While the recording industry has seen its ups and downs of late, with four prominent Los Angeles studios shuttering their doors in the past nine months, Paramount Ameraycan Recording Studios has purchased two studio properties in the same period. Most recently, Paramount purchased Encore Studios located in Burbank, a well-known studio that has hosted such musicians as Marvin Gaye, Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, The Rolling Stones, 50 Cent and Eminem. “Encore is one of only two well-known studios located in Burbank. It would’ve been preposterous not to buy Encore and continue to run it as a studio,” Adam Beilenson, a co-owner of Paramount Ameraycan said, “It would’ve been hard to watch yet another world class studio close its doors. The price was right, the facility was famous and doing fine financially. It made no sense to let them turn it into warehouse space.” As mentioned above, the Encore purchase is Paramount’s second in the past nine months. Late last year, the company purchased Thirdstone, a recording studio located in North Hollywood. Opting to lease out the space, Paramount signed a three-year pact with an undisclosed record label. While there has been some consolidation in the recording studio business, due to a decline in CD sales, Beilenson believes that such concerns are valid, but perhaps slightly overblown. “We see things in the business staying the same or improving. There was no reason not to acquire a world famous studio like Encore at a good price,” Beilenson said. “With Thirdstone, we knew beforehand that there was a pent-up demand from labels and producers who wanted their own facility. It’s a turnkey operation for us. The properties are economies of scale for us. We’re able to perhaps make money because of how many properties we own, whereas others might not.” In addition to the Encore and Thirdstone Studios, Paramount Ameraycan owns Ameraycan Recording Studios, located in North Hollywood, and Paramount Recording Studios, located in Hollywood. Some of the artists who have recorded at those facilities include David Bowie, Miles Davis, Jay-Z, Led Zeppelin and Frank Zappa.
