All A Capprofile: A Cappella Records

I recently discovered a website called A Cappella Records that I was quite intrigued by. In 2009, Chris Crawford came up with the idea to start an independent record label that allows groups to more easily acquire digital licensing and distribution services to a cappella groups. The driving force behind the idea was that because A Cappella groups are generally singing covers, mash-ups, and medleys; A Cappella Records wanted to help to provide easier access to the rights of the songs. Since their inception, the group has distributed over 2,000 songs to 400 different digital retailers, including iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Spotify, and Rdio. Their artists have achieved over 1.5 million downloads and streams. Together, their YouTube videos have been seen over 50 million times. Five of their artists have performed on The Sing Off, as well.

Chris Crawford graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz with a double major in music and business management economics. He founded two of the A Cappella groups at the university during his time there, produced the top-selling A Cappella single, and created the largest A Cappella event on campus, Acquirefest. He’s interned at Apple for five years, worked at the Contemporary A Cappella Society, and won the 2012 business plan competition at UCSC for A Cappella Records. Basically, he seems to be the best man in the business to start up this recording company, and things seem to have gone smashingly since it started.

Other than Crawford, Ryland Hale, Jesse Avshalomov, Sebastian Wolff, Ross Morey, Jesse Buddington, Candice Leigh-Helfand, and Cy Serrano all work together to help create A Cappella Records. Their blog, which is written mostly by Leigh-Hefland, serves as a calendar of events, Kickstarter, and company information blog. To learn more about A Cappella Records, you can visit it here.

By Kali Rohrbaugh

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