A story by Chris Brown from 1980s to 2024
Chris Brown, Bull Moose employee since 1989
Brett Wickard founded Bull Moose Music in 1989, when he was a junior at Bowdon College in Brunswick. The original Brunswick Bull Moose Music location only carried CDs and cassettes. As of 2024, Bull Moose is one of the nation's largest sellers of music, movies, games, and books with eleven retail locations in Maine and New Hampshire and a very popular website.
Bull Moose has always worked closely with local musicians and venues, and has directly supported, through millions of dollars, the local music economy. Many Maine musicians who later went on to regional or national success sold their first CD at Bull Moose.
Bull Moose hosts events that, over the past 35 years, featured prominent musicians and celebrities including: Rihanna, John Densmore, Bonnie Raitt, Jack Black, Grace Potter, Keifer Sutherland, Sharon Jones, Graham Nash, Wilco, Barenaked Ladies, Limp Bizkit, Against Me!, Imagine Dragons, Soweto Gospel Choir, Disturbed, Smashing Pumpkins, Chvrches, Tim Sample, and Chelsea Cutler.
In 2007 long-time Bull Moose employee Chris Brown proposed that independent music stores create their own holiday, Record Store Day, which is celebrated twice a year by thousands of record stores worldwide. Record Store Day helped drive the resurgence of vinyl that has increased US music sales by more than a billion dollars annually.
Another Bull Moose innovation was the Live at Bull Moose series, where we recorded live albums at Bull Moose. The series included Regina Spektor, Ani DiFranco, The Decemberists, and Mumford & Sons.
Brett Wickard sold 100% of Bull Moose to his employees in 2022, promoting Vice President of Operations Shawn D. Nichols to President and CEO.
Newspaper article about Brett Wickard and the founding of Bull Moose in Brunswick
Friendly URL: https://www.mainememory.net/mymainestory/Bull_Moose
