On February 27, 1996, a then 30-year old guy from a city in Southern Italy, probably better known for pizza and mozzarella rather than rock n’ roll music, finally managed to open his own business. As a major music fan, he had a dream. That dream was to work with his musical heroes and bring them to the attention of the masses. At the time, he had no knowledge of the record business. All he did was register the business and pay an invoice from a Swedish label called Westcoast Records to buy some CDs, which had just been released and that no one in Italy was interested in distributing. That business was called “Frontiers”, after the timeless 1983 Journey album, and the man was Serafino Perugino.
On February 27, 2016, Frontiers turns 20 years old! In all this time, a lot of things happened. Frontiers became a limited liability company in 1998 and released its first album commercially across Europe from the band TEN, “Never Say Goodbye”, in April of the same year. Also in 1998, Mario de Riso, a fellow passionate music fan, was hired by Serafino for his abilities in the market as a label manager and his expertise in legal affairs. Needless to say, the excellent results of Mario joining the team are evident 18 years later. Staying in the distribution business in Italy (until 2013), Serafino and Mario were joined by a team of passionate and motivated music fans over the years, including Lorenzo Pagliaro, Giulio Cataldo, Elio Bordi, Ezio Benetti, and Massarock, who made possible the quick rise of the label by becoming the name in Melodic Rock first and later on, a premiere name in Hard Rock and Metal as well.
Some of the remarkable Frontiers' “milestones” reached during the past years include: TEN’s album “Spellbound” was the first to be certified on a national sales chart (#100 in Germany in 1999); The Poodles are the first (and so far the only) band who brought the label to top of the album charts (#1 in Sweden with their record “Performocracy” in 2011). In 2010, Frontiers executed a strategic distribution agreement in North America with Caroline/EMI (who later became Caroline/Universal) and in March 2011, Frontiers debuted on the U.S. Billboard charts with the awesome Whitesnake album “Forevermore”. In 2014, we launched the first Frontiers Rock Festival, a multi-day concert event featuring label artists exclusively, in Milan. This year will be the third edition and it has become one of the leading live events for Melodic and Hard Rock acts. In 20 years, we released more than 700 albums, with chart entries all over the world. We have strategically expanded our business and partnerships during the years to include people like Derek Shulman as Chairman of Frontiers NA and A&R consultant, Nick Tieder as North American Label Manager, and the very recent addition of another top US industry executive – who will be announced very soon - who will help direct the catalogue expansion and label presence all over the world.
It’s therefore time to celebrate the first 20 Years and look to the future with new plans and activities. Everything that we will do will keep having the usual standard of world class entertainment offered to the fans by real music fans!
Also, as part of our 20th Anniversary, we wanted to get involved with a charity we support. NANA is an association born to pursue the intellectual and spiritual heritage of Francesca Martini, a person, who in the 14 years in which she lived, showed depths of purpose, originality and human qualities that left a distinctive and unique mark in the memory of all those who knew her. This association pursues the education and training of students with disabilities and disabled people in schools of all levels and the promotion of scientific research with particular focus on the prevention and treatment of cancer. For more information, please visit their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/NanaOnlus
If you are feeling so inclined, we kindly ask you to make a donation to Nana Onlus, via their PayPal account: nanaonlus@tim.it or by using the following bank coordinates:
IBAN IT95 F 05387 03211 00000 2414714
Swift Code: BPMOIT22XXX