Kenny Gates and Michel Lambot, co-founders of indie label group [PIAS], have announced they are selling the remaining shares they hold in the company to Universal Music Group (UMG). UMG acquired a 49-percent share of the company in 2022, a move Gates had said would “allow us to offer a truly global distribution and services platform to the independent music community.”
The PIAS Group includes the labels Play It Again Sam, harmonia mundi, Spinefarm, and Source, as well as partner imprints such as ATO, Heavenly, Transgressive, and Mute. Billboard reports that Gates will remain CEO of [PIAS] – in addition to sitting on the Virgin Music Group main board and advisory group – and that those labels will stay fully autonomous. “I am selling my shares not my soul,” Gates said in a press release, continuing:
Since agreeing a strategic alliance with UMG in 2021 we have found them to be supportive and engaged partners who have added real value to our offering. The decision by myself and Michel to relinquish our remaining shareholdings in the company is a pragmatic one that will allow us to offer a truly global distribution and services platform to the independent music community. Our existing leadership team will continue to steer our day-to-day work and nothing will change culturally or commercially for our existing clients and partners; we will still maintain the same values that we have lived by since our launch over 40 years ago.
“Our initial agreement with UMG in 2021 was always going to be a learning experience for both parties in terms of how we could align our individual cultures and whether that would work,” Lambot added. “If I’m honest I did have some concerns as to whether it was even possible but I’m happy to say I was wrong – our two companies have lots in common including teams that share a real passion for music and our relationship to date has been fruitful, convivial and everything we hoped it would it be. This new phase, which will see us working even closer together promises to be an exciting new era for [PIAS], our staff, our partners and the artists we represent.”
