Daniel Miller’s Mute Artists Ltd. has extended its international dealings with [PIAS] Artist & Label Services to include a digital and physical distribution deal in the UK.
Founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller (pictured), the original Mute Records was bought by EMI for approximately £23m in 2002.
However, in 2010 the major agreed to licence back assets to Miller, so that he could once again run the company as an independent – Mute Artists Ltd (MAL).
MAL’s schedule in 2013 includes album releases from artists such as Goldfrapp, Erasure, Maps, Polly Scattergood, Cabaret Voltaire, Big Deal, Apparat, Crime & The City Solution, Can, Irmin Schmidt and Simon Fisher Turner. Recent releases include albums from Yeasayer, Cold Specks, Carter Tutti Void and Liars.
Daniel Miller, Chairman and founder of Mute said: “I’m delighted to be back with our old friends and colleagues at [PIAS] UK. [PIAS] is the natural home for us here and I look forward to a long and successful relationship with Adrian Pope and his excellent team.
Kenny Gates, CEO and Co-Founder of [PIAS] added “Mute and Daniel were an inspiration for me when founding [PIAS] back in 1982. Mute and [PIAS] go back a long time, having been Daniel’s licensee in several European countries before initiating Vital distribution together in the UK. I’m very happy on every level to see both our companies working together again in the UK”.
Adrian Pope, MD of [PIAS] Artist and Label Services said: “It’s great to be working with Mute again in the UK. The opportunity to take a joined up approach to physical and digital releases as well as developing other initiatives together across the [PIAS] business is a huge opportunity. We’re working closely with Daniel, Shirin and the team to make the most of a raft of exciting forthcoming releases as well as getting stuck into pro-actively re-energizing the catalogue.”
In its 35-year history, Mute has signed artists such as Depeche Mode, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Yazoo, Goldfrapp, Erasure, Moby, Liars, Laibach, Richard Hawley, Big Deal, Beth Jeans Houghton, Cold Specks, Josh T. Pearson, Apparat, VCMG and Land Observations.
Shirin Foroutan, Managing Director, Mute said “[PIAS]’ knowledge of Mute, combined with their breadth of services and commitment to our unique projects were key factors in the decision to bring our physical and digital distribution under one roof in the UK. These are exciting times and we look forward to sharing them with [PIAS]”
Mute has signed a full-services deal with [PIAS] that includes access to the company’s YouTube team, specialist catalogue marketing resource, [PIAS] Portal, innovative digital solutions including [PIAS]’s Spotify and Deezer Apps as well as its award-winning sales and distribution team.Music Business Worldwide
