Newspaper Daily Camera has an interview with James Marienthal of Silver Wave Records. If you are into New Age music history, this is a must read.
Since Boulder’s Silver Wave Music was founded in 1986, each decade has brought a significant, transformational change to the independent music label specializing in Native American, World and New Age music.
In 1995, as the business experienced its heyday, Silver Wave founder James Marienthal bought a three-level commercial building off Broadway and Portland Place, where his company filled the top floor.
About six years ago, Silver Wave’s physical CD distribution and the day-to-day administration tasks were merged with Spring Hill Music, a Boulder-based New Age label. Spring Hill manages those operations from its location in south Boulder.
“It was very synchronistic,” Marienthal said.
In 2014, more shifts could come for Marienthal’s one-man operation of overseeing the CD and digital distribution businesses — the latter of which is handled by a firm in Oakland, Calif. — and managing third-party licensing and publishing.
He is selling the box bay window-laden building at 2475 Broadway, and situating Silver Wave as a home-based business.
“It was the perfect size for the company at the time,” Marienthal said.
At its peak, the eight-person Silver Wave filled the top floor of the building at 2475 Broadway. From the mid-’90s to 2003, gross sales topped or hovered around the $1 million mark.
Read it all here.
