Straight No Chaser Launch Label Imprint With Warner Music Group’s Arts Music Division
Bestselling a cappella group Straight No Chaser is forming their own label imprint, SNC Records, in partnership with Warner Music Group's Arts Music division. The inaugural release on the imprint…
Best-selling a cappella group Straight No Chaser is forming their own label imprint, SNC Records, in partnership with Warner Music Group’s Arts Music division, Billboard can exclusively reveal. The inaugural release on the imprint, which will focus on holiday music and “artists who boast unique music stylings,” will be the group’s forthcoming EP, Open Bar.
“After ‘12 Days [of Christmas]’ went viral in 2007, we had no idea the incredible journey our lives would take from that point on,” said Straight No Chaser member Dave Roberts in a statement. “Signing with Atlantic and putting out seven full length albums and four EPs was incredible. Now to be able to stay within the Warner Music family, work with Kevin Gore and his incredible team at Arts Music, and give other deserving artists a shot through our new label SNC Records, is a dream come true.”
Added Arts Music president Gore, “Everyone who’s been to a Straight No Chaser show knows how great the music is and how much fun the guys are. Their story is one of my favorites, and I’m thrilled it will continue and expand under the Arts Music umbrella. With an exciting new label imprint, Straight No Chaser shares our mission to bring music that sits just outside the pop and rock genres to fans that will deeply love and listen to for years to come.”
SNC Records’ first signing is expected to be announced soon.
Straight No Chaser signed with Atlantic in 2008 and has released seven studio albums with collective sales topping 1.6 million copies in the U.S. The group has racked up more than 1 million ticket sales and more than 100 million YouTube views to date. Slated for release Nov. 15, Open Bar will feature Straight No Chaser’s a cappella reworkings of several iconic bar-themed songs, including Eddie Money’s “Take Me Home Tonight,” “Tennessee Whiskey” (recently covered by Chris Stapleton), Dan + Shay’s “Tequila,” Smash Mouth’s “All Star” and Semisonic’s “Closing Time.”
“Since Straight No Chaser joined the Atlantic family nearly 12 years ago, they’ve defied expectations,” said Atlantic Records chairman and CEO Craig Kallman in a statement. “They rewrote the playbook for what’s possible for an a cappella group, reinventing it on the modern pop landscape. In the process, they’ve amassed millions in sales and streams, and built up a huge global following. I’m thrilled to see the guys launch their own label to give opportunities to other artists, and Arts Music is the perfect home. I know Kevin Gore and his team will do a fantastic job in continuing to build the phenomenon that is Straight No Chaser.”
In other news, the group has announced that its annual U.S. fall tour will kick off Oct. 25 in Biloxi, Mississippi, and wrap Jan. 2 in Honolulu. Additionally, its third national television special, Back Home Again — filmed at Murat Theatre at Old National Centre in Indianapolis — is slated to air early next year.
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