The label was founded in 2001 by Michael Gordon, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, and Kenny Savelson.

Gordon, Lang, and Wolfe are composers who founded the Bang on a Can music festival in New York City, while Savelson has worked as the festival's music director.

[1] Cantaloupe Music was launched in March 2001 with the release of the Bang on a Can All Stars recording Renegade Heaven.

"It's no secret that over the last five years or so, the record industry has been constantly going through shifts," Gordon told Billboard at the time.

"Companies are being bought and sold, and it seems to us that there's more emphasis on profitability and very big records.