Creative Nation Music (CNM) began as a concert series at Cambridge, Massachusetts' Zeitgeist Gallery in 2000, but quickly grew into a multi-faceted effort to cultivate and organize Boston's local jazz scene. In 2003, Boston-based musicians Eric Hofbauer and Chris Allen partnered to form Creative Nation Music Productions, a collective organization that produced concerts at a variety of Boston-area venues and sold recordings by local musicians through its online storefront. By early 2004, CNM Productions began producing CDs that would introduce Boston-based groups to the rest of the world. Led by Hofbauer, the label secured national distribution through City Hall Records and digital distribution through IODA and released four CDs its first year. Today, Creative Nation Music, as the label is now called, is a respected outlet for independent creative improvised music celebrating its 5th anniversary in 2009. True to its original principles, it remains focused on documenting and promoting the work of musicians living and working in the Boston area, with a special emphasis on artists with distinctive musical personalities.