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| Little Fish Records 20th Anniversary Concert Little Fish Records (LFR) announced today that 2014 marks the company's 20th year in business as a record label, and it plans to commemorate the milestone with a showcase concert on June 7, 2014 at The Players Club at Lost Nation Sports Park, 38630 Jet Center Place, Willoughby, OH 44094. The showcase concert will feature 10 bands on two stages including label stalwarts Carlos Jones & the PLUS Band, Winslow, DenZon and the Blues All-Stars, Robin Stone, and The Ark Band, as well as food and craft vendors at the huge outdoor facility. A portion of the proceeds from this event will be donated to The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation (www.mhopus.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to keeping music alive in our schools by donating musical instruments to under-funded music programs. The company was founded in 1994 as a subsidiary of Cross Track Music, Inc. (music publishing and artist management company) as an outlet for material that the publishing arm was accumulating. The company took baby steps for a few years, working initially with several Folk/Americana artists such as Chris Reynolds and Cletus Black. The company then acquired the rights to the catalogue of First Light, one of Cleveland's top acts throughout the 1980s and '90s, and signed Carlos Jones who had left the group to embark on a solo career. That opened the door for the label to establish a niche with American-based reggae artists, and the company released a compilation cd entitled Buckeye Riddims: the Best of Ohio Reggae Rockers. Adding groups such as The Ark Band (Columbus, OH), Jah Works (Baltimore, MD), and Public Property (Cedar Rapids, IA), the label expanded its' distribution network through regional and national distributors, and added digital download distribution in 2005, opening up sales to a worldwide market previously untouchable for a small indie label. Cleveland folk icon Alex Bevan came on board for digital distribution in 2007, and LFR ventured into the smooth jazz genre with West Virginia's David Wells, who reached #10 on the national smooth jazz charts and #1 on the indie charts in 2008. As the industry continues to evolve, LFR continues to add new, developing artists such as Winslow (Akron) and Zach (Akron), singer/songwriter Robin Stone (Cleveland), smooth jazz instrumentalist Keith McKelley (Los Angeles), world-fusion group One World Tribe (Erie, PA), and modern rockers Falling into Fire (Cleveland). The company has also been working to expand its' song licensing activities, placing various songs in movie trailers, textbooks, and recently with multiple independent TV networks such as MTV, VH-1, E, Oxygen, NASCAR and others. Owner Larry Koval, a former musician and veteran of the Cleveland music scene from '70s says, "We've tried to create a platform for developing artists to launch from, and in so doing, we have forged many lasting relationships with talented people. Surviving in this industry has become more difficult in the digital age and we continue to look for ways to bring the finest emerging artists to the forefront as we move towards our next milestone. We greatly appreciate Clevelanders' support of the independent music scene and we hope that they will celebrate this occasion with us on June 7." LITTLE FISH RECORDS (LFR) is a Cleveland-based record label committed to presenting a wide variety of roots-based musical genres, including Reggae, World, Americana, Blues, Folk, Jazz, Rock, and R&B. Little Fish Records is a division of Cross Track Music, Inc., a full-service provider of artist services, including management, promotions, distribution, bookings, publishing, foreign licensing, mobile marketing (through its' MusicAmerica subsidiary), and video production. write your comments about the article :: © 2014 Jazz News :: home page |