Diamante Music Group was a

Newport Beach, California Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island, Newport ...

-based

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

distributor A distributor is an enclosed rotating switch used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines that have mechanically timed ignition. The distributor's main function is to route high voltage current from the ignition coil to the spark plugs ...

active from 1993 through 2004. Diamante was home to several dozen small independent record labels, some of whose artists later gained worldwide recognition. Among such were

Rescue Records Rescue Records was created by P.O.D. drummer Wuv Bernardo's father and Sonny Sandoval's uncle, Noah Bernardo Sr. It is most notable for being the label that started multi-platinum band P.O.D. and is currently distributed by Syntax Creative a d ...

whose releases for San Diego-based artists

P.O.D. P.O.D., an initialism for Payable on Death, is an American Christian metal band formed in 1992 and based in San Diego, California. The band's line-up consists of drummer and rhythm guitarist Wuv Bernardo, vocalist Sonny Sandoval, bassist Traa ...

's ''

Snuff the Punk ''Snuff the Punk'' is the debut studio album by Christian nu metal band P.O.D. The album was released on January 25, 1994 on Chula Vista, California-based Rescue Records, which was owned by Noah Bernardo, Sr (band members Sonny Sandoval's uncle a ...

'' and ''

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

'' and

Tonéx Anthony Charles Williams II (born May 16, 1975), better known by his stage name B. Slade, formerly known under the gospel moniker Tonéx ( ), is an American singer, songwriter, actor, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, dancer, producer, and acti ...

's '' Pronounced Toe-Nay'', who later signed contracts with

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

and

Jive Records Jive Records was an American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary to the Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chicago. Jive was best known for its successes with hip hop, R&B, an ...

respectively, elevating the desire for the Rescue Records releases. Another notable Diamante-distributed label is

Tooth & Nail Records Tooth & Nail Records is a Christian rock record label founded by Brandon Ebel in California in November 1993. The label later moved to Seattle, Washington where it is situated today. It is home to many well-known musical acts, including Underoat ...

whose artists

Thousand Foot Krutch Thousand Foot Krutch (often abbreviated TFK) is a Canadian Christian rock band formed in Peterborough, Ontario, in 1997. The band has released eight studio albums, two live albums, and three remix albums. The band currently consists of foundin ...

and

MxPx MxPx () is an American pop punk band from Bremerton, Washington, founded in 1992 as Magnified Plaid. As of 2016, current members include Mike Herrera on lead vocals and bass guitar, Yuri Ruley on drums and percussion, Tom Wisniewski on lead gui ...

first rose to prominence as independents. Multiple

Dove Award A Dove Award is an accolade by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry. The awards are presented annually. Formerly held in Nashville, Tennessee, the Dove Awards ...

winner

Crystal Lewis Crystal Lynn Lewis (born September 11, 1969) is an American contemporary Christian and jazz singer, songwriter and actress. Lewis has been nominated for several Grammy Awards, and has won multiple GMA Dove Awards. Additionally, she has release ...

made Diamante Music Group home for her independent label Metro One Music. Diamante was also home to N'Soul Records, the boutique label of Christian

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...

pioneer

Scott Blackwell Scott Blackwell is a Christian electronic dance music, Christian dance music artist, generally credited with being the first artist to produce such music for the Christian marketplace. In addition to releasing his own albums, Blackwell has prod ...

and the Nitro Praise series. In 2001, it was merged with The Butterfly Group, a record label collective of the

Christian music industry The Christian music industry is one aspect of the broader music industry, with a focus on Christian music and subgenres such as gospel music, southern gospel, contemporary Christian music, contemporary worship music, and even traditional church mus ...

started by Mike Rinaldi and

Bob Carlisle Robert Mason "Bob" Carlisle (born September 29, 1956) is an American Contemporary Christian music, Contemporary Christian singer and songwriter. He performed with several bands, most notably Allies (band), Allies and Billy Thermal, before launchin ...

, to become Diamante-Butterfly Group, LLC. The company consolidated its operations to

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

in 2003."Diamante-Butterfly Distribution moves from California to Franklin"
March 18, 2003.

Nashville Business Journal American City Business Journals, Inc. (ACBJ) is an American newspaper publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACBJ publishes The Business Journals, which contains local business news for 44 markets in the United States, Hemmings Motor News ...

. Though numerous attempts had been made to resuscitate the independent distribution channel in the Christian music market, Diamante-Butterfly filed for

chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

in 2004Press Release on Diamante Music Group bankruptcy
. (

PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

). August 31, 2004. Distributed b
CNI Distribution
and was sold to CNI Distribution."BUTTERFLY-DIAMANTE MUSIC GROUP BUYOUT FINALIZED"
. (

). January 21, 2005. Distributed b
CNI Distribution
In 2006 Syntax Records purchased the remaining assets of what was known as the Butterfly Group which included three P.O.D., titles, six Winan's titles, and many more before parting some of it out to other companies including their new distribution partner

Koch Entertainment Koch Entertainment was an American record label and a distributor of film, television, and music. It was purchased by Canadian entertainment company Entertainment One in 2005. History First years The company began in 1975 as part of Koch Intern ...

Partial list of distributed labels

5 Minute Walk Records 5 Minute Walk was an independent record label founded by Frank Tate in April 1995. Operations were based in Concord, California in the back offices of The Screem, a music club operated by Tate. They only carried Contemporary Christian music, Chri ...

* Against the Flow Records * AIR Gospel * Alarma Records * Bettie Rocket Records *

Blonde Vinyl Blonde Vinyl was an independent record label founded in 1990 by Michael Knott. The ''Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music'' describes the label as "one of Christian music's first true indie labels." Background Blonde Vinyl signed bands ...

* Cross Movement Records * Eternal Funk Records * Faith MD Music * Galaxy 21 Music * Grapetree Records * Grrr Records * Holy Roller Entertainment * Insync Music * JDI Records *

KMG Records KMG (Killen Music Group) Records was a Christian record label. The label was established in 1997 by Buddy Killen as a subunit of the Killen Music Group / Buddy Killen Enterprises and sold in late 1998 to Cal Turner III, who is related to the Cal ...

* Lion of Zion Entertainment * MCM Music *

Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The US office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distrib ...

* Metro One Music * Micah Records *

MYX Records Frontline Records was a Christian rock record label, founded in 1986 by James Kempner in Santa Ana, California. The label focused primarily on modern rock, rap, dance-pop and hip-hop. The label closed in the early 1990s, and then resurfaced in ...

* N'Soul Records * Only God Entertainment *

* Resolve Records * Rhythm House Records * Rocket Dog Records * Rowe Productions * Rustproof Records * Screaming Giant Records * Seventh Street Records * Shabach Entertainment * Syntax Records * The Acappella Company *

Partial list of distributed labels

References

See also