Jazz artists on the label include pianist McCoy Tyner, singer and guitarist John Pizzerelli, and pianist Oscar Peterson. It also records blues, crossover, and country music, and expanded to world music in 2000 when it merged with Heads Up Records.

The acquisition follows Concord's purchase in November 2004 of Fantasy Records, the owner of the Stax, Prestige, and Riverside catalogs.

"This is an opportunity to create a major independent company that keeps that turn-around-on-a-dime mentality and thinks outside the box," Robert Woods, Telarc's president, told the Hollywood Reporter.