Concord Records grew into Concord Music Group when it merged with Fantasy Records in 2004, creating a pretty massive catalog. The following year it acquired Telarc, a jazz and classical label. In 2007, Concord co-founded Hear Music with Starbucks, and earlier this year, it added Rounder to the group, too.
Now Milwaukee's own Banshee Music -- which was founded in 2007 and creates music for major sports franchises -- has inked a marketing and distribution deal with Concord to, according to a statement issued today by Banshee, "develop and distribute breakthrough physical and digital products for America's passionate sports fans."
The partnership will launch a series of 10 official releases for teams like the Green Bay Packers, Dallas Cowboys, University of Texas Longhorns, Ohio
State University Buckeyes, and University of Oklahoma Sooners.
"Banshee has done a great job of using music to strengthen the bonds
between many of the leading sports franchises and their fans," said Glen
Barros, CEO of Concord Music Group.
"Through our new partnership with Banshee, we will use our experience in marketing music through both traditional and non-traditional channels in order to add even greater value to Banshee's efforts. And being that we're a company full of people who are crazy about both music and sports, we expect to have a lot of fun in process."
The statement notes -- without specifics -- that, "The partnership will also focus on creating new music products for additional alternative markets that combine the quality and breadth of both Concord's current and catalogue rosters with Banshee's unparalleled reach into consumer product companies and other brands."
The deal will help Banshee's music garner play at sports venues as well as have a retail presence at those venues, college bookstores, bricks and mortar music shops and via Web sites that cater to university students, alumni and sports fans.
Here is one of Banshee's latest projects, Pat McCurdy's "We Love the Green and Gold."
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
