Another Label Bites The Dust: Koch Shuts Nashville Branch
CelebrityAccess MediaWire – Koch Entertainment shut down it’s Nashville operations on Tuesday, October 18th, displacing five employees, including GM Nick Hunter, and nearly a dozen artists.
Others that were left jobless include director of creative services Chuck Rhodes, who has been with the company since its launch, director of marketing and promotion Jack Purcell, bluegrass marketing and promotion manager Amy Murray, and head of new media Kim Drummond.
The Koch Nashville artist roster included Dean Miller, Robert Earl Keen, Daryle Singletary, the Hacienda Brothers, Cledus T. Judd, the Tractors and Dale Watson. Country rock legend Charlie Daniels was signed as part of a joint venture with Daniels’ Blue Hat Records label. Koch had also increased efforts in the bluegrass field, signing Ronnie Bowman, Jerry Douglas and the group 3 Fox Drive. A deal with Billy Ray Cyrus was scheduled to be signed on Monday.
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CelebrityAccess MediaWire – Koch Entertainment shut down it’s Nashville operations on Tuesday, October 18th, displacing five employees, including GM Nick Hunter, and nearly a dozen artists.
Hunter and artist manager Simon Renshaw opened the label in July of 1999, under the original name Audium Records, with Koch holding a minority stake. When Renshaw left a year later to join The Firm in Los Angeles, he and Hunter sold their interest to Koch, while Hunter remained at the helm of the company, according to Billboard Radio Monitor.
In February 2004, Koch changed the name to Koch Records Nashville, before selling the entire Koch Entertainment company to Canadian DVD and CD wholesaler Row Entertainment for $80 million in June of this year.
“People have always asked me what effect the Canadians buying the company would have,” Hunter told Billboard Radio Monitor. “Now we know. They don’t want to be in business in Nashville…When you don’t play to win you never do.”
Others that were left jobless include director of creative services Chuck Rhodes, who has been with the company since its launch, director of marketing and promotion Jack Purcell, bluegrass marketing and promotion manager Amy Murray, and head of new media Kim Drummond.
The Koch Nashville artist roster included Dean Miller, Robert Earl Keen, Daryle Singletary, the Hacienda Brothers, Cledus T. Judd, the Tractors and Dale Watson. Country rock legend Charlie Daniels was signed as part of a joint venture with Daniels’ Blue Hat Records label. Koch had also increased efforts in the bluegrass field, signing Ronnie Bowman, Jerry Douglas and the group 3 Fox Drive.
A deal with Billy Ray Cyrus was scheduled to be signed on Monday.
Other artists who have worked with the Koch Records Nashville label in the past include Loretta Lynn, Dwight Yoakam, Ray Benson, John Anderson, Eric Heatherly, David Lee Murphy and Restless Heart. –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
