Rounder Records Purchased by Concord Music Group

Hot on the heels of the announcement that Lyric Street Records is closing its doors and Sony Music Chairman Joe Galante stepping down, another established label has been purchased in a move that sends several artists to a new home.

Concord Music Group, home to dozens of folk, jazz, pop and R&B artists, including Tift Merritt, Elvis Costello and Sarah Vaughan, announced yesterday (April 14) they they've purchased Rounder Records. Artists on the Rounder roster, including Alison Krauss, Robert Plant, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Bela Fleck, Steve Martin and Willie Nelson, will now be under the Concord umbrella.

The change, says Rounder co-owner and founder Marian Leighton Levy, will allow the artists formerly on Rounder to continue making the music they love. "We felt this was better than simply trying to soldier on alone," she tells the Boston Herald. "It's not an exit strategy. Concord acquired Rounder wanting it to continue what it is doing, and keeping the team in place for the most part."

Among Rounder's greatest successes in their 40 years of releasing music of all genres is the multiple-Grammy-winning 'Raising Sand' album by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, which has sold more than two million units.