Velvet Hammer Music and Management Group
Velvet Hammer Music and Management Group is an artist development and management company and record label located in Los Angeles, California in the United States. Its current clients include Achozen, Afghan Raiders, Alice in Chains, Cypress Hill, Deftones, The Fall of Troy, REVOLUTION MOTHER and System of a Down.
The company was founded in 1997 by David "Beno" Benveniste, expanding out of Benveniste's independent music management practice. In 2004, Benveniste signed a joint venture deal to move the Velvet Hammer music label from Atlantic Records to Columbia Records over a several year period. Under the terms of the deal, Velvet Hammer clients Taproot, Poison the Well and Gratitude would continue to record with Atlantic, while Benveniste signed One Republic to Columbia. Afterwards, Sony/ATV and Velvet Hammer Music collaborated to publish the ASCAP award winning song "Apologize" by One Republic. Benveniste already had a long established relationship with Columbia and its parent, Sony, having first brought System of a Down to Columbia in 1996 and at one time managing Mudvayne, signed to Sony company Epic Records. In 2008, Velvet Hammer signed a three-year deal with Sony subsidiary RED Distribution, which begins with marketing and publicity for Taproot's album Our Long Road Home.
In 1999, Velvet Hammer was drawn into a feud with Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit when Taproot chose to sign with Velvet Hammer Management rather than Interscope.