Elevation Partners’ McNamee To Give NARM Keynote Address
— Elevation Partners’ Roger McNamee will make the keynote address at the NARM Convention’s “Digital Breakfast,” to be held on the last day of the confab, which runs May 10-12 at the Hilton Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.
McNamee co-founded Elevation Partners in 2004 with partners including U2’s Bono and former Apple CFO Fred Anderson. Together, they created a $1.9 billion private equity firm whose active portfolio of companies consists of Facebook, Yelp, Forbes, Move, and MarketShare.
McNamee will give his thoughts on the state of the music industry from the perspective of an entrepreneur and a working musician, and later hold a Q&A session with TAG Strategic’s Ted Cohen.
McNamee’s nearly 30-year career as a tech investor began at T. Rowe Price Associates. He left to help start three pioneering investment firms: Integral Capital Partners (1991), Silver Lake Partners (1999) and Elevation Partners. He has also been a professional musician for 35 years. Under the alias Chubby Wombat, he plays guitar and bass in the band Moonalice. Additionally, McNamee is the author of several books, including “The New Normal.” His board of directors positions include the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame Museum and the Grateful Dead’s Rex Foundation.
Birdel’s Records In Brooklyn Shutters
— Two years after Birdel’s Records in Brooklyn was supposed to close, the store is finally shuttering, according to a report in the New York Times. The store opened in 1944.
Joe Long, who has owned the shop since the late 1960s and started working there in 1957, said the decline of the music industry and shrinking profits forced his hand the first time he made the announcement. This time, at age 73, he is ready to retire, the story reports.
Attention indie storeowners, liquidators and cutout wholesalers: the story says that Long has packed up an estimated 100,000 45s and 10,000 LPs, which he wants to sell for $25,000-$30,000.
March Is Metal Madness
— The third annual “March Is Metal Month,” a marketing promotion launched by EMI Music’s Label Services/Caroline Distribution, this year will feature a special CD sampler, including hotly anticipated pre-release tracks from Winds of Plague, Cradle of Filth, Agnostic Front and Kill Corps
The promo will also feature a limited edition T-shirt designed by artist Rich Hall. Those items will be available at participating record stores, which includes the Record Store Day’s Metal Crew, a marketing effort launched by indie retail coalitions, who helped EMI Music Label Services/Caroline Distribution put together the promotion.
Additionally, there will also be the opportunity to win exclusive prizes at participating retailers, with labels Season of Mist, Earache and Candlelight all offering exclusive prize packs. Other labels participating in the promotion include Century Media, Nuclear Blast, Willow Tip, Prospect Park and Capitol Records.