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Blue Note partners on a Blues Brothers record label
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 17 March 2015
Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi’s widow Judy are setting up Blues Brothers Records. It’s a joint venture with Universal’s Blue Note Records, and will seek to sign, develop and distribute both established and brand new blues acts.
And, while Blue Note President Don Was will lead on A&R, Judy Belushi will have a hands-on role as Creative Director, while Eric Gardner, whose company manages the Blues Brothers brand, will head up the admin side of the label. The team seem to hope that they can use the Blues Brothers brand and its existing online channels to help build a new audience for the blues genre.
Commenting on the latest spin off from the Blues Brothers franchise, Gardner told Billboard: “Danny has been a beacon for decades for the blues, one of the most challenging [genres] to get into the commercial marketplace”.
He went on: “In the digital age a lot of labels don’t have the wherewithal or the financing to have strong digital strategies and I think that has led to the paucity of strong blues labels. We’re almost thinking of this as a public service for dedicated blues enthusiasts”.
