Essential Music inks deal with Adrian Younge’s Linear Labs

Cooking Vinyl Records Owner Martin Goldschmidt and ex-MD Vital Distribution, Mike Chadwick have signed LA-based label Linear Labs to their independent music company Essential Music & Marketing.

Linear Labs Founder, Adrian Younge, who moonlights as a composer, engineer and owner of LA record store and hairdresser The Artform Studio has teamed with Essential for both physical and digital distribution and marketing in Europe.

The first release through the partnership will be a Souls Of Mischief record. The California hip hop group formed in 1991 and are set to release their sixth LP There Is Only Now next month.

Younge is also working on a new release from Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah (Younge and Killah released the mafia-horror concept collaborative album Twelve Reasons To Die in April last year) as well as new material from Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, Common, Bilal and Raphael Saadiq.

Adrian Younge, who edited and composed the original score for Black Dynamite in 2008, has ties with Lyor Cohen (300 Entertainment) and Sony/ATV Publishing.

Younge said: “We are happy to announce our new partnership with Essential, a brand that encompasses a craftsman-like approach to the marketing and distribution of finer music. With Essential, our goal is to permeate the silent majority with music that is linear, analog, and tailored for the avid listener.”

Steve Crane, Product Manager at Essential added: “We’re delighted to be working with Adrian and Linear Labs, not to mention the many notable artists the label represents. Adrian’s commitment to high quality recordings and his creative vision means that every release is unique, and we look forward to helping him bring those to a wider audience.”

In Australia, Sony Music will handle Linear Labs’ releases.

Essential Music & Marketing was founded in 2003 and is a member of the CV Group of companies, which include Cooking Vinyl Records, CV America, Cooking Vinyl Publishing and Cooking Vinyl Property. In 2013, the company had its first Platinum-selling single with Passenger’s Let Her Go (Nettwerk Records).