Ingrooves

Last updated
Ingrooves Music Group
Company typeMusic distribution, analytics, rights services, marketing and technology
Founded2002
Founders Robb McDaniels, Adam Hiles, Matthew Burns
Headquarters Los Angeles, California
Parent Virgin Music Group
Website ingrooves.com

Ingrooves Music Group is a global independent music marketing service and distribution company which provides custom services for artists and independent record labels, owned by Universal Music Group. They use proprietary distribution systems and maintain a focus on analytics and reporting technologies, [1] [2] [3] as well as their own platform that artists and labels can use to manage business. [4]

Contents

History

Ingrooves was founded in San Francisco in 2002 by Robb McDaniels, Matt Burns and Adam Hiles. [5] [6] As of 2015, the Ingrooves retail network included more than 600 services and storefronts. [7] [8]

In 2008, Universal Music Group (UMG) selected Ingrooves's parent company, Isolation Network Inc., to digitally distribute all of its music in North America. Ingrooves and Mexican label DEL Records formed an online distribution agreement in 2010. [9] The investment firm Shamrock Capital purchased a majority stake in the company in 2010 for $20 million. [1] [10] In 2012 Ingrooves took over Fontana Distribution, which was owned by Universal Music Group. [11] The deal added 200 labels to the Ingrooves roster, and expanded its services to include physical distribution of recordings. [6] The deal also allowed Ingrooves to use Universal’s local sales forces in selling products in retail stores. [11] Ingrooves, financed by Shamrock, paid Universal Music Group $10 million and gave Universal a 22 percent stake in Ingrooves. [10] Ingrooves subsequently expanded its services to include physical distribution. [3] [12] [11]

In 2012, the company launched an Artist Services division, INresidence, a project-based service for established artists and emerging artists releasing music independently. [13] [14] They established a Rights Services division dedicated to music publishing, synch licensing and neighboring rights in 2013. [2]

As of 2022, Ingrooves is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, India, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand. [15] [16] [17] [18] Ingrooves expanded globally by partnering with independent labels and artists in countries worldwide, including Australia’s OneLove in 2017 [19] and Latin America’s Talento Uno in 2018. [20]

In March 2018, Shamrock Capital began seeking offers for Ingrooves, around approximately $100 million to sell. [21] On February 12, 2019, Universal Music Group acquired the remaining shares of the company. [22]

Ingrooves signed Rich Music to a distribution deal in 2018 [23] and Pitbull’s Mr. 305 Inc. to a worldwide distribution deal in 2019 for all of the label’s releases. [24] The same year Ingrooves renewed its distribution partnership with independent British record label Dirty Hit. [25] The company expanded into Brazil through a deal with Brazilian label GR6, [26] and formed deals with independent labels in Spain, Norway, Turkey, Japan, [27] South Korea, Denmark, and Sweden in 2020. [28]

Under a deal with parent company Universal Music Group, Ingrooves became the distributor for K-pop band BTS in 2021. [29] Ingrooves signed India’s Yo Yo Honey Singh and Himesh Reshammiya in 2021. [30] It acquired South African independent music distributor Electromode in 2021, [16] and the Philippines’ Curve Entertainment in 2022. [18]

In January 2022, Ingrooves acquired the Icelandic record label Alda Music, which owned the rights to nearly 80 percent of all music released in Iceland. [31]

In September 2022, Universal Music Group announced the launch of Virgin Music Group which consist of Ingrooves, Virgin Music Label & Artist Services (formerly Caroline Distribution), and mtheory Artist Partnerships. [32]

Related Research Articles

Geffen Records is an American record label, founded in 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the now-defunct Geffen Pictures, it is owned by the Interscope Geffen A&M faction of Universal Music Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virgin Records</span> British record label

Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwide success over time, with the success of platinum performers Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson, Devo, Tangerine Dream, Genesis, Phil Collins, OMD, the Human League, Culture Club, Simple Minds, Lenny Kravitz, the Sex Pistols, and Mike Oldfield among others, meaning that by the time it was sold, it was regarded as a major label, alongside other large international independents such as A&M and Island Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Orchard (company)</span> American music and entertainment company

Orchard Enterprises NY, Inc., doing business as The Orchard, is an American music and entertainment company, specializing in media distribution. It is a subsidiary of Sony Music, based in New York City. In 2019, the company sold off its film and television division, which was renamed 1091 Media.

PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a holding for their record companies, and was renamed "PolyGram" in 1972. The name was chosen to reflect the Siemens interest Polydor Records and the Philips interest Phonogram Records. The company traced its origins through Deutsche Grammophon back to the inventor of the flat disc gramophone, Emil Berliner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warner Music Group</span> American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate

Warner Music Group Corp. is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the global music industry, after Universal Music Group (UMG) and Sony Music Entertainment (SME). Formerly part of Time Warner, WMG was publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange from 2005 until 2011, when it announced its privatization and sale to Access Industries. It later had its second IPO on Nasdaq in 2020, once again becoming a public company. With a multibillion-dollar annual turnover, WMG employs more than 3,500 people and has operations in more than 50 countries throughout the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">V2 Records</span> British record label

V2 Records is a record label that was purchased by Universal Music Group in 2007, sold to PIAS in 2013 and partially acquired by Universal in 2022. In Benelux, V2 would operate separately from PIAS from 2013 to 2022, since the label was bought from Universal in 2007, henceforth Universal Music Group partially owns V2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sony Music</span> American multinational music recording company

Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Sony Entertainment and managed by the American umbrella division of multinational conglomerate Sony. It is the recording division of the Sony Music Group, with the other half being the publishing division, Sony Music Publishing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fontana Distribution</span> US music distributor

Fontana Distribution was a division of San Francisco–based Isolation Network. A minority stake of the company was owned by Universal Music until Ingrooves acquired Fontana Distribution from UMG in 2012 to form Ingrooves Fontana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virgin Music</span> Record label; music distributing arm of Virgin Music Group

Virgin Music, known as Virgin Music Label & Artist Services until 2022 and originally as Caroline Distribution, is a music distributor of independent artists and record labels. Virgin Music operates as a subsidiary of Virgin Music Group, and is owned by Universal Music Group. The company focuses on the distribution of new or emerging partners. Virgin Music has its operation in United States, with its flagship operating in Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and across Latin America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Redeye Distribution</span> American independent record label

Redeye Distribution is an American independent record label based in Hillsborough, North Carolina, United States. It was founded in 1996 by Tor Hansen, Kim Hansen, Glenn Dicker. The label focuses on independent music.


Downtown Music Holdings (is a global independent rights management and music services company. Based in New York City, Downtown comprises 10 businesses: Downtown Music Publishing, Downtown Artist & Label Services, Downtown Neighbouring Rights, FUGA, CD Baby, Songtrust, Sheer Publishing Africa, found.ee, Curve and Soundrop. All divisions live under the Downtown Music Holdings umbrella and are split between two verticals, Creator and Business. In addition to its New York headquarters, Downtown has global offices across six continents including Los Angeles, London, Paris, Nashville, Amsterdam, Johannesburg and Tokyo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PIAS Group</span> British independent record company

PIAS is a Belgian corporation that specialises in independent music recording, licensing, distribution, sales, and marketing. The company was founded in 1983 by Kenny Gates and Michel Lambot in Brussels, Belgium, and has over 250 employees, with 19 offices around the world. The group funds and partners with independent labels and artists.

AWAL is a global recording business that serves as an alternative to the traditional record label, offering deal structures that provide artists the resources and expertise of a global label while allowing them to retain ownership and control of their music. In 2021, Sony Music Entertainment purchased AWAL from Kobalt Music Group for $430 million.

Merlin is a digital rights music licensing partner for independent record labels, distributors, and other music rights holders around the world. It was founded in 2007 with Charles Caldas as the chief executive. In January 2020, Jeremy Sirota stepped into the role of Merlin CEO. The company is a member-based organization representing the digital licensing rights for hundreds of independent labels and distributors in nearly every country around the globe. As of 2019, Merlin has paid out over two billion dollars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BMG Rights Management</span> International music company

BMG Rights Management GmbH is an international music company based in Berlin, Germany. It combines the activities of a music publisher and a record label.

rara was a music streaming media service. It operated between December 2011 and March 2015. It offered ad-free, on-demand music streaming from a range of major and independent record labels, including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music and Warner Music Group, global rights agency Merlin and independent digital distributors The Orchard, INgrooves Fontana, Believe Digital, [PIAS] and VidZone Digital Media.

Dirty Hit is a British independent record label founded in December 2009 by Jamie Oborne, Chuck Waite, Brian Smith, and former England footballer Ugo Ehiogu. Based in London since 2009, it has expanded operations to Los Angeles, Sydney, and Tokyo in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robb McDaniels</span>

Robb McDaniels is a media and technology entrepreneur, investor and current CEO of Beatport. Founded in 2004 as the principal source of music for DJs, Beatport today is the worldwide home of music for DJs, producers, and their fans.

Kobalt Music Group, Ltd. is an independent rights management and music publishing company. Founded in 2000 by CEO Willard Ahdritz, Kobalt acts primarily as an administrative publishing company, not owning any copyrights. Also offering label services and neighboring rights, the company has developed an online portal to provide royalty income and activity to artists and allow them to manage their rights and royalties directly.

MNRK Music Group is a New York City-based independent record label and music management company. It was formed in 2009 from the music assets of Koch Entertainment, which had been acquired by the present-day Entertainment One (eOne) in 2004. In April 2021, after the acquisition of eOne by Hasbro, the company announced that it would sell eOne Music to The Blackstone Group.

References

  1. 1 2 Greenberg, Zack O' Malley (May 7, 2012). "Ingrooves: Proof You Can Make Money On Music, Even If You're Not Apple". Forbes. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  2. 1 2 Christman, Ed (July 19, 2013). "INgrooves Launches Music Publishing Services Company, Olivier Chastan To Run (Exclusive)". Billboard. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  3. 1 2 Morris, Christopher (March 2, 2012). "INgrooves acquires Fontana Distribution". Billboard. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  4. ↑ Resnikoff, Paul. "After a Year On the Block, Universal Music Group Fully Acquires Ingrooves". Digital Music News. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  5. ↑ Wilson, Sara (1 December 2007). "Spin City". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  6. 1 2 Staff (22 December 2014). "Ingrooves Founder Robb McDaniels Quits Company After 13 Years". Music Business Worldwide. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  7. ↑ Wilson, Lizette (September 6, 2006). "Ingrooves: Virtual record label finds rhythm with indie artists". San Francisco Business Journal. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  8. ↑ Pham, Alex (March 2, 2012). "INgrooves buys Fontana Distribution from Universal Music Group". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  9. ↑ Ben-Yehuda, Ayala (14 August 2014). "Del, INgrooves ink distribution pact". Vol. 122, no. 32. Billboard.
  10. 1 2 Christman, Ed (21 March 2018). "INgrooves Up For Sale With $100M Price Tag: Sources". Billboard. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  11. 1 2 3 Sisario, Ben (March 2, 2012). "Digital Notes: Online Distributor Makes Deal With Universal for Physical Sales". New York Times. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  12. ↑ Johnson, Greg (September 28, 2005). "Roy Disney Led Fund Buys Globetrotters". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  13. ↑ Morris, Chris (November 19, 2012). "INgrooves Fontana launches marketing arm: Kate Nash to inaugurate indie distrib's new venture". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  14. ↑ Pakinkas, Tom (November 19, 2012). "Ingrooves Fontana launches Artist Services division". Music Week. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  15. ↑ Brandle, Lars (7 May 2020). "Ingrooves Expands In Australia and NZ". Billboard. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  16. 1 2 Myers Hansen, Gabriel (11 January 2021). "Ingrooves Music Group acquires SA-based Electromode". Music in Africa. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  17. ↑ Needham, Jack (11 November 2021). "Ingrooves Expands Into India, Appoints Amit Sharma As Country Manager For The Market". Music Business Worldwide. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  18. 1 2 Aswad, Jem (13 January 2022). "Music Industry Moves: Tai Verdes Signs Global Publishing Deal With Kobalt (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  19. ↑ "Ingrooves partners with Onelove Music Group | Complete Music Update". Completemusicupdate.com. Retrieved 2017-11-08.
  20. ↑ "Ingrooves signs distribution deal with Latin music startup Talento Uno - Music Business Worldwide". Music Business Worldwide. 2018-02-01. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
  21. ↑ "INgrooves Up For Sale With $100M Price Tag: Sources". Billboard.
  22. ↑ Christman, Ed. "Universal Music to Acquire Distributor Ingrooves in Move to Strengthen Commitment to Indie Labels'". Billboard . Retrieved February 12, 2019.
  23. ↑ Cobo, Leila (8 May 2018). "Rich Music LTD Signs Distribution Deal With INgrooves". Billboard. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  24. ↑ Roiz, Jessica (18 April 2019). "Pitbull's Mr. 305 Record Label Signs Distribution Deal With Ingrooves: Exclusive". Billboard. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  25. ↑ Paine, Andre (10 Dec 2019). "'I'm excited about this new era': Dirty Hit renews global partnership with Ingrooves". Music Week. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  26. ↑ Duffy, Thom (13 June 2020). "2020 Indie Power Players". Billboard. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  27. ↑ Stassen, Murray (7 October 2020). "Ingrooves Expands Into Spain, Appoints Antón Suárez As Country Manager And Signs Record Label Mushroom Pillow To Global Deal". Music Business Worldwide. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  28. ↑ Stassen, Murray (24 June 2020). "Ingrooves Music Group Expands Into Turkey, Names Haluk Cerahman As Country Manager For The Market". Music Business Worldwide. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  29. ↑ Lau, Yvonne (22 October 2021). "Universal Music's new BTS distribution deal is only its latest K-pop coup". Fortune. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  30. ↑ Online News Of India (24 November 2021). "Yo Yo Honey Singh And Himesh Reshammiya Are Now Official Artists Of Ingrooves Music Group !". Online News of India. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  31. ↑ "Ingrooves expands into Iceland with acquisition of label and distributor Alda Music". Music Business Worldwide. 24 January 2022.
  32. ↑ Aswad, Jem (2022-09-13). "Universal Launches Virgin Music Group, Including Virgin, Ingrooves and Newly Acquired Mtheory Artist Partnerships". Variety. Retrieved 2022-09-19.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.