Lion Music is a production company and

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

founded in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and artist Lars Eric Mattsson.

History

Lion Music was founded in 1989 by Lars Eric Mattsson as a production company to handle production and licensing for his records in Europe, the United States, and Asia, where a number of deals were signed. After some serious problems with certain labels in the early 90s, Mattsson took a few years off and concentrated on the building of his own studio, as well as a number of other things. The first releases were Vision's "Till the End of Time" (1997), reissues of Mattsson’s "No Surrender", Vision’s debut album (1998), and Mattsson's solo album ''Obsession'' (1998). In January 2000 Lion Music released

Alex Masi Alex Masi is an Italian guitarist. He was born 14 May 1960 in Venice, and studied at the Conservatory of Music in Verona. He formed the heavy rock band Dark Lord in 1984 and recorded two EPs with them. In the early 1980s Masi moved briefly to Lon ...

's ''In the Name of Bach'' and Matsson's ''Another Dimension''.

Branching out

Since this period, Lion Music has operated as a record label with regular releases and seen its roster of artists grow considerably, and they offer varied

musical genre A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from ''musical form'' and musical style, although in practice these terms are some ...

s and styles. They are a participant in

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

and

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

circles. Lion Music has also branched out into other genres, such AOR/Melodic

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

, fusion and classic hard rock. Lion Music has released several

tribute album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

s to

Jason Becker Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He was ...

Shawn Lane Shawn Lane (March 21, 1963 – September 26, 2003) was an American musician who released two studio albums and collaborated with a variety of musicians including Ringo Starr, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Reg ...

, Ritchie Blackmore,

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

Uli Jon Roth Uli Jon Roth (born Ulrich Roth; 18 December 1954) is a German guitarist who became famous for his work with the hard rock band Scorpions and is one of the earliest contributors to the neoclassical metal genre. He is also the founder of Sky Aca ...

Faraz Anwar Faraz Anwar (Urdu: فراز انور; b.15 July 1976) is a Pakistani musician, composer, singer-songwriter, bandleader, and a guitarist who founded the ''Mizraab'', a heavy metal music and hard rock genre band based in Pakistan. His musical act ...

, and

Gary Moore Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz ...

. Lion Music's current release schedule sees an average of 9 releases per year, including singles, compilations, reissues, and full-length albums. Lion Music announced that due to ongoing

piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

they would stop signing new artists until the problem has been resolved.Google cache version of the About Us page
/ref> Some artists who have signed for Lion Music (physical and digital releases): Joe McGurk, Vitalij Kuprij, Luca Di Gennaro, Luke Fortini, Alessio Berlaffa, Tony Cantisano, Patrick Hemer, Mathias Holm Klarin, B Gera, Michael Harris, Dave Martone, Milan Polak, Jonas Hornqvist, James Byrd. Joe Stump, Nicolas Waldo, Rusty Cooley, Daniele Liverani,

External links

Lion Music

Notes

{{Authority control Music production companies Finnish record labels Record labels established in 1997 Heavy metal record labels

History

Branching out

See also

External links

Notes