artist we just signed, Spacey Jane, who built a really nice career in their home territory of Australia. But we’re interested in building their [presence in the] rest of the world, and they see us as a means and a way to do that.
It’s such a fast-paced world in terms of expectation of results. I’ve done this a long time – I go back to the early days of developing bands that used to break through touring, college radio, independent press, those kind of things.
The media has obviously changed a lot in some ways. Some things, like the touring part, haven’t, but it takes some time for artists to find their voices on a creative level, and it also takes time to build that support [via a] fanbase.
Obviously, in today’s world, things can happen really quickly too, and those are always great when that happens. But you have to use those as exceptions rather than the rule. You strive for that and put everything in place for it to happen.
But in the meantime, you just have to keep doing the groundwork to build things, whether it’s an established artist who’s trying to reengage, maintain, or build on their base, or a new act that you’re trying to find that first level of success with.
Speaking about that journey of working with an artist nobody knows, and building their career to the point of winning Grammys. Can you tell me, from your perspective of the executive guiding that artist, what is your emotional response to seeing that success unfold?
MC: It is really emotional. It’s the reason I got into the business, to begin with. I love developing artists. It’s a passion that I’ve had from the very beginning. I’ve always liked to work with artists that are starting from nothing. It’s just super rewarding for everyone, for the team, for everyone. There’s just nothing more rewarding.
You’re changing someone’s life. I remember when Nathaniel Rateliff (pictured) was on Jimmy Fallon and it just exploded overnight. This was before TikTok. The first thing I thought of was, ‘Okay, his life has just changed’.
He was ready to go back to being a gardener, and he didn’t know if he could cut it anymore, being an artist. We helped change his life, keep his passion for music, and have a career in it. There’s nothing more rewarding in the business for me, anyway.
We also worked with James Taylor and gave him his first No.1 album ever. He’s had this amazing storied career, and we were able to call him and say, “You have a No.1 album for the first time.” I
t’s those types of things I always look to keep the team here focused when the going gets tough, and it does get tough.
MW: It’s the best feeling when you see them achieve the success and the dreams that they want to have. And if you can help be part of that, it’s great.
What trends are you seeing in the independent music space in North America and globally that you are either excited or concerned about creatively and commercially?
MC: For a while, the business was data-driven, quite frankly. Now, it feels like that’s changing a bit, which I think is good. Data is obviously super important, but to be completely driven by data scares the hell out of me. It’s a creative business, it’s not just numbers. I always was like, ‘Oh my, God, is this how the future of the business, is going to be?’
It seems like that is changing now, which is great, but one of the reasons I think I’ve been here for so long is that we’re an independent company. We’ve never had to chase those singles like a lot of other people have had to do constantly. And we’ve got these incredible global resources as an independent that a lot of other independents don’t have.
“We have an independent company and an independent spirit, but we have the resources of any major, especially globally.”
Margi Cheske
MW: I would say [data] is being used differently now, as people have learned to adapt to it. For the ones that are really paying attention to it, it can certainly tell you about songs and success and trends, but there’s no substitute for sitting with an artist and really talking with them and understanding who they are, what their vision is, what their goals are, and how they feel they can achieve them. And, how a label can help them achieve those [goals].
Certain things always come up from those conversations that tend to tell me if it’s an artist I want to work with and think I can make a difference with.
In a general sense, what I would say about that question is that it’s never been a more exciting time to be an artist. At the same time, probably a more frustrating time to be an artist and a label.
The means now to have your music exposed as a writer or an artist… there are many pathways to do that on your own. The other side of that is that [because] there are so many people doing it now, how do you cut through? How do you make a difference?
I just go back to classic things that have always been truisms, which is: work with artists that are really special and have something to say and stand out, and have the music they make be as great as it can be so that stands out. You can’t control those.
But those are the only things really within your view. Everybody else is doing the same stuff when it comes to social media, radio, etc. The difference, to me, comes back to an artist that makes a difference and the music they make being impactful, so that someone on the other side emotionally has a connection to it. And when those two things happen, then it works.
What are your predictions for the independent music sector’s share of the market versus the major record companies in 2025 and beyond?
MW: There’s never been a better time for an independent because the playing field is somewhat level. I would say in some ways, it can be skewed for us. Again, back to having the time and focus on that boutique mentality to stick with things over a longer period of time, to let those artists’ voices be found, and to be able to cut through all the clutter and noise that is out there.
It’s an amazing time to be independent in this space right now, and that’s going to keep going.
MC: Especially with the resources that we have.
And Margi, to your point about the resources that Concord has at its disposal, which means You can compete with other players in the industy, even on the major side when it comes to signing artists and and opportunities that you can give artists. Could you speak to that?
MC: As an independent, we have the best of both worlds. We have an independent company and an independent spirit, but we have the resources of any major especially globally.
Our emphasis is on a global approach for artists, whether new or established. We have staff throughout the world, let alone the other threads within the company, whether it’s a theatrical division or a publishing division. There are just a lot of tentacles that we have as a company that can really benefit an artist that other companies, quite frankly, just don’t have.
MW: Yeah, our global approach is definitely different than a lot of other setups in that the budgets, the priorities, the rosters, emanate from the US to around the world.
An artist that’s on Concord in the UK is not competing with local repertoire in, say, Germany, Australia, etc. These are global priorities and global resources.
MC: We both worked at majors where you have to convince territories to release records, or care about a record or market it. We don’t have that problem here.Music Business Worldwide
