Parkwood Entertainment

Parkwood Entertainment was founded in 2010 by American singer, actress, producer, and director Beyoncé. As an imprint based from Columbia Records, the company began as a production unit for videos and films in 2008. Parkwood Entertainment is named after a street in Houston, Texas where Beyoncé once lived.[1] With headquarters in New York City, the company serves as an umbrella for the entertainer's various brands in music, movies, videos, and fashion. The staff of Parkwood Entertainment have experiences in arts and entertainment, from filmmaking and video production to web and fashion design. In addition to departments in marketing, digital, creative, publicity, fashion design and merchandising, the company houses a state-of-the-art editing suite, where Beyoncé works on content for her worldwide tours, music videos, and television specials. Parkwood Entertainment's first production was the musical biopic Cadillac Records (2008), in which Beyoncé starred and co-produced.[2] In 2009, she starred in and executive produced the thriller Obsessed. During a private screening held at New York's School of Visual Arts Theatre following the release of her fifth self-titled studio album, Beyoncé briefly discussed her decision to found Parkwood Entertainment in front of her fans and the press, saying:

"I started my own company when I decided to manage myself. It was important that I didn't go to some big management company, I felt like I wanted to follow the footsteps of Madonna and be a powerhouse and have my own empire, and show other women when you get to this point in your career you don't have to go sign with someone else and share your money and your success—you do it yourself."[3]

In December 2013, Parkwood Entertainment released Beyoncé's fifth self-titled visual album. The surprising release caused "hilarious, honest and hysterical" reaction among Beyoncé's fans,[4] and "shock" among other musicians.[5] According to data provided by Twitter, the release generated over 1.2 million tweets in 12 hours.[5] Peter Robinson of The Guardian hailed the shock release as "Beyoncégeddon", describing it as a "major triumph ... a masterclass in both exerting and relinquishing control."[6] Beyoncé was released digitally to the iTunes Store without prior announcement or promotion. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, earning Beyoncé her fifth consecutive number-one album in the country. The record sold 617,000 copies in the US, and 828,773 copies worldwide in its first three days of availability, becoming the fastest-selling album in the history of the iTunes Store at the time.[7] It was reissued in November 2014 as part of a platinum edition, along with an extended play of new songs. It received acclaim from critics, who praised its production, exploration of sexuality, and Beyoncé's vocals. As of November 2016, Beyoncé has sold 8 million copies worldwide and has spawned the singles "XO", "Drunk in Love", "Partition" and "Pretty Hurts.[8]

In October 2014, Beyoncé with Parkwood Entertainment formed a large collaboration with Topshop, creating the subsidiary Parkwood Topshop Athletic Ltd, to produce an athletic, streetwear brand. The company and collaboration is a 50/50 split, with both parent companies owning half of this new division. Beyoncé commented on the collaboration stating "I could not think of a better partner as I continue to grow the Parkwood business".[9] In November 2018, Parkwood Entertainment confirmed that the company had acquired total ownership of the Ivy Park brand from co-founder Sir Phillip Green following allegations of sexual harassment and racial abuse.

In 2015, Parkwood expanded into managing the careers of upcoming artists and signed Chloe x Halle, Sophie Beem and Ingrid.[10][11][12]

In 2016, Steve Pamon, from JP Morgan Chase took office as the COO and President of the company.[13] Within that same year, Parkwood entertainment released Beyoncé's critically acclaimed sixth studio album Lemonade. The album was accompanied by the release of a 60-minute film of the same name, which premiered on HBO on April 23, 2016.[14] Lemonade received widespread acclaim from critics and is also Beyoncé's most critically acclaimed album to date. Writing for The New York Times, Jon Pareles praised Beyoncé's vocals and her courage to talk about subjects that affect so many people, and noted that "the album is not beholden to radio formats or presold by a single".[15] Megan Carpentier of The Guardian named the album as ''a pop culture phenomenon'' and wrote:''It is not an exaggeration to say that there is no other living musical artist who could ignite such a broad and unavoidable conversation just by releasing a new album – even a visual one."[16] Writing in the same publication, Syreeta McFadden notes that the ''Formation'' video depicts archetypal southern black women "in ways that we haven't seen frequently represented in popular art or culture".[17] Time magazine wrote: ''With Lemonade—an album, an Emmy-nominated film and, as America looked on, an experience—Beyoncé publicly embraced explicitly feminist blackness at a politically risky moment.''[18]

In 2017, the visual album won a Peabody Award in Entertainment, along with the following description by the board of jurors: "Lemonade draws from the prolific literary, musical, cinematic, and aesthetic sensibilities of black cultural producers to create a rich tapestry of poetic innovation. The audacity of its reach and fierceness of its vision challenges our cultural imagination, while crafting a stunning and sublime masterpiece about the lives of women of color and the bonds of friendship seldom seen or heard in American popular culture."[19]

Parkwood Entertainment has been listed twice by Fast Company as one of the Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Music (2015 and 2017).[20]

• Beyoncé
• Chloe x Halle
• Ingrid Burley
• Sophie Beem

• Beyoncé – 4 (2011)
• Beyoncé − Beyoncé (2013)
• Beyoncé − Lemonade (2016)
• Chloe x Halle − Sugar Symphony (2016)[21]
• Sophie Beem − Sophie Beem (2016)[22]
• Ingrid Burley – Trill Feels (2016)
• Chloe x Halle - The Two of Us (2017)
• "Mi Gente" (Remix) (2017)
• Chloe x Halle - The Kids Are Alright (2018)[23]
• The Carters – Everything Is Love (2018)
• Beyoncé – HΘMΣCΘMING: THE LIVE ALBUM (2019)
• Beyoncé – The Lion King: The Gift (2019)
• Chloe x Halle - Ungodly Hour (2020)

• Ivy Park (2014)