Seymour Stein Honored, Leaving WMG

• Sire Records Chairman and musical industry icon Seymour Stein was honored with the Recording Academy’s prestigious Trustees Award on Saturday night, July 14 at the organization’s Special Merit Awards ceremony and tribute concert at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Billed as Grammy Salute to Music Legends, the event will be broadcast later this year as part of the Great Performances series on PBS. The Trustees Award is presented to individuals who, during their careers in music, have made significant contributions, other than performance, to the field of recording.

The award was presented to Stein by Henry Rollins, who said, “Seymour is the ultimate visionary indie, hearts & minds music executive of all time. His unquenchable passion has made the world a better, more open, free and cool place for almost six decades… Seymour, thank you for being the kind of record man that makes music history.”

Coinciding with his Recording Academy honor, Stein announced his departure from Warner Music Group (WMG). Stein, who co-founded Sire Records in 1967 as an independent label, joined WMG in 1976 when Sire became part of Warner Bros. Records. For a half century, Stein has been Sire’s driving visionary and creative force, signing such groundbreaking artists as The Ramones, Talking Heads, Madonna, The Pretenders, The Smiths, Depeche Mode, The Cure, k.d. lang, The Cult, The Replacements, Ice-T, and dozens more. His acclaimed autobiography, Siren Song was published last month by St. Martin’s Press.

In making the announcement, Stein said, in part, “I’ve enjoyed much of my time at Warner’s, but in truth I long for my indie roots and the greater independence that I experienced back in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. So the time has come to move on to the next phase of my career, leaving Sire in the hands of Rani Hancock, whom I sincerely wish all the luck in the world. I’m very proud that Sire was named the #15 label of the past 100 years in a major poll conducted by Variety earlier this year. I trust that it will continue to be a place where great songs and great artists will live for many years to come.” In conclusion, Stein said, “Rest assured, I intend to remain active, and I’ll be back in action again soon. I’m looking forward to the future and continuing to develop new artists in the music business that I love so much.”