Virgin Music
Record label; music distributing arm of Virgin Music Group
Virgin Music, known as Virgin Music Label & Artist Services until 2022 and originally as Caroline Distribution, was a music distributor of independent artists and record labels. Virgin Music operated as a subsidiary of Virgin Music Group, and was owned by Universal Music Group. The company focused on the distribution of new or emerging partners. Virgin Music had its operation in United States, with its flagship formerly operating in Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and across Latin America.
01History
In 1983, Caroline Distribution was established by Richard Branson & Virgin Records. In 2019, Universal Music Group acquired the digital music and network company INgrooves (including the independent label distributor Fontana Distribution).
According to Billboard reporter Ed Christman; “Between Caroline and Ingrooves, UMG’s indie owned distributors will have a combine market share of about 4.4 percent Billboard estimates, based on year-end numbers”. On 18 February 2021, Universal Music Group announced Virgin Music Label & Artist Services, a new global network to deliver premium and flexible artist and label services.
Following its launch, Universal Music Group retained Caroline Distribution president Jacqueline Saturn, to head Virgin Music label and artist services division of Virgin Music Group.
In September 2022, Universal Music Group announced the launch of Virgin Music Group. Following its launch, its Label & Artist Services began operating as Virgin Music. On 22 September 2022, Sumerian Records signed a distribution deal with Virgin Music.
In September 2023, Virgin Music Group established Virgin Music Nigeria.
In October 2023, Virgin Music Group combined with Virgin Music.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Virgin Music”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Virgin Music logo.jpeg by EnricoApricot, Public domain
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