PIAS is a British recording, licensing, distribution,

sales Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in r ...

and

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

company for

independent music Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording a ...

. The company was founded in 1983 by Kenny Gates and Michel Lambot in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

,"Michel Lambot's Biography"
, Impala. Retrieved 7-10-2018. and has over 250 employees, with 19 offices around the world. The group funds and partners with independent labels and artists. In 2022,

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

acquired a 49% stake in PIAS. Founders Kenny Gates and Michel Lambot kept majority control of the record company.

Divisions

* IASRecordings, which launched in 1999, is the group's in-house recorded music division, comprising eight labels, headquartered in IASs UK office in Bermondsey,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. * IASCooperative. Long-lasting commercial partnerships with a handful of associated record labels (37 Adventures, Acid Jazz Records, ATO Records, Bella Union, DFA Records, Heavenly Recordings,

Mute Records Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Einstürzende Neubauten, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, Grin ...

, Phantasy, Point Of Departure, Research,

Transgressive Records Transgressive Records is an independent record label based in London, formed in 2004. Its founders, Tim Dellow and Toby L, first met at a Bloc Party gig organised by Toby's Rockfeedback website. The label's debut release was "1am" by the Subwa ...

& Wichita Recordings). * ntegralDistribution Services, the sales & distribution division providing custom marketing, sales, and distribution services to labels and artists on a national and international level. IASrebranded its distribution service to ntegralin 2021.

Sublabels

Within IASRecordings * Play It Again Sam *

Different Recordings Different Recordings is an electronic music label owned by the PIAS, an international independent music company. After a three year hiatus, the label returned in 2015 with a family of new signings from Claptone, Anna of the North, Vessels, KLLO, ...

, the electronic music imprint with Etienne de Crecy,

Vitalic Pascal Arbez-Nicolas (; born 18 May 1976), better known by his stage name Vitalic (), is a French electronic music producer. History His first singles were released in 1996 and 1997, but were confined to underground electronic music scene. ...

, Motorbass, Tiga,

Crystal Castles Crystal Castles was a Canadian electronic music group formed in 2006 in Toronto, Ontario, formed by songwriter-producer Ethan Kath and singer-songwriter Alice Glass, who later left and was replaced by Edith Frances. Crystal Castles were know ...

and Crystal Fighters * Le Label * Urban * Harmonia Mundi * Inertia * Jazz Village * World Village

History

Michel Lambot and Kenny Gates met circa September 1981 at Michel’s record store then called "Casablanca Moon", exclusively selling records from independent labels and they quickly became friends. In June 1982 the store "Casablanca Moon" was closed down and they made plans to start an import company named "Play It Again Sam". Play It Again Sam started importing from the UK in October 1982 and were based in the basement of Kenny's parents' house in Brussels, Belgium. Michel and Kenny were then respectively 21 and 19 years old. The company was incorporated in March 1983 with a starting capital of €5000 and the strategy rapidly became a "distributor" rather than an importer / wholesaler; that meant offering a full range of services to labels, such as promotion and marketing. The activities were then extended to production through the creation of their own label in 1984. In 1990, IASset up offices in Hilversum, Holland, then followed the takeover of Vital in 1993 (which was renamed IASUK in 2008). IASoffices were set up in Paris and London in 1994, in Hamburg in 1995, in Madrid in 2000 and in New York in 2013 as well as two joint ventures called IASNordic in Scandinavia and IASAustralia. In early 2013, IASacquired

Cooperative Music IASCooperative, formerly Cooperative Music, often referred to as Co-Op, is a group of indie labels based in the UK but that have offices around the world, owned by IAS Through their partner labels IASCooperative work with artists such as iama ...

(and the Coop-owned V2 Records label) from

, for a fee in the region of £500,000 forming the new business division IASCooperative. The same year, IASacquired Rough Trade Distribution in the

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico- economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe ...

. IASand Universal Music entered into a strategic global alliance on 9 June 2021. The agreement will see UMG finance IASin addition to accessing the company's international distribution network.

2011 warehouse fire

On 8 August 2011, during the 2011 riots in England a

Sony DADC Sony Digital Audio Disc Corporation (Sony DADC) is a manufacturer of CDs, DVDs, UMDs, and Blu-ray Discs. The company has many plants worldwide. Although it primarily services Sony Music Entertainment-owned record labels, Sony Pictures Home En ...

warehouse in the

London Borough of Enfield The London Borough of Enfield () is a London borough in North London. It borders the London boroughs of Barnet to the west, Haringey to the south, and Waltham Forest to the southeast. To the north are the districts of Hertsmere, Welwyn Hat ...

which also acted as PIAS' primary distribution centre was destroyed by fire. Most of PIAS' inventory was considered lost including records from the over 100 British independent labels which PIAS distributes. Several album and single releases were affected by the fire, including the Arctic Monkeys single "

The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala "The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala" is a song by the English rock band Arctic Monkeys Arctic Monkeys are an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. The group consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Jamie Cook (guitar, ...

", the Battles single "My Machines" and the Charlie Simpson album '' Young Pilgrim''. The total stock loss was reported to be between 3.5 million and 25 million units.

Distributed labels

PIAS distributes and services over 100 independent labels including the following:

Artist & Label Services

Brainfeeder Brainfeeder is an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California, founded by Flying Lotus in 2008, focusing on electronic music and instrumental hip hop. It has signed artists such as Ras G, Samiyam, The Gaslamp Killer, Thundercat, ...

* Beggars Group ** 4AD ** Matador Records ***

True Panther Sounds True Panther Sounds (TPS) is a New York City-based independent record label founded by Dean Bein, previously owned by Matador Records and distributed by Beggars Group. The label began in 2004 in San Francisco to release a tour-only 7" by founde ...

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. Having successfully promoted and sold records by punk rock and early post-pu ...

XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been ran and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. Although only releasing an average of six albu ...

** Young * All Saints Records * Thrill Jockey *

Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are oft ...

* Soul Jazz Records * Secretly Group ** Secretly Canadian **

Jagjaguwar Jagjaguwar is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Jagjaguwar is a label included in Secretly Group, which also include ...

Dead Oceans Dead Oceans is an American independent record label formed in 2007 and based in Bloomington, Indiana, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Dead Oceans is part of Secretly Group, which also ...

Rock Action Records Rock Action Records is a Scottish, Glasgow-based independent record label, founded and maintained by Scottish post-rock band Mogwai. The label has showcased such diverse talents as Part Chimp, Errors, Chris Brokaw, Trout, The James Orr Complex ...

Real World Records Real World Records is a British record label specializing in world music. It was founded in 1989 by English musician Peter Gabriel and original members of WOMAD. A majority of the works released on Real World Records feature music recorded ...

* Pure Noise Records * Ipecac Recordings *Hoo Ha Records *

Ninja Tune Ninja Tune is an English independent record label based in London. It has a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded by Matt Black and Jonathan More (better known as Coldcut) and managed by Peter Quicke and others. Inspired by a visi ...

** Big Dada *

* Memphis Industries *

BMG Rights Management BMG Rights Management GmbH (also known simply as BMG) is an international music company based in Berlin, Germany. It combines the activities of a music publisher and a record label. BMG was founded in October 2008 after Bertelsmann sold i ...

** Infectious Music * New West Records *

Ignition Records Ignition Records is a British, London based independent record company, owned by Marcus Russell and Alec McKinlay of Ignition Management. The company has been releasing music on a regular basis since the late 1990s, although its inaugural release ...

Hopeless Records Hopeless Records is an American independent record label in Van Nuys, California. History Hopeless Records was founded in 1993 by Louis Posen. The label's artists are generally considered to fall under the genres of punk rock, pop punk, post-h ...

Invada Records Geoffrey Paul Barrow (born 9 December 1971) is an English music producer, composer, and DJ. He is a member of the bands Portishead, Beak and supergroup Quakers, and has scored several films. Portishead—formed in 1991—was named after the ...

Fearless Records Fearless Records is an American independent record label that was founded in 1994. Fearless is based in Culver City, California, and is best known for its early pop punk moments captured in the ''Fearless Flush Sampler'' and ''Punk Bites'' releas ...

* Fat Possum Records *

Fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not ...

**Houndstooth *Feraltone * Drag City * Domino Recording Company * Chemikal Underground *

Big Brother Recordings Big Brother Recordings Ltd. is a record label set up in 2000 to release material by rock band Oasis in the UK and Ireland. On 19 June 2008 a deal was signed with Sony BMG which entitled them to an arranged portion of the profits from the next ...

*Greco-Roman *Metroline Limited *Normaltown Records *

Touch and Go Records Touch and Go Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois. After its genesis as a handmade fanzine in 1979, it grew into one of the key record labels in the American 1980s underground and alternative rock scenes. ...

** Quarterstick Records * Transmission Recordings * Victory Records *

Bedroom Community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

*BB Records *Flock Music *Scripted Realities *Rivertones *Village Green Recordings *

What's Your Rupture? What's Your Rupture? is a New York-based independent record label, that specializes in small-run vinyl releases. The label gained recognition in 2005 with the release of Love Is All's '' Nine Times That Same Song'', and a 12" release of ''Giddy St ...

* Arising Empire *

Captured Tracks Captured Tracks is an American independent record label based in Brooklyn, New York. The label was founded in 2008 by Mike Sniper. About Current flagship artists include: Craft Spells, DIIV and Wild Nothing. Captured Tracks has reissued recor ...

The Vinyl Factory The Vinyl Factory is a large music company based in London, United Kingdom. It includes a record label, vinyl pressing plant, and a venue space. It also publishes ''Fact'' magazine and owns Phonica Records store. Overview The Vinyl Factory be ...

* Phantasy *

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label move ...

*Self Raising Records *No Quarter Records *

InFiné InFiné is a French record label directed by Alexandre Cazac and Yannick Matray. Coming from electronic music, the label usually goes off the beaten path, from classical music to ambient, through club or pop music. History The idea of the lab ...

* Hi Records * Grönland Records *

Warp Warp, warped or warping may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books and comics * WaRP Graphics, an alternative comics publisher * ''Warp'' (First Comics), comic book series published by First Comics based on the play ''Warp!'' * Warp (comics), a ...

* Cocoon Recordings *

Bronze Rat Records Bronze Rat Records (aka Bronzerat) is a British independent record label, established in London in 2006 by Welsh musician and producer Andrew Zammit, and also encompasses subsidiary label Seriés Aphōnos. Established in 2006 as an outlet f ...

Asthmatic Kitty Asthmatic Kitty is an American independent record label founded in 1999 by a community of musicians from Holland, Michigan led by Sufjan Stevens and his stepfather Lowell Brams. Some were Holland natives, and others had come to attend local colle ...

Partisan Records Partisan Records is an independent record label with offices in London and Los Angeles, as well as in New York City, where the company was co-founded in 2007 by Tim Putnam and Ian Wheeler. The label, initially run out of Putnam’s South Brooklyn ...

* On-U Sound Records *Finders Keepers Records * Spinefarm Records

Cooperative

*37 Adventures * Acid Jazz Records *Astral People Recordings * ATO Records * Bella Union *Blue Flowers Music * DFA Records * Heavenly Recordings *

* Phantasy *The Point of Departure Recording Co. *Prolifica Inc. *Research *Speedy Wunderground *

* Wichita Recordings

References

External links

[PIAS
/nowiki>_Website.html" ;"title="IAS">[PIAS
/nowiki> Website">IAS">[PIAS
/nowiki> Website
Play It Again, Sam

Different Recordings
{{UPFI Marketing companies of the United States