Warner‘s ADA has signed a deal with the UK’s Mute to handle the Daniel Miller-owned indie’s digital and physical distribution in the US and Canada.
Since its launch more than three decades ago, Mute has signed seminal artists such as Depeche Mode, Moby, Erasure, Goldfrapp, Can, Yaz and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.
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.
Today, the label continues to be a home to a crop of emerging talent such as M83, Apparat (and collaboration Moderat), Josh T. Pearson, The Knife, José González (and his band Junip), Polly Scattergood, Fever Ray, Big Deal, and Maps. Releases are expected this year from Liars, Cold Specks, Yann Tiersen and Beth Jeans Houghton.
“It is a true honor to welcome Mute into the ADA family of labels,” said Kenny Weagly, Senior Vice President, A&R and Label Services, ADA Worldwide. “For the past 35 years, Daniel Miller and the Mute roster have epitomized the independent label spirit, leading the way in fearlessly signing groundbreaking artists that not only span genres, but have often created them.
“All of us at ADA are thrilled to be partnering with a true beacon of the independent music community, and we’re looking forward to working with everyone at Mute as they continue to champion artistic freedom and creativity.”
Mute’s Daniel Miller said, “We’re excited to bring Mute back to ADA, whom we worked with 20 years ago – it’s a great home for the label and our artists. We feel confident this partnership will support Mute’s continuing vision!”Music Business Worldwide
