Wind-up Records was formed in 1997 by Alan Meltzer, former owner of
CD One Stop, and his wife
Diana Meltzer, following their 1996 purchase of Grass Records. The parent company Wind-up Entertainment also runs numerous publishing companies as well as a full-scale retail, online and tour merchandising company. The company's slogan was "Developing Career Artists". Some of the successful acts on the label included
Evanescence,
Creed,
Seether and
Finger Eleven. The label has also re-released albums from bands previously associated with Grass Records, such as
Toadies,
the Wrens and
Commander Venus. The label's current roster includes
Civil Twilight,
Jillette Johnson,
The Griswolds,
The Virginmarys,
Young Guns,
Strange Talk,
The Revivalists,
Five for Fighting,
Crobot,
Filter,
SPEAK,
Genevieve and
Aranda. In September 2009, the label reached an agreement with
EMI Music Germany and in February 2011 with EMI Music Canada. The partnership has seen EMI Music take over the marketing and distribution of artists such as Creed, Evanescence, Seether and Finger Eleven throughout the world outside of the US. In Canada, distribution was initially with
Sony Music Canada as was the distribution in the United States. However, in October 2004, distribution in Canada switched over to
Warner Music Canada with the creation of Wind-up Entertainment Canada. Distribution in Canada moved again, for a third time in February 2011, this time to EMI Music Canada. On October 31, 2011, the label's founder, Alan Meltzer, died at the age of 67. In May 2015, Concord bought the rest of the Wind-Up label. In 2016, Concord retired Wind-Up as a frontline label, and transferred most of Wind-Up's artists to other labels. Wind-Up's reissues are released under
Craft Recordings, Concord's reissue label. == Artist roster ==