After sexual misconduct allegations, mounting unpaid royalties, one of its founding partners resigning and another “walking away,” Chicago independent music label Bloodshot Records seemed to be shutting down. Independent music company Exceleration Music announced it has struck an agreement with label founders Rob Miller and Nan Warshaw to acquire Bloodshot Records and to assume full operational control of its catalog.
This Chicago Reader piece from late last year gives an indication of how the chaos was affecting the label’s artists. Among the artists who have recorded for the label are: Neko Case, Old 97’s, Laura Jane Grace and the Devouring Mothers, Lydia Loveless, The Mekons, Sarah Shook and the Disarmers, Murder by Death, Robbie Fulks, Justin Townes Earle, Freakwater, Andrew Bird, Kelly Hogan, and many others.
With the new deal with Exceleration, who previously acquired jazz label Candid Records and announced partnerships with Chicago blues label Alligator and the Ray Charles Foundation, the label will live to see another day, albeit in a new form.