Endurance Music Group Acquires Kina Grannis & Imaginary Future’s Catalog

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Endurance Music Group (EMG) has acquired Los Angeles-based indie singer-songwriters and writing partners Kina Grannis and Imaginary Future (Jesse Epstein)’s music catalog.

The deal includes songs from Grannis’ breakthrough album Stairwells and sophomore album Elements, which debuted on the Billboard 200 and hit the top five on the Billboard Folk chart. The news also comes alongside the release of I Found You, a compilation of duets recorded by the high school sweethearts which marks their first official release together. The intimate 18-song collection was personally curated by Grannis and Epstein, and includes an all-new recording of the hit song “Heavy” from Nashville folk-pop band Birdtalker as well as Vance Joy’s “Riptide” and the duo’s own “I Will Spend My Whole Life Loving You.” The compilation is the first in a series of quarterly albums by both Grannis and Epstein that will be released by EMG in the coming year.

Grannis discovered her love of songwriting at a young age, but as a shy and reserved kid, she kept that part of her life private until she played her first show at a coffee shop after graduating high school. Everything changed in 2008, when Grannis won the Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl” contest and earned a major label deal with Interscope Records. In 2017, she created one of the first fan-supported record labels on Patreon, which aided in the release of her most recent albums, In the Waiting and It’s Hard to Be Human. In 2018, Grannis appeared as herself in the worldwide hit film Crazy Rich Asians, singing a cover of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” during the pivotal wedding scene. With hundreds of millions of streams across all platforms, Grannis has cemented herself as an artist with incredible power over her 16-year career.

Epstein’s music pairs his intimate vocals with acoustic guitar and harmonies from Grannis. Since his debut album, Fire Escape, was released in 2013, the pair have toured the world and gained a loyal fanbase. Epstein’s songs have been featured in over 80 television shows, commercials, promos and trailers as well as the film Call of the Wild. He also won a Grammy in 2018 for his contribution to Lisa Loeb’s album Feel What U Feel.

“We’ve been big fans of Kina and Jesse for a long time,” shares Mark Ahlberg, EMG’s Senior Vice President. “Their musical chemistry and songwriting prowess are undeniable, and we are grateful for the opportunity to work with them to help these songs reach as many people as possible. They are immensely talented and infinitely endearing, and EMG is proud to represent their music.”

“Making music has always been a sacred process for me, so to have found a partner like EMG who believes in exactly the music we’ve made, and who wants to help those songs reach more people, is really amazing,” shares Grannis.

Epstein adds, “It’s so refreshing to meet people in this industry who are genuine humans that believe in your music, and I’m so grateful we found that in EMG.”

Liza Anderson
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