Universal Music Group (UMG) has bought a 49% stake within the indie label group [PIAS], increasing on a strategic international partnership that started final yr. As a part of the deal, [PIAS] founders Kenny Gates and Michel Lambot will retain management of the corporate, “remain fully independent” and UMG could have no seats on the indie’s board.
In March 2021, [PIAS] rebranded its distribution and companies arm to [Integral], bringing on a new managing director to increase its enterprise globally. Three months later, [PIAS] entered into an settlement with UMG that gave the foremost label group entry to the [Integral] platform, which additionally handles distribution companies for greater than 100 indie label companions together with ATO, Beggars Group and Secretly Group. The newly introduced minority funding is alleged to be an extension of that preliminary deal.
“We have enjoyed an excellent relationship with the Universal Music Group team since we announced our strategic global alliance with them last year,” mentioned Lambot — who co-founded [PIAS] in Brussels, Belgium, in 1983 alongside Gates — in a assertion. “Kenny and I are celebrating our company’s 40th anniversary this year and we are still as ambitious as we were when we started out about growing our global presence and providing a world class service to the independent music community.”
“These days we are competing with finance and tech giants and a partner like Universal Music Group provides the additional support for us to compete and grow,” Gates mentioned in his personal assertion. “Universal made it clear that they like us, they trust us and they need us, because they can’t do what we do and they value it highly. For Michel and I this is our life’s work and an ongoing journey and I am excited about the prospect of this new chapter in the life of [PIAS]. This move makes us stronger and secures the future of our brand, our staff and our partners while maintaining control of our destiny.”
The enlargement of the deal comes at a time when many main labels — Capitol Music Group, Republic, 300, Interscope and extra — are more and more launching or enhancing their distribution choices for impartial artists and labels. This take care of [PIAS] presumably expands UMG’s entry to impartial distribution transferring ahead.
“The boldly independent and music-centric culture that Kenny and Michel have built over the last four decades has provided a vital creative network to so many artists,” UMG chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge mentioned in a assertion. “While much of the past was focused on ‘majors versus indies,’ it’s clear that today, the important divide in our industry is about those committed to artist development versus those committed to quantity over quality. We share Kenny and Michel’s passion for developing artists and moving culture, and we recognize that a healthy music ecosystem needs companies like [PIAS] who are committed to amplifying the best voices in independent music.”
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