The Concord Music Group has acquired Rounder Records. Rounder will continue to be based in Boston, MA and the label’s founders will remain in a creative capacity. Rounder’s management staff will also remain.

The Concord Music Group owns a variety of labels including Stax and Prestige. Their holdings also include titles from Ray Charles, Isaac Hayes, and Creedence Clearwater revival. Their current roster includes Macy Gray, Chick Corea, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and others. They partnered with Starbucks in 2007 to create Hear Music.

Rounder’s current catalog and roster includes Willie Nelson, Bela Fleck, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant.

The concert to celebrate Rounder Records’ 40th anniversary will be aired on Thursday, January 14 at 8pm Eastern on Nashville Public Television (NPT). The show will feature performances from Alison Krauss as well as Minnie Driver, Bela Fleck and more.

The special will also include performances from the episode of CMT Crossroads featuring Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.

The program will begin airing on PBS stations in March, 2010. Check your local listings for exact times and dates.

Alison Krauss will be among the lineup of performers celebrating the 40th anniversary of Rounder Records. The concert will take place October 12, 2009 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, TN. Also appearing will be Mary Chapin Carpenter, Bela Fleck, Irma Thomas, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas, Host Minnie Driver and special guests to be announced. Tickets will go on sale Friday, August 28, 2009. Tickets may be purchased via Ticketmaster, The Grand Ole Opery Box Office, The Ryman Auditorium Box office and at the Attractions Desk at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel.

Rounder Records is an independent record label based in Massachusetts. Rouder showcases a diverse line-up of artists including Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Dolores O’Riordan (Cranberries), Steve Martin, Bela Fleck, George Thorogood and many more.

Rounder Records Co-founder Marian Leighton Levy, along with artist Sheila E., testified at the August 4, 2009 Senate hearing regarding the Performance Rights Act. This act would impose performance royalties on broadcast radio for the first time.

Leighton Levy used Raising Sand as an example of inequities in how artists are paid regarding their music on the radio:

“A striking example of this inequity can be found in the case of the recent Robert Plant/Alison Krauss record we released here in the U.S. Just last year ‘Please Read The Letter’ won a Grammy for Album of the Year while receiving almost NO commercial radio play. Since Robert Plant is a U.K. native, he will be eligible to receive payment for his work on the recording when it is played around the world, but Alison will not be paid because she is a U.S. native.”

Read more about the hearings at Radio Ink and at Variety.

Delta Spirit appeared at Monkey Chews in London on March 25, 2009. Robert Plant was spotted in the audience. Delta Spirit’s debut album “Ode To Sunshine” is out now on Rounder.

Sarah Rodman, writing for the Boston Globe (Rounder is based in Massachusetts), chronicles how Raising Sand will be a welcome boost for independent label Rounder Records. She writes:

Even Plant seemed to understand, praising Rounder from the Staples Center stage as “an independent label working against all sorts of stuff, which is terrible, but thank you.”

Last year, Rounder cut its staff from more than 100 employees to roughly 75, and at the time Nowlin (a Tufts grad like Irwin) admitted uncertainty about the label’s long-term future. “Keeping the record company alive is the main goal,” he said.

The remarkable success of “Raising Sand” should go a long way in doing that. Immediately after the awards, it flew to the top of the Amazon music rankings as well as several digital download sites. So far it’s sold over a million copies in the United States and another million worldwide.

Rounder Records has won a Womex Top Label Award 08 based on their sales of Raising Sand.

The Top Label award debuted in 2006 and recognizes the top 20 chart topping music labels. The selection is made using the charts of 50 radio broadcasters from 25 countries.

Womex also recognized Justin Adams and Juldeh Camera. Their album, Soul Science, was named a Womex Top-20 World Music CD of the year.

Womex 08