ECR Music Group is an American independent music company based in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. It was founded by recording artist and producer

Blake Morgan Blake Morgan is an American musician, singer, music producer, record label owner, and activist based in New York City. After releasing the alternative rock solo album ''Anger's Candy'' (1997) on Phil Ramone's N2K Sony/Red label, he began produci ...

in 2002 as

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

Engine Company Records. Re-branded as ECR Music Group in late 2012, it now includes a roster of both imprints and artists, as well as an artist-services division
Meridian
and a publishing division
ECR Music Publishing
The label differs from its counterparts in its artist-friendly philosophy and partnership wherein all ECR artists and labels own 100% of their master recordings. Artists on ECR Music Group have included

Janita Janita Maria (née Raukko; born 28 December 1978), better known mononymously as Janita, (pronounced "YA-nee-tah") is a Finnish-born, American singer-songwriter. Born in Helsinki, she started her career in Finland and later moved to Brooklyn at ...

James McCartney James Louis McCartney (born 12 September 1977) is an English musician and songwriter. He has released several recordings in his own name and contributed to albums by his parents Paul and Linda McCartney. Early life James Louis McCartney was ...

Tracy BonhamDavid PoeJill Sobule

Terry Manning Terry Don Manning (December 29, 1947 – March 25, 2025) was an American recording engineer, record producer, musician and photographer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he worked with Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Bryan Adams, ZZ Top, the ...

Lesley Gore Lesley Gore (born Lesley Sue Goldstein, May 2, 1946 – February 16, 2015) was an American singer and songwriter. At the age of 16, she recorded her first hit song " It's My Party", a US number one in 1963. She follow ...

, David Cloyd, Chris Barron
Grace McLean
and many others. Morgan produces the releases, and genres vary significantly. ECR Music Group is distributed by The Orchard. As of 2024, imprints include the aforementioned Meridian, as well a
Merrill ArtistsHook & Ladder RecordsLucky Seven Records
and the company's original catalog housed a
Engine Company Records

History

ECR Music Group was founded as Engine Company Records in 2002 by singer-songwriter, producer, and activist

. In 1996 Morgan had signed a seven-record deal with

Phil Ramone Philip Rabinowitz (January 5, 1934March 30, 2013), better known as Phil Ramone, was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, and co-founder of A & R recording studio. Its success led to expansion ...

's N2K Sony/Red label. However, he quickly became frustrated being on a corporate label. After his first tour he found a loophole in the contract. Despite being the label's most successful artist at the time, he told Ramone he wanted out of the deal. Morgan then began going to bands and artists he was recording at the time, and pitched an independent label where they would have control over their own material and output. He officially launched Engine Company Records in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 2002, and remains CEO and owner. ECR Music Group announced the official launch date of its rebranding as October 4, 2012. According to the company's website, the company now consists of a
"interconnected set of businesses singularly focused on helping its artists, songwriters, and imprints."
Uniquely, ECR Music Group achieves these goals while operating under an elemental principle, unprecedented in the music world: all of its artists and labels own 100% of their master recordings. Similar to

Rick Rubin Frederick Jay Rubin (, ; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is a co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popularize hip hop by produci ...

's relationship with American Recordings, Morgan produces most of the music for the label. Genres have ranged from

emo Emo () is a genre of rock music characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and from the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands ...

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

, to

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

, to

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

, to classical. Recordings have taken place in locations such as

The Hit Factory The Hit Factory is a recording studio in New York City owned and operated by Troy Germano. History In 1969, songwriter Jerry Ragavoy opened a recording studio in New York City and named it ''The Hit Factory.'' On March 6, 1975, Edward Germano, ...

in New York and

Compass Point Studios Compass Point Studios was a music recording studio in the Bahamas, founded in 1977 by Chris Blackwell, the owner of Island Records. The concept of the studio was of a recording facility supported by in-house sets of artists, musicians, producers ...

in the Bahamas. Among artists and producers that have worked with the label are

, David Cloyd,

Mike Errico Michael Errico is an American singer-songwriter, producer, author, professor, and journalist. Career As a recording artist, Errico has toured internationally, playing music festivals (including Woodstock '99'emerging artist stage and alongsi ...

, Patti Rothberg,

David Kahne David Kahne is an American record producer, musician, composer, and former record company executive. Professional career Kahne started his musical career as a working musician and soon became Director of A&R for America's first punk and ne ...

, and Phil "Butcher Bros." Nicolo, and

. In
Sonicscoop
interview Morgan singles out Terry Manning and Phil Nicolo as mentors. Morgan says: “One of the great things I’ve had in my career, that a lot of people have less and less of, is incredible mentors, who are giants in the recording world. Terry Manning and Phil Nicolo, these two guys have been incredible Obi-Wan Kenobis' for me."

References

External links

* {{Authority control American record labels Record labels established in 2002 Companies based in Manhattan 2002 establishments in New York City