Zenbu Media is a media company located in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, United States and founded by Steve Bernstein that is focused on the music industry, sporting the slogan "we live for music."
Print
Zenbu Media formerly published ''
Relix
''Relix'', originally and occasionally later ''Dead Relix'', is a magazine that focuses on live and improvisational music. The magazine was launched in 1974 as a handmade newsletter devoted to connecting people who recorded Grateful Dead concert ...
'' magazine, ''
Global Rhythm
''Global Rhythm'' was a former New York-based monthly music and lifestyle magazine featuring coverage of world music, film, cuisine and travel. It was published monthly and circulated across North America, Europe and hundreds of other locations ...
'' magazine, ''Metal Edge Magazine'', and ''
Metal Maniacs
''Metal Maniacs'' was an American magazine that was based around heavy metal music.
History
Founded in 1989 by Mike 'G' Greenblatt and Katherine Ludwig of Metal Shop. Where its sister publication ''Metal Edge'' largely covered glam metal, ''Meta ...
'' magazine''.
''Relix Magazine''
''
Relix
''Relix'', originally and occasionally later ''Dead Relix'', is a magazine that focuses on live and improvisational music. The magazine was launched in 1974 as a handmade newsletter devoted to connecting people who recorded Grateful Dead concert ...
Magazine'' was founded in 1974 by Les Kippel as a newsletter focusing on
The Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
. Originally the publication was called ''Dead Relix'' and was less than twenty pages thick with a hand-drawn black and white cover. By 1978 ''Dead Relix'' had dropped the word "Dead" from its title and expanded to include articles about the entire Bay Area psychedelic scene. From here the scope of ''Relix'' expanded to encompass a vast array of musical genres such as reggae and heavy metal. This caused the magazine to lose direction until it rallied behind its original focus on The Grateful Dead. However, ''Relix'' did not revert entirely to its old ways and managed to also cover various genres of music and even some non-music related issues. Soon after this transformation ''Relix'' became known as a magazine that broke acts, with many emerging bands making their debut in ''Relix'' columns such as "Independents Daze" and "On the Edge."
After the passing of Jerry Garcia in 1995 ''Relix'' was forced to move away from its coverage of The Grateful Dead. Embracing change, it began to report on jambands and other genres of music not considered as mainstream. In 2000 the magazine was purchased by Steve Bernstein and in 2007 it entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Today, Relix covers a variety of jambands, indie rockers, singer-songwriters, and the live music scene in general. Also, each issue comes with a free CD sampling various up and coming bands. Bernstein sold "Relix" to Relix Media Group in 2009.
''Global Rhythm Magazine''
''
Global Rhythm
''Global Rhythm'' was a former New York-based monthly music and lifestyle magazine featuring coverage of world music, film, cuisine and travel. It was published monthly and circulated across North America, Europe and hundreds of other locations ...
'' was founded in 2000 by Publisher, Alecia Cohen. In November 2005 ''Global Rhythm'' was acquired by Steve Bernstein who subsequently became publisher. Alecia Cohen remained on staff as associate publisher. Global Rhythm is a music and lifestyle magazine featuring coverage of world music, film, cuisine and travel. Published monthly and circulated across North America, Europe and hundreds of other locations worldwide, New York-based Global Rhythm is a vital source of music and arts news and reviews for a worldly and sophisticated consumer niche. Each issue of ''Global Rhythm'' includes a 15-track compilation CD.
''Metal Edge''
''
Metal Edge
''Metal Edge'' was a magazine covering heavy metal music published by Zenbu Media. The magazine was founded in the summer of 1985, during the height of glam metal's success. Zenbu Media acquired ''Metal Edge'' in February 2007.
Both ''Metal Edge ...
'' was the longest-running metal magazine in America. It was first published by Sterling Publishing in 1985 and was closed in 2009. Its founding editor was Gerri Miller.
''Metal Maniacs''
''
Metal Maniacs
''Metal Maniacs'' was an American magazine that was based around heavy metal music.
History
Founded in 1989 by Mike 'G' Greenblatt and Katherine Ludwig of Metal Shop. Where its sister publication ''Metal Edge'' largely covered glam metal, ''Meta ...
'' covered heavy metal music and was founded in 1989 by Mike Greenhaus and Kathrine Ludwig. The magazine was focused on covering the underground metal with an emphasis on the black and death metal genres. It was published by Sterling until Zenbu Media purchased it. ''Metal Maniacs'' was published ten times annually. It was closed in 2009.
Events
Zenbu Media is in charge of two major events: The
Jammys
The Jammy Award (also known as the Jammys) is an awards show for bands typically referred to as jam bands and other artists associated with live, improvisational music, created by Dean Budnick and Peter Shapiro (concert promoter), Peter Shapiro. ...
and the
Green Apple Music & Arts Festival.
The Jammy Awards
The
Jammys
The Jammy Award (also known as the Jammys) is an awards show for bands typically referred to as jam bands and other artists associated with live, improvisational music, created by Dean Budnick and Peter Shapiro (concert promoter), Peter Shapiro. ...
is an award show geared towards
jam bands
A jam band is a musical group whose concerts (and live albums) are characterized by lengthy improvisational "jams." These include extended musical improvisation over rhythmic grooves and chord patterns, and long sets of music which often cr ...
but also including other live improvisational genres of music.
Green Apple Music Festival
The
Green Apple Music & Arts Festival (GAMAF) is America's largest
Earth Day
Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org (formerly Earth Day Network) including 1 b ...
celebration. Founded by music producer and former Wetlands Preserve club owner Peter Shapiro and Relix Magazine, the annual event features an eclectic array of musical performances in venues and rock clubs, as well as large-scale free public outdoor concerts. The Festival's mission is to raise environmental awareness by combining live musical performances from diverse genres with educational outreach and cultural events suitable for all audiences. The festival is held around Earth Day, April 22, the world's largest secular holiday observed by over a billion people each year.
In 2006, the event's first year, the Green Apple Music & Arts Festival took place in New York City. A year later, the celebration had spread across the United States to over 60 live music venues featuring over 200 performances in New York, Chicago and San Francisco.
In 2008, continuing its partnership with Earth Day Network, Green Apple Music & Arts Festival will expand to additional U.S. cities including Miami, Washington D.C., Dallas and Denver.
"By featuring a diverse group of musicians and uniting these venues under one cause, we are able to coordinate an exciting, and unprecedented event. We hope the national footprint of the Festival will help inform as many people as possible on these important issues. And, we hope to keep expanding in future years. I think everyone would agree that Earth Day should be recognized in a big way every year." -Peter Shapiro, Executive Producer
Relix Records
Relix Records is a boutique record label established to help artists create, market and distribute their music in the US and internationally. Current releases include:
Jonah Smith
Jonah Smith is an American musician, singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles. He began his career as a solo artist in 2000 in Brooklyn, New York. He has recorded several records and was a semi-finalist on Season 9 of America's Got Talent. He was bo ...
,
John Popper Project featuring
DJ Logic
DJ Logic (born 1972 as Jason Kibler) is an American turntablist active primarily in nu-jazz/ acid jazz and with jam bands.
Kibler was born and raised in The Bronx, NY. Because of an early interest in hip hop, Kibler started using the turntabl ...
and
Phil Lesh & Friends
Phil Lesh and Friends is an American rock band formed and led by Phil Lesh, former bassist of the Grateful Dead.
Phil & Friends is not a traditional group in that several different lineups of musicians have played under the name, including gr ...
.
Additionally,
Relix Classics, and imprint of Relix Records digitally release the works of heritage artists such as
Jorma Kaukonen
Jorma Ludwik Kaukonen, Jr. (; ; born December 23, 1940) is an American blues, folk, and rock guitarist. Kaukonen performed with Jefferson Airplane and still performs regularly on tour with Hot Tuna, which started as a side project with bassist J ...
,
Hot Tuna
Hot Tuna is an American blues rock band formed in 1969 by former Jefferson Airplane members Jorma Kaukonen (guitarist/vocals) and Jack Casady (bassist). Although it has always been a fluid aggregation, with musicians coming and going over the ...
,
Flying Burrito Brothers
The Flying Burrito Brothers are an American country rock band, best known for their influential 1969 debut album, ''The Gilded Palace of Sin''. Although the group is perhaps best known for its connection to band founders Gram Parsons and Chris ...
and the
New Riders of the Purple Sage
New Riders of the Purple Sage is an American country rock band. The group emerged from the psychedelic rock scene in San Francisco in 1969 and its original lineup included several members of the Grateful Dead. The band is sometimes referred ...
. These are distributed digitally by
Egami Media.
As the owner of these recordings, Zenbu filed lawsuits in January 2015 against streaming-music companies such as Apple's Beats, Sony, Google, Rdio, Songza, and Slacker for streaming pre-1972 recordings without having licensed them. All of the lawsuits were quickly dismissed, except for the lawsuit against Sony.
Wear Your Music
"Wear Your Music" is a charitable project sponsored by Zenbu, in which artists donate guitar strings which are made into collectable bracelets and sold, with the profits going to a charity of the artist's choice
Digital
Zenbu Media is in charge of many websites. Each magazine the company publishes has its own web page complete with a free online subscription. The record label, the Jammy Awards, the Green Apple Music & Arts Festival, and Wear Your Music also have their own websites.
In addition to these websites, Zenbu Media runs jambands.com and zendition.com.
Jambands.com
Jambands.com is a website that is designed to meet all possible jam band needs. It has jam band news, products, forums, classifieds, and probably much more. Bernstein sold Jambands.com to Relix Media Group in 2009.
Zendition.com
Zenbu Media and Techistry, the founders of Zendition, possess over 6o years of combined print media and software development experience. Zendition is a way to transform a magazine or any other similar kind of printed product into an electronic edition that maintains the true-to-print look and feel.
References
{{reflist
External links
Official Zenbu Site''Relix Magazine''''Global Rhythm Magazine''''Metal Edge Magazine''''Metal Maniacs Magazine''Relix RecordsGreen Apple FestivalWear Your Music
Mass media companies of the United States
Companies based in New York City