http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/irs-records-be-relaunched-by-202029
During the 1980s, the iconic label was home to R.E.M., The Dead Kennedys, The Go-Gos and the Buzzcocks. New signings will be revealed in the coming months.
Nearly fifteen years after I.R.S. Records closed its doors, the once-iconic label is being re-launched by EMI Music North America and New York-based company Crush Management.
The new arrangement comes as an expansion of the relationship between Crush's Jonathan Daniel and Bob McLynn and Capitol & Virgin Label Group President Dan McCarroll (formally EVP of North American Creative of EMI Music Publishing). The trio have worked together to develop the careers of artists like songwriter Butch Walker, Panic! At the Disco, Gym Class Heroes, Travie McCoy, Cobra Starship, and, notably, the recently reborn pop-rock band Train.
"We are thrilled to be able to bring back the I.R.S. Records brand, and we believe that EMI and Crush will be able to recapture the spirit of adventure and excitement that the original label brought with it," McCarroll commented.
The iconic label, which was launched in 1979 by Miles Copeland III, Jay Boberg and Carl Grasso and was once home to R.E.M., The Dead Kennedys, The Go-Gos, the English Beat, the Buzzcocks, Let's Active, Concrete Blond and many others.
Signings to the new I.R.S. will be revealed over the coming months, with the label's first releases slated for the end of this year.
"Things sure have changed since mixtapes were made with actual tape," Daniel noted. "One thing remains true-we still love rock n roll. We want I.R.S. Records to recapture the spirit of artistic freedom its original groups like R.E.M. and the Dead Kennedys represented. To quote the immortal words of Joe Strummer, 'the future is unwritten.'"
