PIAS, stylized [PIAS], is a Belgian corporation that specialises in independent music recording, licensing, distribution, sales, and marketing. The company was founded in 1982 by Kenny Gates and Michel Lambot in Brussels, Belgium. It has over 250 employees, with 19 offices around the world. The group funds and partners with independent labels and artists.

In November 2022, Universal Music Group acquired 49% shareholding of the PIAS Group, then, in October 2024, acquiring the rest of shares owned by the company's founders Kenny Gates and Michel Lambot, effectively making PIAS a Universal Music Group subsidiary. [PIAS] Label Group (PIAS Recordings) division will continue to operate autonomously, while [Integral] (formerly [PIAS] Artist & Label Services) will be integrated with Universal's Virgin Music Group division.

Divisions

  • [PIAS] Recordings, which launched in 1999, is the group's in-house recorded music division, comprising eight labels, headquartered in [PIAS]'s UK office in Bermondsey, London.
  • [PIAS] Artist & Label Services is the sales & distribution division, providing custom marketing, sales, and distribution services to labels and artists on a national and international level. [PIAS] rebranded its distribution service to [Integral] in 2021.

Sublabels

Within [PIAS] Recordings are:

History

Michel Lambot and Kenny Gates met circa September 1981 at Lambot's record store then called "Casablanca Moon", exclusively selling records from independent labels, and they quickly became friends.

In June 1982, Casablanca Moon was closed down and they made plans to start an import company named "Play It Again Sam". The company started importing from the UK in October 1982 and was based in the basement of Gates' parents' house in Brussels, Belgium. Lambot and Gates were then respectively 21 and 19 years old. The company was incorporated in March 1983 with a starting capital of €5000. Their strategy rapidly became to be a "distributor" rather than an importer / wholesaler; this meant offering a full range of services to labels, such as promotion and marketing. Their activities were then extended to production through the creation of their own label in 1984.

In 1990, [PIAS] set up offices in Hilversum, Holland, and took over Vital in 1993 (which was renamed [PIAS] UK in 2008). [PIAS] offices 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, [PIAS] Nordic in Scandinavia and [PIAS] Australia.

In early 2013, [PIAS] acquired Cooperative Music (and the Coop-owned V2 Records label) from Universal Music Group, for a fee in the region of £500,000 forming the new business division [PIAS] Cooperative. The same year, [PIAS] acquired Rough Trade Distribution in the Benelux.

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

In November 2022, Universal Music Group purchased a 49 percent stake in PIAS. As part of the deal, the catalogues of several Universal artists were transferred to PIAS, including Jurassic 5, DJ Shadow, The Dandy Warhols, Texas, and Eels. The PIAS-Universal alliance was further extended with the Universal Music's acquisition of the existing shareholding owned by the company's founders Gates and Lambot, announced on 15 October 2024.

2011 warehouse fire

On 8 August 2011, during the 2011 riots in England, a Sony DADC warehouse in the London Borough of Enfield 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 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.

Artists currently signed/distributed

A Certain Ratio Airbourne Alexandre Tharaud Aline Piboule André Manoukian Anna of the North Apparat Archive Arlo Parks Arctic Monkeys ARTR Balthazar Barry Adamson Baxter Dury Bebel Gilberto BENNI Beverly Glenn-Copeland Birds on a Wire Black Label Society Black Pumas Bloc Party Blynk Boo Boos B.R.E.T.O.N.S. Brigitte calls me baby BROCKHOFF Brògeal Brother Wallace Brume Caballero & JeanJass Cameron Winter Campesino Captain Kaiser Channel Zero Charlie Pâle Charlie Parker Chilly Gonzales Christin Nichols Christophe Mali Cigarettes After Sex Clock DVA Cobalt Converge The Cribs Dajak Daniel BlumbergDavell Crawford Delivery Dexys Midnight Runners dEUS Dinaa Disgusting Sisters Dropkick Murphys Editors Eels Ekiti Sound Eli & Fur Ella Eyre Fcukers Ferdi Florent Marchet Flynt Franz Schubert Furax Barbarossa Gabriel Auguste Geese Génération Céline The Getdown Ghinzu Gildaa Goodwin Gotts Street Park Grégoire Grestmans Gros Mo Holybrune HSRS Indira Paganotto Irmin Schmidt Isha & Limsa Iskander Moon J Bernardt Jean-Guihen Queyras Jeremiah Joyce Jonathan Joshua Idehen hackedepicciotto The Haunted Youth High Hi The Hives HolyBrune Jesse Harris Joan As Police WomanJohannes Brahms Jonathan Jeremiah Joyce Manor Jwles KÁRYN Keaton Henson Kenny Barron Kerala Dust Keroué KNEECAP Ko Ko Mo Kris Dane Ladaniva Laibach Lakecia Benjamin La Muerte La Rumeur Last Train Laura Cahen Leonie Los Pulpitos Louis Bekk L'Skadrille Mac Hartley Malik Mario Canonge Massive Attack MAZOO Mélanie De Biasio Metronomy Michel Alibo Mick Harvey Miss Grit MPL NAVA New Jazz Underground Nick Cave Nicolas Horvath Nihiloxica Nilüfer Yanya Nina Hagen Nobodylikesbirdie Noonzy Nouvelle Vague Oan Kim & The Dirty Jazz OasisOdezenne Oria The Orielles Orlane Oscar Emch Oscar les vacances Other Lives Pain Gain Perséphone Phew Portland Poupie PROSTITUTE Puma Blue Punchbag Roberto Fonseca Rocca & Kyo Itachi Sandwell District Sassy 009 Scylla Seth Gueko Smith & Burrows Sofiane Pamart Soft Loft Son Little SONS Stephen Brown Sullivan Fortner Swing Simeon Texas Thundercat Tinlicker Tom Smith TP Le Green Tuxedomoon Tyreek McDole Veeko Morlet Vincent Peirani Vincent Ségal White Lies Will LCK Yasmine Hamdan YE (Kanye West) Yong Yello Zek

Distributed labels

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

[Integral] Distribution Services

Cooperative

  • 37 Adventures
  • Astral People Recordings
  • Bella Union
  • Blue Flowers Music
  • The Point of Departure Recording Co.
  • Prolifica Inc.
  • Research
  • Speedy Wunderground
  • Wichita Recordings

Notes

External links