Mike Carden brings over 45 years of music industry experience to Quarto Valley Records (QVR). Over the decades, Mike has been involved with and headed up some of the world’s premiere entertainment companies including Eagle Rock Entertainment and WEA, and labels including Atlantic Records, Spitfire Records and East West Records. He has worked in many facets of the music business — from retail and distribution — to production, marketing and operations for music entities and major and independent labels. With a keen eye for musical talent and an acumen for business management, Mike’s expertise lies in marketing, distribution, sales, artist management and A&R.
Prior to joining QVR, Mike served as President of North American Operations for Eagle Rock Entertainment, where he was responsible for building up Eagle Rock Entertainment in the U.S. marketplace. During his 10+ years with Eagle Rock, he oversaw releases of documentary and live performance titles by such acts as Jeff Beck, the Doors, Talking Heads, Eric Clapton, Usher, Miles Davis, the Who, Deep Purple, Queen, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper and many others across all media. Among his many accomplishments as President and EVP of the Company, was the consolidation of their audio and video portions in the early 2000s. Initially hired as a consultant in 2001, impressed with his experience and his management skills, the company made him GM of Spitfire Records and Eagle Records.
During his tenure at Eagle Rock, Mike successfully pushed for them to be one of the first music companies to move into the high definition DVD arena by utilizing Blu-ray technology—Eagle Rock became one of the largest holders of hi def music and documentary rights in the world.
Before joining Eagle Rock, Mike spent a decade with Atlantic Records, serving as National Director of Sales/National Accounts and earlier, as head of North East Regional sales – with a stint in between – heading up sales and marketing for Atlantic’s off-shoot indie-label, East West Records.
