Altavoz ( es, Loudspeaker) is an American music distributor which serves independent entertainers, covering a variety of musical genres. A year after the company was founded, it was purchased by investor Nelson Jacobsen and relaunched in

Rockville, Maryland Rockville is a city that serves as the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, and is part of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 census tabulated Rockville's population at 67,117, making it the fifth-largest community in ...

History

Nelson Jacobsen established Altavoz.com after its acquisition. The website offered downloads of digital sound files (

.wav Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE, or WAV due to its filename extension; pronounced "wave") is an audio file format standard, developed by IBM and Microsoft, for storing an audio bitstream on PCs. It is the main format used on Microsoft Win ...

) and fifteen-second introductions to music streams. By 1999, Altavoz had rolled out merchandise in big box stores such Best Buy and independent retailers nationwide. Their offerings expanded to vinyl records, books and more. By the time of the dot-com crash, Altavoz continued to provide stock to thousands of independent and big box stores and was receiving 1.2 million hits a day on the official website. In 2011, Jacobsen took a new leadership role in the company as its CEO. In 2013, Altavoz began online presentations for distribution deals exporting US-made music. Part of the incorporation of the company included the non-profit "Help Earth Foundation." On September 25, 2015, Max Media Group, Inc. (MXMI) announced that its board of directors had voted unanimously to transfer a majority of the control of MXMI to Altavoz Entertainment. As of late 2017, Jacobsen, a board member of MXMI, continues to lead Altavoz as CEO.

Major project

In collaboration with

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...

, Altavoz released a limited-edition vinyl box set to benefit the David Lynch Foundation on

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

in 2012. The compilation, ''Music That Changes the World,'' features 34 songs from

Alanis Morissette Alanis Nadine Morissette ( ; born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting, Morissette began her career in Canada in the early 1990s with tw ...

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...

Amanda Palmer Amanda MacKinnon Gaiman Palmer (born April 30, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and performance artist who is the lead vocalist, pianist, and lyricist of the duo The Dresden Dolls. She performs as a solo artist and was also a ...

Ben Folds Benjamin Scott Folds (born September 12, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and composer, who is the first artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., since May 2017. Folds was th ...

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of ...

Maroon 5 Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It currently consists of lead vocalist Adam Levine, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine (musician), James Valentine, drummer Matt ...

Neon Trees Neon Trees is an American rock band from Provo, Utah. The band received nationwide exposure in late 2008 when they opened several North American tour dates for the band The Killers. Not long after, the band was signed by Mercury Records. Their fi ...

and more. The four-LP box set also includes a 42-page color book, custom-made by “Imprint Indie Printing” of N. Venice, Florida. The book, introduced by

, was illustrated by Nepali artist Romio Shrestha and New Jersey artist Davel Hamue. All songs were re-mastered for this project by Gavin Lurssen.

Exclusive library release (2015)

"Songs of Phillip Carter" was released exclusively to an estimated 120,000 Public Libraries in the USA before being made available to digital and physical outlets. Phillip Carter was the first gospel artist with an exclusive music release to the US Public Library system.

Artists

*Argonauts *Big Mucci *

Dawn Richard Dawn Angeliqué Richard (born August 5, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter. She started her career after auditioning for ''Making the Band 3'' in 2004. During this time, Richard became a member of girl band Danity Kane, from 2005 to 2009, a ...

* Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein *Emily *

Julie Doiron Julie Doiron (born June 28, 1972) is a Canadian singer-songwriter of Acadian heritage. She has been the bass guitarist and co-vocalist for the Canadian indie rock band Eric's Trip since its formation in 1990. She has released ten solo albums, begi ...

* Lady Cam *Phillip Carter *Roy "

Future man Roy Wilfred Wooten (born October 13, 1957), also known as RoyEl, best known by his stage name Future Man (also written Futureman and known to fans as Futche) is an American musician, inventor and composer. He is best known as a member of jazz ...

" Wooten *Sunwolf *Theo Sampel *Tom *

VALIS ''Valis'' (stylized as ''VALIS'') is a 1981 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, intended to be the first book of a three-part series. The title is an acronym for ''Vast Active Living Intelligence System'', Dick's gnostic vis ...

Former artists

Jack Mack and the Heart Attack Jack Mack and the Heart Attack is an American soul and R&B band that was formed in 1980 in Los Angeles, California. Their debut album, ''Cardiac Party'', was produced by Glenn Frey of Eagles (band), The Eagles on Irving Azoff's Full Moon Recor ...

*K Mitch *Love Dominique

Releases

*Theo Sampel - ''Sampel This'' (2006) *Revival - ''Horses of War'' (2007) *

- ''

Golden Heart ''Golden Heart'' is the debut solo studio album by British singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Knopfler, released on 26 March 1996 by Vertigo Records internationally and Warner Bros. Records in the United States. Following a successful career l ...

'' (2013) *Bella Nae - ''H.I.G.H. XOXO'' (2013) *

Quinn Sullivan Quinn Sullivan (born March 26, 1999) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist from New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States. He is known for his accomplishments at an early age, marked by appearances on media such as ''The Ellen DeGen ...

- ''Getting There'' (2013) *Various Artist - ''Drop the Needle: Boston Punk Anthology'' (2013) *

- ''Minds through Space and Time'' (2013) * Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein - '' Abominator'' (2013) *

- '' So Many Days'' (2013) *Argonauts - ''Whats Your Perfect Day'' (2013) *Jack Mack And the Heart Attack* – ''Lookin’ Up'' (2013) *Love Dominique* - ''Love Dominique'' (2014) *Big Mucci - ''Shuffle, Step, Slide'' (2014) * Lady Cam - '' Get It Got It'' (2014) *Sunwolf - ''Angel Eyes'' (2014) *Phillip Carter - ''Songs of Phillip Carter'' (Exclusive Library Release) ELR *John Bull and The Bandits - ''Words to the Wise'' (2015) *K. Mitch* - ''WDGAF'' (single) * Not currently signed.

Billboard chart history

2013:

CD '' Goldenheart'' January 2013 after leaving

Diddy Dirty Money Dirty Money was a musical duo consisting of singer-songwriters and dancers Dawn Richard and Kalenna Harper in 2009; both artists having been signed to Bad Boy Entertainment.Sherwin, Adam (2010)Preview: Hello, Good Morning from Diddy and his Dir ...

and

Danity Kane Danity Kane was an American girl group whose original and most well-known lineup comprised Aubrey O'Day, Aundrea Fimbres, Dawn Richard, Shannon Bex, and Wanita "D. Woods" Woodgett. Its most recent iteration included O'Day and Richard as a duo ...

- CD ''Getting There'' Released May 2013 reached #4 on Billboard Blues Chart. Aug, 24th 2013 2015: John Bull and the Bandits, Single "Mr. Bradley" April 9, 2015 #73 Billboard Blues Cart.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Altavoz Companies based in Rockville, Maryland Record label distributors Music companies of the United States American companies established in 1994