Reservoir Media, Inc., an award-winning independent music company, has announced a worldwide publishing deal with 4x Grammy award-winner Michael League and his internationally acclaimed band Snarky Puppy. Reservoir will also represent League’s GroundUP Music, the label and publishing home for many of Snarky Puppy’s members, collaborators and larger musical family.
On the new deal with Reservoir, League said: “I can’t be more excited to open a new door not just for myself, but for all of my friends and fellow writers at GroundUP Music, as we join together with the incredibly hard-working and motivated team at Reservoir. I have no doubt that this will take our music to new places and fresh ears."
Reservoir’s Vice President of A&R and Marketing David Hoffman added, “Michael and his GroundUP Music colleagues’ compositions, global approach to creating, and ridiculous musicianship have inspired and influenced a dedicated fanbase around the world. We at Reservoir count ourselves among those fans, and we can’t wait to support Michael, Snarky Puppy and the GroundUP roster’s numerous talents.”
Born in California and currently based in Catalonia, Spain, Michael League is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, composer, arranger, songwriter, label owner, and bandleader.
League founded Snarky Puppy in 2003 and performed as the bassist for the ten-piece ensemble. Snarky Puppy has since grown into an international super-band, regarded as one of the major figures in the jazz world. Comprised of various talent over their 14 albums, with about 19 current roster members, the collective is expected to record its next album, Empire Central, in early 2022. In addition to founding and leading Snarky Puppy, League also started international music ensemble Bokanté, has collaborated with a diverse range of artists and released his debut pop solo album, So Many Me, in June 2021.
In 2014, League and Snarky Puppy took home their first Grammy in the Best R&B Performance category alongside vocalist Lalah Hathaway for their version of “Something” by Brenda Russell. In 2016, the group’s album Sylva, which debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Heatseekers, Jazz Albums and Contemporary Jazz Albums charts, won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. Snarky Puppy earned the award a second time the following year for Culcha Vulcha and again in 2021 for Live at the Royal Albert Hall, recorded before a sold-out crowd at the historic London venue.
League established GroundUP Music in 2012 to create a supportive environment where Snarky Puppy and its members could release their music. In addition to releasing albums by the ensemble, the label has been the ambassador to many successful solo careers of the group’s members, including Justin Stanton, Bill Laurance and Mark Lettieri, whose album Deep: The Baritone Sessions, Vol. 2 has been nominated for a 2022 Grammy award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. GroundUp Music is also the label home for some of music’s most innovative names including jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee David Crosby, singer-songwriter Lucy Woodward, and Lee Pardini of Dawes.
Reservoir is an independent music company based in New York City and with offices in Los Angeles, Nashville, Toronto, London, and Abu Dhabi. Reservoir is the first U.S.-based publicly traded independent music company and the first female founded and led publicly traded music company in the U.S. Founded as a family-owned music publisher in 2007, Reservoir has grown to represent over 130,000 copyrights and 36,000 master recordings with titles dating as far back as 1900 and hundreds of #1 releases worldwide. Reservoir holds a regular Top 10 U.S. Market Share according to Billboard’s Publishers Quarterly, was twice named Publisher of the Year by Music Business Worldwide’s The A&R Awards, and won Independent Publisher of the Year at the 2020 Music Week Awards.
Reservoir also represents a multitude of recorded music through Chrysalis Records, Tommy Boy Records, and Philly Groove Records and manages artists through its ventures with Blue Raincoat Music and Big Life Management.
