Ferret Music founder Carl Severson and his business partner at Ferret and ChannelZERO, Paul Conroy, have announced their departure from the company to start Good Fight Entertainment, a management company with music and sports divisions along with a new record label.
Severson and Conroy are extremely talented, successful and respected figures in the metal industry. Among the achievements at Ferret are launching the careers of Killswitch Engage and Every Time I Die, resurrecting the careers of In Flames and Chimaira and creating the first successful Ozzfest competitor in the Sounds of the Underground tour.
Good Fight has announced its massive management roster along with its first two label releases, from Cancer Bats and Son of Aurelius on April 13.
The new company promises to expand beyond label and management ventures, as Matt “Portland” Hay and his design company, Sons Of Nero, will continue to play a major role in the company as they did with Ferret. In the future, Good Fight says it will aggressively pursue opportunities in fan clubs, TV and film, touring and more. An “exciting” festival tour announcement from Good Fight Entertainment is expected in the coming weeks.
Ferret will continue to operate as part of Warner’s ILG system.
Hit the jump for the full release from Good Fight.
Press Release:
A new entertainment powerhouse is getting ready to take the world by storm. Good Fight Entertainment, founded by industry veterans Paul Conroy and Carl Severson, have launched a new management company with a music and sports division, along with a new record label, Good Fight Music.
Pioneers in the hardcore and metal scenes, and former partners at Ferret Music, Warner Music and ChannelZERO, Conroy and Severson have proven track records for innovative thinking and unwavering tenacity. Their abundance of experience has taught them how to spot cutting edge talent and propel them into the spotlight. To obtain maximum visibility for its releases, Good Fight Entertainment’s record label, Good Fight Music, has partnered with Sony’s RED distribution, which distributed Ferret for six years before their merger with Warner’s Independent Label Group. During that time, Conroy and Severson helped launch the careers of numerous hardcore and metal outfits, including Killswitch Engage, Every Time I Die, and From Autumn To Ashes, while taking the likes of In Flames, The Devil Wears Prada, Chimaira, Madball and more to previously unachieved levels of success.
“I and all at RED couldn’t be more pleased to be back in business with Carl Severson and Paul Conroy and their new label, Good Fight,” says RED president Bob Morelli. “As we begin 2010 with all the challenges and opportunities that we will deal with, working with Carl and Paul gives us a better chance for success. They are on the cutting musical edge, whether it will be with their label, as managers, in touring or other entrepreneurial initiatives.”
Of their new endeavor, Carl Severson states, “We’ve built a company that is in a unique position to rise to the challenges of the evolving music industry. We’ve been on the front lines as digital has become the medium of choice for music marketing and commerce and we’ve grown with it, embraced the opportunities it’s presented. Paul, myself, our staff; we have the resolve to thrive in this climate. Good Fight Entertainment is the culmination of our experiences as artists, band members, managers, musicians and executives. We have the opportunity to work with people who believe in us as much as we believe in them. This is a very exciting time for us.”
The first Good Fight Music releases, Cancer Bats’ Bears Mayors Scraps and Bones and Son of Aurelius’ The Farthest Reaches, are both scheduled to be unleashed April 13. Future releases from the already substantial Good Fight family of artists will include new albums by Rosaline, I Am Abomination, This or the Apocalypse, Conditions, Madball, and the newly reunited Disembodied.
“I’m very excited and honored to be a part of Good Fight,” says Madball front man Freddy Cricien. “I’ve worked with Carl and Paul for some years now. I’ve developed a friendship there that goes beyond business. Some say friendship and business don’t mix, in this case they are wrong. We are all very passionate about music and it will translate through this new vehicle, Good Fight Entertainment. It’s the next chapter and Madball is glad to be a part of the movement.”
The music management division of Good Fight Entertainment boasts an already established roster of heavyweights, including August Burns Red, Behemoth, Between the Buried and Me, Bless the Fall, Cannibal Corpse, Children of Bodom, Chiodos, Every Time I Die, Holy Grail, Job For a Cowboy, among several others. The talent and eclecticism of their clientele is unparalleled in heavy music.
While music is an integral component of Good Fight’s global strategy, the company’s sports management division is already up and running. The company already represents BMX freestyle rider Dakota Roche, who currently rides for Levis, Lotek and Cult Crew, and skateboarding legend, actor, and stuntman, Mike Vallely. The skateboarder has been a household name since getting sponsored by Powell Peralta in 1986 at the age of 16. The New Jersey native ushered in the street skating era as the east coast’s first professional street skater and in 1989 pioneered the first ever symmetrical pro model skateboard deck. He has represented legendary skateboard brands Powell Peralta, World Industries and Black Label and currently represents Element Skateboards. His critcally acclaimed television show DRIVE (on Fuel TV) has aired for three seasons and he has been featured in recent number one hit films, Paul Blart: Mall Cop and The Hangover, acting and doing stunts.
His hard rock band Revolution Mother also had a song in The Hangover soundtrack and has toured hard over the past four years doing the Warped Tour and playing and touring with such legendary bands as Social Distortion, Danzig and Bad Religion. His new band Mike Vallely / By The Sword just played their first show this past week.
“100 years from now, Mike Vallely will be viewed as one of skateboarding’s pioneers,” wrote Transworld Skateboarding Magazine. “He’ll be remembered as a burly, glue-footed, hella-pop artist. An ATV ruler, a poet and a fighter’s fighter. An iconoclast among icons.”
“I’m truly honored to be working with Good Fight Entertainment and to be a part of their new sports division,” says Vallely. “Through the years lot of people have meaninglessly thrown their hat into the ring in the world of action sports and wasted everyone’s time. Good Fight enters the game with substance, integrity and true character. Action sports just got better.”
“Working with Extreme Sports athletes is a natural extension of our management division.” states Conroy. “Co-branding with sponsors and endorsement partners is a core focus of developing the business of our Music Management clients, which is also a driver in the business of Extreme Sports. Many of our music clients share a similar audience to Extreme Sports athletes, as well. While each business is clearly unique, we plan to create synergies between music and sports through co-branding, live events, and content-based online promotion. Carl and myself have spent many years learning about our core-audience. In the past, we’ve experimented with growing our art and business outside of our core-audience, which ultimately felt unnatural. Extreme Sports is a way for us to grow our business while actually super-serving our core audience. Working with our partner Rich Lisk on representing Extreme Sports athletes brings my career full circle, as Rich and I spent a great deal of time co-branding sports and music on a local-level in Philadelphia nearly 15 years ago. We are extremely fortunate to have Rich’s expertise and relationships in the world of professional sports to help us launch this new initiative.”
Joining Good Fight Entertainment’s sports division is Rich Lisk. Rich Lisk’s unconventional and high-energy approach to marketing partnerships has created a loyal and superior product in addition to being bottom line conscience. Because Rich has worked his way up through the ranks of the industry, he is acutely aware of the demands and what it takes to get a job done. His success is organic without the big budget pocketbooks of some of the segments of the sports industry. All areas of professional sports from the local franchise to the major league have tapped his expertise in budgeting, management, brand identity and creativity. His reputation as an honest – bottom line driven executive is quickly rising and his influence in the industry continues.
Good Fight Entertainment will have a healthy online presence through an official site as well as sites on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and other social networking outlets. Matt ‘Portland’ Hay and his company, Sons Of Nero, will be an important component to the entire company. “Portland’s understanding of branding and his excellent talent is an asset not only to our label, but to our management clients, artists and athletes alike, and our touring properties,” Severson says.
In the future, Good Fight will aggressively pursue opportunities in Fan Clubs, TV and film, touring and more. Look for an exciting Festival tour announcement from Good Fight Entertainment in the coming weeks.
Good Fight Entertainment. Artists Worth Fighting For.
