Wind-up Records Celebrates 15 Years

Wind-up Records, one of the largest independently-owned record labels, was founded in 1997 and has successfully launched the careers of numerous multi-platinum artists such as Evanescence, Creed, Seether and Finger Eleven, built a diverse roster of artists which include The Darkness, Five for Fighting, James Durbin and O.A.R. and has scouted and developed several award-winning, newer artists such as Civil Twilight, The Virginmarys, Young Guns and Jillette Johnson.

To celebrate their 15-year anniversary, Wind-up is releasing an exclusive limited edition 10 inch red vinyl of rare tracks from Creed, Seether, Finger Eleven, Young Guns, The Virginmarys and The Darkness at participating retailers on Record Store Day, April 20, 2013. "We are pleased to be participating in Record Store Day this year" said Wind-up's Chief Executive Officer, Ed Vetri. "Celebrating our 15 year anniversary with this collectable vinyl album is a great way to acknowledge our great Rock history and our unwavering commitment to Rock music today. We hope Wind-up fans enjoy the red vinyl and feel not just a great sense of our history, but a glimpse of what we are doing now. We thank our artists who participated in this promotion and our fans who have been great supporters of Wind-up over the years."

This collection celebrates tracks that hold important milestones for the label. Creed's "What's This Life For" (Blue Collar Version) is the original version of the song that was eventually included on My Own Prison, the album that launched their career spawning several hit singles and generated sales of over nine million copies worldwide. Finger Eleven's "Change The World" (Acoustic Mix) is a rare B-side from their fifth full length studio album Them vs. You vs. Me, which was released in 2007, and is an RIAA Gold Certified Album as well as the 2008 Juno Award winner for Rock Album of the Year. Additional rare tracks include Seether's "Driven Under" (Live Acoustic), a standout track taken from One Cold Night, which was a live acoustic album released in 2006. The Darkness' "Love Is Not The Answer" (Acoustic Demo) appeared on digital version only of the band's first album in over five years, the critically acclaimed Hot Cakes. Newer Wind-up artist tracks include Young Guns' debut album and title track, "Bones" (Acoustic) which recently reach #1 on the active rock charts and "Dead Man's Shoes" (Stripped Recording) from The Virginmarys' recent release, King of Conflict.

Since its inception nearly 15 years ago, Wind-up has shipped over 60 million units worldwide, garnered seven multi-platinum albums (including one diamond - sales over 10 million) and seven gold albums. Wind-up has licensed music to high-profile television shows and motion pictures including several movie soundtracks. Combining a team of creative A&R scouts, in-house writers and engineers with its own recording studio, Wind-up cultivates a fluid and collaborative recording process with its artists; As pioneers of the 360-degree deal, Wind-up umbrellas several other entities including various publishing companies, a touring division, a television corporation and Pronto Merch, a full-service merchandise company.

A year-long set of events and promotions honoring Wind-up's decade and a half's worth of music history have been taking place to commemorate the occasion. Past promotions have included an iTunes 15th Anniversary Slider, eMusic highlighted Wind-up and offered a anniversary sampler of 12 free tracks, 7digtial featured a dedicated branded page for Wind-up featuring titles for $5,00, VEVO featured a playlist of Wind-up's most watched videos, Spotify held a "Subscribe to Win" contest and RDIO featured 15th anniversary playlists. Most recently, at SXSW this year, Wind-up showcased some of their exciting newer artists - Civil Twilight, The Virginmarys, Young Guns, Aranda and Jillette Johnson at Empire Control Room for their 15th Anniversary SXSW party.