AWAL (an initialism of Artists Without a Label) is a British music distribution company owned by

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

. The company serves as an alternative to the traditional music label deal, offering deal structures to artists and independent labels without them giving up ownership or control. In 2021,

purchased AWAL from Kobalt Music Group for $430m.

Services

AWAL's main service is digital music distribution, but also includes marketing, physical distribution, data analytics, radio, and synchronization licensing. AWAL's artists keep their music and creative rights, unlike the traditional record label. In November 2018,

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

wrote an article titled, "Can Kobalt Disrupt the Label Game With AWAL?," outlining the company's approach and how it pays out as much as 80 percent of streaming revenue to its artists. In March 2017, AWAL introduced its music analytics app designed to collect and display data from an artist's presence on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

and

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

History

AWAL was originally founded in 1997 by record producers Kevin Bacon and Jonathan Quarmby. In December 2011, AWAL was acquired by the Kobalt Music Group and operated as the company's digital music distribution arm. In January 2018, Lonny Olinick was named CEO of Kobalt's recording division. By March 2018, Kobalt announced it was investing $150 million into AWAL and that all of Kobalt's recording business will be combined under the AWAL brand. AWAL acquired In2une Music in June 2018, which provides multi-format radio promotion to independent labels and artists. AWAL announced a strategic partnership with independent label, Glassnote Records, in November 2018. Other notable announcements from the company include signing artists such as

You Me At Six You Me at Six are an English rock band from Weybridge, Surrey. The band consists of lead singer Josh Franceschi, guitarists Max Helyer and Chris Miller, bassist Matt Barnes and drummer Daniel Flint. Formed in 2004, the name for the group origin ...

, Austin Burke, deadmau5, Little Simz, The Night Cafe,

Kevin Garrett Kevin Rashard Garrett (born July 29, 1980) is a former American football player. Garrett attended Southern Methodist University and was drafted in the 2003 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Rams. He has previously played football with the St. Louis Ra ...

, Gabrielle Aplin,

Gus Dapperton Brendan Patrick Rice (born March 11, 1997), better known by his stage name Gus Dapperton, is an American singer and songwriter from Warwick, New York. History Dapperton has received particular attention for his fashion style, consisting at som ...

, and

Ella Vos Ella Vos (born Lauren Salamone) is an American pop singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles. Career A classically trained pianist, Vos worked as a keyboardist for BØRNS before deciding to pursue a career as a singer-songwriter after the birth of ...

. In November 2018, AWAL was named to Billboard's 2018 Digital Power Players - Music Groups list. AWAL has offices in London, New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Berlin, Hong Kong, Miami, Nashville, Stockholm, and Sydney. In December 2018, AWAL announced it was opening an office in Toronto. On September 7, 2021, the Competition and Markets Authority, the United Kingdom's antitrust regulator, raised concerns that Sony's purchase of AWAL would reduce competition from other distributors. The CMA gave Sony and AWAL five days to address the CMA's concerns and offer legally binding remedies, or else the CMA would enter a Phase 2 investigation. The phase two investigation was launched on September 16, 2021.

Artists

* Aly & AJ *

Alaina Castillo Alaina is a feminine given name. Notable people with the name include: *Alaina Burnett (born 1977), Canadian voice actor from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada *Alaina Capri (born 1939), Russ Meyer actress who appeared in ''Common Law Cabin'' an ...

* Banks * Ber * Bonesteel * BurrSoCold *

Bruno Major Bruno Major (born 15 July 1988) is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. His debut album ''A Song for Every Moon'' was released in 2017. Career On 21 January 2014, Major released the four-song EP ''Live'' on Virgin Records, where he worked ...

Claudia Alende Claudia Manfrin Alende (born 9 October 1996) is a Brazilian/American actress, and singer, the owner of Blanc Media and founder of Burger Babes. Early life Alende was born in Francisco Beltrão, Paraná, and moved to Sao Paulo when she was 20. ...

Corrupt Colour Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

* Dayglow *

Daði Freyr Daði Freyr Pétursson (; born 30 June 1992), known professionally as Daði Freyr or simply Daði, is an Icelandic musician living in Berlin, Germany. As the frontman of Daði & Gagnamagnið ( ), he was due to represent Iceland in the Eurovisio ...

De La Soul De La Soul () is an American hip hop trio formed in 1988 in the Amityville area of Long Island, New York. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative ...

* Die Antwoord * Everything Everything * The Aubreys * Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes * Gabrielle Aplin *

Girl in Red Marie Ulven Ringheim (born 16 February 1999) is a Norwegian singer-songwriter and record producer, known for her indie pop project Girl in Red (stylized as girl in red). Her early EPs ''Chapter 1'' (2018) and ''Chapter 2'' (2019) were recorded ...

Greyson Chance Greyson Michael Chance (born August 16, 1997) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He rose to national attention in 2010 with his performance of Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" at a grade school music festival which went viral on YouTube, gai ...

* Jowynalex * Joshua Morata *

Jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅ ...

* Jae Jin * Jesse McCartney * JVKE * iamamiwhoami *

ionnalee Jonna Emily Lee (born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish singer, songwriter, record producer and visual director. Lee is the creator and artist of audiovisual online project iamamiwhoami who since 2009 have released their audiovisual series online, gat ...

Katelyn Tarver Katelyn Tarver (born November 2, 1989) is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She has independently released four EP's since 2011, most notably ''Tired Eyes'' in 2017.

Kira Kosarin Kira Nicole Kosarin (born October 7, 1997) is an American actress and singer, known for her role as Phoebe Thunderman on the Nickelodeon series ''The Thundermans''. On April 10, 2019, she independently released her debut album, ''Off Brand'', la ...

* Kyle Dion *

Laufey Laufey (Old Norse: ) or Nál is a figure in Norse mythology and the mother of Loki. The latter is frequently mentioned by the matronymic ''Loki Laufeyjarson'' (Old Norse 'Loki Laufey's son') in the ''Poetic Edda'', rather than the expected tradi ...

Laura Marling Laura Beatrice Marling (born 1 February 1990) is a British folk singer-songwriter. She won the Brit Award for Best British Female Solo Artist at the 2011 Brit Awards and was nominated for the same award at the 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 Brit A ...

Lauren Jauregui Lauren Michelle Jauregui Morgado (; born June 27, 1996) is an American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence as a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony, which became one of the List of best-selling girl groups, best-selling girl group ...

* Lauv * Lil Peep * Lisa Heller * Little Simz *

Lizzy McAlpine Elizabeth Catherine McAlpine, also known as Lizzy McAlpine (born September 21, 1999) is an American singer-songwriter. Early life and education Lizzy McAlpine grew up in Narberth, Pennsylvania, in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She has written ...

* LOKRUMENTAL * *

Maximum Love Maximum Love are a British people, British electronic music duo composed of brothers Taylor Morgan Howell and Jordan Charles Howell. The brothers began producing music in their childhoods. In 2013, they signed to AWAL and released their debut e ...

Moby Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the ...

mxmtoon Maia (born July 9, 2000), known professionally as mxmtoon, is an American singer-songwriter and YouTuber. Her music is characterized by emotionally transparent, confessional lyrics, and often employs the ukulele. She released her first EP, ' ...

* Naked Eyes *

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are an Australian rock music, rock band formed in 1983 by vocalist Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey and guitarist-vocalist Blixa Bargeld. The band has featured international personnel throughout its care ...

* Now United *

Pritam Mandal Pritam Chakraborty (born 14 June 1971), also known mononymously as Pritam, is an Indian composer, instrumentalist, guitarist, and singer. After working as an ad jingles composer, he debuted as a co-composer in the 2001 Hindi film Tere Liye (fi ...

Pouya Kevin Pouya (born December 20, 1994), known mononymously as Pouya, is an American rapper from Miami, Florida. Considered as a pioneer of the early underground rap scene that began on SoundCloud in 2012, along with discovering the well known hi ...

Quadeca Benjamin Lasky (born October 2, 2000), better known by his stage name Quadeca (formerly QuadecaX8), is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, YouTuber, and former video game commentator. He uploads rap songs, music videos, ...

* R3HAB * Rex Orange County * Rickie Lee Jones * Shandell Crutchfield *

Spacey Jane Spacey Jane are an Australian indie rock band from Fremantle, which formed in 2016. The group consists of Ashton Hardman-Le Cornu (guitar), Caleb Harper (vocals, guitar), Kieran Lama (drums) and, since 2019, Peppa Lane (bass guitar). Their debu ...

* Steve Lacy *

The Kooks The Kooks () are an English pop-rock band formed in 2004 in Brighton. The band consists of Luke Pritchard (vocals/rhythm guitar), Hugh Harris (lead guitar/synthesizer/bass) and Alexis Nunez (drums). Their music is primarily influenced by the ...

* The Night Café *

The Wombats The Wombats are an English indie rock band formed in Liverpool in 2003, consisting of Matthew Murphy (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Tord Øverland Knudsen (bass, backing vocals, keyboards), and Dan Haggis (drums, backing vocals, keyboards). ...

Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician and the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards and is noted for his falsetto. He has been describe ...

Todd Terje Terje Olsen (born 1981), known professionally as Todd Terje, is a Norwegian DJ, songwriter, and record producer. His stage name is a homage to house music producer Todd Terry. Called "King of the summer jams" by ''Mixmag'', "one third of the Ho ...

Tom Misch Thomas Abraham Misch (born 25 June 1995) is an English musician and producer. He began releasing music on SoundCloud in 2012 and released his debut studio album ''Geography'' in 2018. In 2020, he released his second studio album '' What Kinda Mu ...

Vérité Kelsey Regina Byrne (born May 6, 1990), known professionally as Vérité (stylized as VÉRITÉ), is an American singer and songwriter based in Brooklyn, New York City. Her first single "Strange Enough" was self-released in July 2014, reaching n ...

You Me at Six You Me at Six are an English rock band from Weybridge, Surrey. The band consists of lead singer Josh Franceschi, guitarists Max Helyer and Chris Miller, bassist Matt Barnes and drummer Daniel Flint. Formed in 2004, the name for the group origin ...

* Yung Bans *

Zolita Zoë Montana Hoetzel (born September 23, 1994), known professionally as Zolita, is an American singer-songwriter. In 2015, she gained recognition when the music video for her song, "Explosion" became a viral video. Following its success, she rel ...

Record labels

* Glassnote Records *

mau5trap Mau5trap (stylized as mau5trap; pronounced "mousetrap") is an independent Canadian record label founded in 2007 by electronic music producer Deadmau5. The label was formerly a vanity label, hosting releases through labels such as Ultra Music, Vi ...

* EEM Records *

Good Soldier Songs Good Soldier Songs is a London-based, Independent Music Publishing Company, owned by Christian Tattersfield. Established in 2003, Good Soldier Songs represent writers such as Biffy Clyro, The 1975, Freya Ridings, Ollie Green, John Gibbons, The W ...

Nickelodeon Records Nickelodeon Records (formerly only known as Nick Records from 2001 to 2010) is the record label for the children's television channel Nickelodeon, which is owned by Paramount Global. The label featured new and emerging young musical artists, "trip ...

B-Unique Records B-Unique Records is a London-based record label, and publishing company founded in 2001 by Mark Lewis and Martin Toher. B-Unique's current roster includes John Newman, Kodaline, James Bay, The Mispers, Darlia, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Luk ...

* SideOneDummy Records * World in Red (personal label for

)

Albums released

* ''

Sunlight Sunlight is a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. On Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere, and is obvious as daylight when t ...

'' —

References

External links

* {{Authority control Online music stores of the United Kingdom Record label distributors Companies based in London British independent record labels Record labels established in 1997 2011 mergers and acquisitions 2021 mergers and acquisitions Sony Music