As Omnivore Recordings celebrates its 15^th anniversary, the reissue label has announced it recently acquired the catalog of Baltimore label Chariot Records, which produced regional hits including singles by Bob Brady and the Con Chords back in the mid-‘60s and ‘70s.

Terms of the acquisition were undisclosed, but it marks the third label catalog acquisition Omnivore has made since its inception. ADA-distributed Omnivore previously acquired Ru-Jac Records, a mid-1960s-originated R&B label, and Nighthawk Records, a 1980s-originated roots reggae label. Both labels had ceased operating as ongoing entities. 

Aside from these acquisitions, Omnivore, founded and staffed by four music industry veterans — Cheryl Pawelski, Brad Rosenberger, Dutch Cramblitt and Greg Allen, all holding the title of owner/partner — fields a catalog composed mainly of licensed masters of well-known legacy recording artists including America, The Bangles, The Beach Boys, Kool & The Gang, Peggy Lee, Little Richard, Nina Simone and Woody Guthrie, according to the company’s website.

“People like to pigeonhole us as a reissue company, and we do reissue things, no doubt about it…our primary lane is dealing with historic music,” concedes Rosenberger. “But I would say probably 50% of our releases never even existed before.” By that, he means that those releases are either music recorded but never released back in the day, or music issued in new configurations or as compilations. 

For instance, the first release from the Chariot Records acquisition was a compilation of Bob Brady and the Con Chord singles entitled Love In: The Chariot Records Recordings, which was issued just in time for this year’s Record Store Day in April.  

The Chariot Records deal was brought to Omnivore by music supervisor Alan Mason and a principal of Chariot, Brent Gordon, who himself subsequently had a long career in the music industry at various companies, including WEA, after Chariot ceased operations back in the day. 

In another compilation example, Omnivore packaged four Ru-Jac titles — Something Got A Hold on Me: 1963-1964, Get Right: 1964-1966, Finally Together: 1966-1967 and Changes: 1967-1980 — into a CD box set entitled The Should Of Baltimore: The Ru-Jac Records Story 1963-1980. It also issued compilations of two titles from the label’s bigger artists: Mr. Clean: Winfield Parker At Ru-Jac, and True Enough: Gene and Eddie with Sir Joe at Ru-Jac. 

For Nighthawk Records, Pawelski says Omnivore put together the compilation Send I A Lion: A Nighthawk Reggae Joint, which pulled together songs by the Gladiators, Junior Biles, the Wailing Souls and the Mighty Diamonds, among others. 

In 15 years, Rosenberger says, the label has put out more than 600 releases. According to a Billboard count of the artists listed on the label’s website, its release roster comprises some 250 artists. “Yes, we have been busy,” says partner Pawelski. Currently, the label fields some 300 to 400 active titles, as new titles are added and other titles’ licensing periods end. 

Omnivore will occasionally put out new music from legacy acts, as it did with Jellyfish/Imperial Drag and Beck collaborator Roger Joseph Manning’s Radio Daze & Gaming and his forthcoming Hopium; Game Day and Merry-Go-Round from Peter Holsapple of the dB’s; and solo artist Emitt Rhodes’ Rainbow Ends. The latter release, put out in 2016, was the late Rhodes’ first full-length release of new material in 43 years. 

“We’ve done a lot of releases by key people that we have relationships with, whether it’s Big Star releases, we’ve done a number of Beach Boys-related releases and we’ve put out more Jellyfish records than they did when they were still a band,” Rosenberger says. 

The label has also been issuing music resulting from relationships Rosenberger formed while at Warner Chappell during his time working on a CBGB documentary, whose original soundtrack was subsequently released on Omnivore in 2013.  

Rosenberger took advantage of the knowledge gained from that endeavor to release music from CBGB/Max’s Kansas City bands who weren’t included on the compilation, such as the Mumps and The Miamis.  

Omnivore is still trading on that knowledge. Earlier this year, the label released Completely Necessary (Anthology 1978-1982), a compilation of former Sire recordings from The Necessaries, an alternative rock mainstay from the New York City punk/new wave scene. The Necessaries members included Ed Tomney, an Emmy-nominated musician/composer of music for movies, TV and commercials; former Modern Lovers and sometimes Gods and Monsters member Ernie Brooks; the late Jesse Chamberlain, a former member of Red Crayola and the son of renowned American sculptor John Chamberlain; and the late Arthur Russell, an avant-garde musician/composer of experimental and dance music. In keeping with the premise of issuing music not previously available, the album consisted of 37 tracks, 29 of which had never been released before.  

Omnivore’s partners say they’re still on the prowl for catalog acquisitions — specifically for smaller targets in line with its available capital resources, but also under-exploited repertoire that would benefit from the partners’ expertise in mining and marketing such music to achieve upside economic potential. 

As Pawelski puts it, “We’re certainly looking ahead to find more smaller labels to [acquire] and become the custodian of, in the way that we’ve done in the past.” 

Rosenberger and Pawelski note that there are a lot of new financial entities buying up catalogs, which creates competition for acquisitions. But Pawelski says financial buyers may want to partner with Omnivore “because we have a certain expertise that might be valuable to them… in terms of audio and art restoration, and synch licensing because between [the four label principals]. Our careers cover the gamut, and I think we can be useful to them.” 

Rosenberger notes that the label has also been nominated for three Grammys for its reissues, including two won by Pawelski for best historical album: It’s Such A Good Feeling: The Best of Mister Rogers and the Hank Williams compilation The Garden Spot Programs. Outside Omnivore, Pawelski has won two additional best historical album Grammys, for Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Super Deluxe Edition), released on Nonesuch, and Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos, released by Stax/Craft Recordings. 

Three of HYBE biggest K-pop girl groups are teaming up for a joint single. “Iconic By Mistake,” a superstar collaboration between KATSEYE, LE SSERAFIM and ILLIT will be released as a digital single at 12 a.m. on Friday (June 12), with the song’s official video slated to drop at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday (June 11).

KATSEYE teased the collab on their Instagram on Sunday (June 7) via a 20-second video featuring a baroque piano snippet playing under an image of a screen covered in white bird feathers. Five seconds in, the reverie is interrupted by a brief, grinding industrial sound that shakes most of the feathers loose, followed by another rumble that uncovers the song’s title in playful cursive script made up of cartoon teeth, skulls, bones, tombstones and bird silhouettes. “I am iconic by mistake,” a lone voice sings as the final feather drops.

A short time later, KATSEYE posted a second teaser video, this one zooming in on the icons from the previous one, revealing a googly-eyed bird with its wings spread and all three groups’ names arrayed across its wings.

A 30-second teaser for the official video previewed what looks to be a super-intense, action-packed visual, opening with a shot of the women on what looks like a spaceship, followed by a brief image of a golden tooth slamming into an electrical outlet. In quick succession, we see a vicious windstorm, a creepy visit to the dentist and one of the singer’s top row of teeth covered with a glittering “ICONIC” grill, with a trickle of blood seeping out of her right nostril.

At press time no additional information was available about the song, its producers or writers. The five-member LE SSERAFIM released their second studio album, Pureflow Pt. 1, in May, featuring the singles “Boompala” and “Celebration.” Currently five-member group KATSEYE — co-founder Manon Bannerman is on an indefinite hiatus — are prepping the release of their WILD EP on Aug. 14; to date they have released the high-energy single “Pinky Up,” but the full tracklist for the five-song mini album has not yet been revealed. Five member ILLIT released the single “It’s Me” earlier this year from their five-track Mamihlapinatapai EP.

Check out the “Iconic By Mistake” teasers below.

@le_sserafim

<ICONIC BY MISTAKE> Official MV Teaser #LE_SSERAFIM #ILLIT #KATSEYE #ICONICBYMISTAKE @illit_official @katseyeworld

♬ 오리지널 사운드 – LE SSERAFIM – LE SSERAFIM

‘ICONIC BY MISTAKE’
JUNE 11 @ 9PM PT | JUNE 12 @ 12AM ET#ICONICBYMISTAKE#KATSEYE #LE_SSERAFIM #ILLIT pic.twitter.com/FjOEaA9TFF

— KATSEYE (@katseyeworld) June 7, 2026

Sombr, Brandi Carlile and Billy Corgan are among those set to present and/or perform at the 2026 Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction & Awards Gala slated for Thursday (June 11) at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. The SHOF reports that the event is sold out.

The roster of presenters and performers includes three people who have already been inducted into the SHOF — Nile Rodgers (2016), Dallas Austin (2019) and Steve Miller (2022) — as well as such likely future inductees as Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins and Carlile. Rodgers is also the SHOF chairman.

The list of presenters and performers includes a past winner of the Hal David Starlight Award — Johnny Rzeznik of Goo Goo Dolls (2008). According to the SHOF site, the award is presented to “gifted songwriters who are at an apex in their careers and are making a significant impact in the music industry via their original songs.”

Taylor Swift, who received the Hal David Starlight Award in 2010, is being inducted into the SHOF this year, making her the first Starlight Award recipient to graduate to full membership status in the SHOF. Sombr, a potential future Starlight Award recipient, is also set to appear.

The roster of presenters and performers also includes two-time Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner.

Inductees at this year’s event are Walter Afanasieff; Terry Britten and Graham Lyle; Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of KISS; Kenny Loggins; Alanis Morissette; Christopher “Tricky” Stewart; and Swift.

RAYE will receive the Hal David Starlight Award. John Fogerty will receive the Johnny Mercer Award, the organization’s top honor.

Here’s a complete list of presenters and performers at the 2026 Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction & Awards Gala.