Accounting Principles, 11th Edition

Feature Story

From Trials to the Top Ten

In 1990, Cliff Chenfield and Craig Balsam gave up the razors, ties, and six-figure salaries they had become accustomed to as New York lawyers. Instead, they set up a partnership, Razor & Tie Music, in Cliff's living room. Ten years later, it became the only record company in the country that had achieved success in selling music both on television and in stores. Razor & Tie's entertaining and effective TV commercials have yielded unprecedented sales for multi-artist music compilations. At the same time, its hot retail label has been behind some of the most recent original, progressive releases from artists such as Kelly Sweet, All That Remains, EndeverafteR, Angelique Kidjo, Ryan Shaw, Dave Barnes, Twisted Sister, Dar Williams, Danko Jones, and Yerba Buena.

Razor & Tie may be best known for its wildly popular Kidz Bop CD series, the top-selling children's audio product in the United States. Advertised on Nickelodeon, the Cartoon Network, and elsewhere, Kidz Bop titles have sold millions of copies. Many of its releases in the series have “gone Gold.”

Razor & Tie got its start with its first TV release, Those Fabulous '70s (100,000 copies sold), followed by Disco Fever (over 300,000 sold).

After restoring the respectability of the oft-maligned ...