In 1993, former Aerospace Engineer, John W. Edwards had the idea to form a new recording label which would focus on the reissue of classic rock and classic country LPs on CD for the first time, thus Renaissance Records was born.Edwards, a graduate of the University of Arizona with a BS in Physics and an MS in Systems Engineering, relocated from Tucson to Nashville in early 1993 and began laying the groundwork for what would become Renaissance Records Inc., a Tennessee corporation.In the fall of 1995 Renaissance Records signed licensing deals with EMI-Capitol and Sony Music, to be followed in early 1996 by similar agreements with BMG/RCA/Arista and Universal Music Group. The company also formed licensing agreements with individual artists both in the US and abroad, as well as licensing an entire library of live concert recordings which would become the basis for its Concert Classics series.The company was able to license recordings by such country artists as Lynn Anderson, Deborah Allen, Sylvia, Louise Mandrell, Lacy J. Dalton, Juice Newton, Janie Fricke, Dave & Sugar, Jody Miller, Charly McClain, Razzy Bailey, Jim Ed Brown & Helen Cornelius, Stella Parton, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Tanya & LaCosta Tucker, Johnny Cash and the Sweethearts of the Rodeo.The company also licensed recordings by well-known rock artists such as Russ Ballard, Colin Blunstone, Charlie, City Boy, Crack The Sky, Walter Egan, Esquire, Flash And The Pan, Kayak, Lake, Kerry Livgren, Melanie, New England, Prism, Pure Prairie League, Sad Café, 707, The Sherbs, Starcastle, Starz, Steel Breeze, T’Pau, John Wetton, Wishbone Ash and Rick Springfield.The Concert Classics series includes live recordings by Asia, The Babys, Blue Oyster Cult, Head East, Hall & Oates, Roxy Music, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Pure Prairie League w/ Vince Gill, Firefall, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Jack Bruce, Starcastle, Amazing Rhythm Aces, Judas Priest, U2, Gamma, UK, Bob Welch and Prism.In January of 1996 Edwards also formed Renaissance Music & Entertainment Inc. which was designed to handle artist management and independent distribution. Several partners were added to both companies. Initially, Renaissance Records was handled by smaller regional distributors and one-stops to establish its product flow in the USA. In the fall of 1997 Renaissance Records secured an agreement with Ryko Distribution for national distribution. Ryko was a larger independent distributor who could get the Renaissance CDs in major national chains.During 1998 a spin-off label, Jomato Records, was formed and released a collection of the early recordings of Shania Twain, generating sales of over 50,000 units.Throughout the balance of 2001 and all of 2002, Edwards bought out his former partners, renewed product licenses and reorganized the company before returning to Tucson in the spring of 2002 to re-establish the company physically. The Jomato label was disbanded in that same year. The Renaissance Records and Renaissance Music & Entertainment corporations were merged together in a new entity, the Renaissance Entertainment Group, with the Discs Online LLC independent distribution arm.During 2003 Edwards arranged contracts with Amazon.Com and re-acquired many of Renaissance’s old independent accounts, rebuilding the company to over $200,000 in gross sales its first year without major national distribution. He also formed the non-profit, tax-exempt, Arizona corporation, PRIMA (Popular Recordings International Music Archive) Inc. in late 2003. PRIMA is designed to provide archival services for recorded music between 1940 and the present. While PRIMA is a non-profit company, it has a commercial recordings division, which licenses and releases recordings for profit and support of the archive.Renaissance is looking to expand its base again to regain the sales levels commercially that it achieved under the Ryko years, even with the loss of retail giants Musicland, Camelot and Tower Records. Renaissance is currently distributed nationally by Koch Entertainment Distribution in Port Washington, NY. Renaissance has added such artists of name as John Wetton & Geoffrey Downes (Asia), Chris Thompson (Manfred Mann’s Earth Band), White (featuring Yes’s Alan White), Shooting Star and new additions Breathing Space and Lee Saunders. Our focus for 2008 will include the debut of many new artists in the North American market, some US based like Freezer Door, Clare, Mellow The Band, Nadeea Volianova and Q-land, UK’s The Reasoning, Austria’s Cornerstone, Israel’s Gevolt, Italy's Rara Avis, Sweden's Lizette &, Mexico's The Legion Of Hetheria, Italy's Skylark, Belgium's Keltia and a few other international artists that will be announced in the fourth quarter of 2007. Our commercial website is also undergoing a major overhaul to update it into the next generation of Internet commerce. Additionally our working artists will be engaging in cross-continental tours throughout the next two years.We are moving into the next phase of our history with some great new talent and a worldwide focus on music from around the planet!
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