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Business News Labels & Publishers
Cooperative opens Nordic division
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 29 November 2011
Universal Music’s independent label services division Cooperative Music has opened offices in the Nordic region, so that it will have a direct presence in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, distributing and marketing the output of the labels it already represents in the region, as well as looking for new clients in the four countries.
Music from Cooperative-represented labels has previously been distributed in the Nordic region by the Cosmos Music Group (or Bonnier Amigo Music Group, as it was known), and a former label manager from that company, Espen Slapgård, will join the new Cooperative division, with responsibilities for the whole region and, in particular, Norway. Another former Cosmos exec, Troels Gammelgaard, will oversee Danish operations, while Henrik Nyström will oversee Sweden and Pekka Saila and Sami Rikala, of Universal Finland, will work for Cooperative labels there.
Cooperative Music General Manager Vincent Clery-Melin told reporters: “The Nordic territories are a very exciting place for independent labels to do business in right now. The digital market is booming, and our independent label partners have been growing there year on year with success stories such as Fleet Foxes, Martha Wainwright, or more recently My Morning Jacket”.
He continued: “The Nordics are also an great source of repertoire for the rest of the world, as we’ve seen in the past through our long standing partnership with The Knife and their label Rabid Records, artists such as Peter Bjorn And John, or our association with the Spinefarm label out of Finland. We’re incredibly excited to be opening our own business there. We couldn’t think of a better team than Espen, Henrik and Troels to run it, and of a better infrastructure than Universal to host and distribute it!”
