Warner Music Group has acquired Zebralution Music, a distributor for independent record labels in Germany and across Europe that was spun off from Zebralution this year.
The seller is Frankfurt-based digital publishing company Bookwire, which is controlled by New York-based private equity firm Insight Partners through UK-based Delta Software Group. Insight agreed to buy Zebralution from German collecting society GEMA in January and folded it into Bookwire when the deal closed in March.
Bookwire kept Zebralution’s audiobook and digital publishing business and announced in April that it would set up the music business as an independent company.
The deal, announced today (November 3), brings that music business back to Warner, which controlled Berlin-based Zebralution for around ten years before selling it to a group of independent music executives in 2017.
Zebralution Music Co-CEOs Konrad von Löhneysen and Sascha Lazimbat will remain with the company and continue to run its distribution business.
They will work closely with Niels Walboomers, President of Warner Music Central Europe, to align strategic operations.
Zebralution Music’s partner labels will continue to benefit from the distributor’s local expertise while gaining direct access to WMG’s technology, including distribution, analytics, and financial tools powered by music tech and digital distribution platform Revelator, according to WMG.
WMG acquired Revelator in a deal, announced in April, that it said was part of an expansion of its distribution and label services.
“THIS IS AN EXCITING NEW CHAPTER FOR ZEBRALUTION MUSIC, BUT FOR OUR LABEL PARTNERS AND THE PEOPLE WE WORK WITH EVERY DAY, IT WILL VERY MUCH BE BUSINESS AS USUAL.”
SASCHA LAZIMBAT, ZEBRALUTION MUSIC
“This is an exciting new chapter for Zebralution Music, but for our label partners and the people we work with every day, it will very much be business as usual,” said Sascha Lazimbat. “We’ll continue to operate with the same team, the same relationships and the same commitment to delivering the best possible service.”
“What does change is the additional technology and resources now available to us, which will help us build on what we have already achieved,” Lazimbat added.
“ZEBRALUTION MUSIC HAS ALWAYS BEEN BUILT AROUND UNDERSTANDING THE NEEDS OF INDIE LABELS AND PROVIDING A PERSONAL, FLEXIBLE SERVICE.”
KONRAD VON LÖHNEYSEN, ZEBRALUTION MUSIC
“Zebralution Music has always been built around understanding the needs of indie labels and providing a personal, flexible service,” said Konrad von Löhneysen. “Our partners can expect the same people, the same approach and the same independence they’ve always valued.”
“It’s easy to say for me, as my label Embassy of Music has been a client for 20 plus years and will continue to be so,” he continued.
“ZEBRALUTION’S DEEP REGIONAL EXPERTISE, COMBINED WITH OUR TECHNOLOGY AND GLOBAL REACH, GIVES ITS PARTNERS WORLD-CLASS CAPABILITIES WITHOUT ASKING THEM TO GIVE UP THEIR INDEPENDENCE.”
NIELS WALBOOMERS, WARNER MUSIC CENTRAL EUROPE
“Konrad and Sascha have built one of the most trusted homes for independent music in Europe, and a team that labels genuinely believe in,” said Niels Walboomers.
“Zebralution’s deep regional expertise, combined with our technology and global reach, gives its partners world-class capabilities without asking them to give up their independence,” he added.
“It is particularly fitting that, with the Warner Music Group, Zebralution Music is in a sense returning to a former home,” said John Ruhrmann, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Bookwire, in a separate statement.
Warner acquired a majority stake in Zebralution in 2007, and its Central European division agreed to sell the company in April 2017.
The sale formed part of a divestment package that WMG agreed with Merlin and European independent music trade body IMPALA following its 2013 purchase of Parlophone Label Group.
The buyers were City Slang boss Christof Ellinghaus, Embassy of Music owner Konrad von Löhneysen, and Zebralution’s original founders, Kurt Thielen and Sascha Lazimbat.
GEMA acquired a majority stake in Zebralution in December 2019 and later became its sole shareholder.
Insight also invested in DistroKid in 2021, in a deal that valued the platform at USD $1.3 billion. CVC Capital Partners agreed to make a majority investment in DistroKid in July, with Insight retaining a significant minority holding.
Warner’s Revelator deal drew criticism from IMPALA, which said in April that the deal continued a trend in which “the independent ecosystem loses another chunk of its infrastructure.”
IMPALA called that trend “bad news for artists, fans, and Europe’s diversity as [a] whole.”Music Business Worldwide