We were lucky to catch up with John Edwards recently and have shared our conversation below.

John, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I had been an Aerospace Engineer for 10 years, but a music fan for twice that long. I began to realize that a lot of my favorite albums from the 60s, 70s and 80s were not available on CD. I got the idea to start a record label that would focus on preserving these records on CD for future generations.

I had a technology background so I understood what it would take to make this happen…money, licenses, good manufacturers and distribution. I felt like this would work because I read so many stories from music fans “wishing this album was on cd”. I approached all of the major labels at the time, Sony, Universal, Polygram, EMI/Capitol, BMG/RCA and Warner. All of the responded positively to my licensing inquiries except for Warner, the main reason being they owned Rhino Records, who had a similar business model. No one else seemed to be interested in preserving these albums on the level that I was.

My approach was quality all the way….deluxe booklets, top end remastering, great graphics (both original and new). The acceptance I got at retail was excellent. We released 40 titles in 6 months, which was risky for the cash outlay, but ultimately it succeeded and every retailer became familiar with Renaissance Records and we never had trouble placing any recordings from that point on.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

In 1993, former Aerospace Engineer, John W. Edwards had the idea to form a new recording label which would focus on the reissue of classic rock and classic country LPs on CD for the first time, thus Renaissance Records was born.

By early 1996, Renaissance Records had signed multiple licensing deals with EMI-Capitol, Sony Music, BMG/ RCA/ Arista and Universal Music Group. The company also formed licensing contracts with individual artists both in the United Stated and abroad, as well as licensing an entire library of live concert recordings which would become the basis of it’s Alive In America series.

In 2020, Renaissance Records joined the vinyl renaissance and began releasing music onto vinyl. Renaissance Records continues to release music into 2025 from artists such as Crack The Sky, Electric Light Orchestra Part II, Girlschool, Lindisfarne, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Mountain, Spirit, Climax Blues Band, Molly Hatchet, The Sherbs, M2M, Tee Set, Starz, Jack Bruce & Friends, Joe Cocker, Fairport Convention, The Pentangle, Renaissance, Bob Welch & Friends, and more. We also have been releasing some great newer artists like Marisa & The Moths, Bad Skin, RunJuliet, Die So Fluid, Tystnaden, Spirit Machines, Odelet and The Council Of Thirteen.

Culminating a dream that began 45 years ago, the Council of Thirteen proudly releases their debut album “In Between The Dark and The Light”.

The brainchild of keyboardist, vocalist and songwriter John W. Edwards, has its formations in songs that John started writing in 1979 while studying Physics and Mathematics at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Therefore, The Council of Thirteen was born by combining the talents of 17 other musicians and singers with John’s songs and some great covers of other classic rock artists’ tunes. The band is quite prolific having recorded thirty five albums in just over a year. Why so many? John believes that providing new music consistently adds to the positive cultural landscape. All ten albums are available through Renaissance Records.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

In the early 2000s many of the independent distributors went through downsizing and some even collapsed. We had two distributors completely belly-up on us and with the bankruptcy laws of the USA, the product they held was no longer ours to recoup sales dollars from. This was a $150,000 blow over 2 years that almost made me give up in 2002. I found a couple of investors and re-energized the label with albums created from live recordings that had never been released, direct deals with recording artists and within 2 years we were back where we were before the imminent collapse of major music retailers in the USA. We have had to reinvent the business model a couple of times, but I never gave up nor wanted to.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

In addition to selling through a major national distribution company, we sell on many platforms. We have our own company website using Shopify technology. We also are third-party retailers on Amazon, eBay and Discogs. Obviously selling on our own website gives us the most benefit as we can capture customer data as well as netting more profit from direct sales. Amazon is great for it’s wide reach and huge customer base, but they tend to discount music product (CDs and LPs) heavily which decreases our profit margin. eBay is a platform that is more for surfer shoppers than Amazon, which is a more focused buyer base. Discogs is purely for worldwide collectors and is generally a good profit margin generator, but in no way matches the revenue generated by Amazon, eBay or our own website.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.renaissancerecordsus.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/renaissancerecordsus/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RenaissanceRecordsUS/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/renaissance-records
• Twitter: https://x.com/RenRexAZ
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RenaissanceRecordsUS/