Interscope Anoints Schur With Own Label Suretone

In this era of upheaval and declining revenue, its hard to believe that old-fashioned "we’ll give you a pile of money to start your own record label" insider deals are still happening.  But that’s exactly what it feels like as Interscope announced a joint venture with Jordan Schur’s Suretone Records, a new company founded by the music industry veteran.

In forming the new company, Schur leaves Geffen Records where he served as president for more than six years. Before that, Schur founded and managed Flip Records where he signed and released artists including Limp Bizkit and Staind.

As part of the deal, Schur will continue to oversee the recording careers of Weezer, The Cure, Rooney, New Found Glory and Angels and Airwaves, the new band put together by Tom DeLonge (blink-182) who will remain on Geffen and will carry the Suretone imprint. The Pink Spiders (which will be released through Geffen), Headway, Eastern Conference Champions and all newly signed acts will be on Suretone Records and released by Interscope.

Another ultimate insider Jeff Kwatinetz, CEO of The Firm and which represents several artists on the new label , said, "Jordan Schur is the most dynamic, talented, and driven executive in the music business today. The fact that he is leaving the corporate culture and returning to being an owner whose destiny is directly tied to his artists is only good news for myself and my clients."  We can almost hear Kwatinetz counting the coins.

Schur likes to be viewed as a guy who does things differently.  Only time will tell if Suretone is anything more than the same sorry old pig with some new lipstick on.