Temper Trap, Vance Joy’s UK label Infectious sold to BMG

UK independent label Infectious Music has been sold to BMG Chrysalis UK in a multi-million pound deal, it was announced this morning.

Infectious is the UK home for Australian acts The Temper Trap, Vance Joy and Cloud Control as well as Alt-J, These New Puritans, Drenge, Superfood, RY X, The Acid and Local Natives.

Infectious Founder and Chairman Korda Marshall and his team will move to BMG’s offices, reporting to BMG Chrysalis UK Executive Vice President Alexi Cory-Smith.

Cory-Smith said, “Infectious has proven itself to be one of the UK’s most successful and artist-friendly independent labels with an outstanding roster. I look forward to working with Korda and the Infectious team to deliver an exceptional service for artists.

Marshall added, “BMG’s fresh approach to the music business and its understanding of the structural changes faced by the industry make it the obvious choice to partner with. After 33 years in music, my ambition for this business is undiminished and all of us at Infectious are looking forward to working with the BMG team. BMG shares many of our essential values, and offers access to a level of scale, infrastructure and financial support that will help take the label to the next level.”

Infectious had strong Australian connections. After a stint as A&R head at RCA Records (he signed Blow Monkeys, Westworld, Psychic TV, The Wedding Present, Pop Will Eat Itself) Korda Marshall ran Michael Gudinski’s Mushroom Records’ UK label, building it up into a £10 million business with #1 hits by Ash, Garbage and Peter Andre and discovering Muse, The Darkness, Paul Oakenfold and Funeral For A Friend. He and Gudinski partnered on Infectious in 1993.

When Infectious was folded into Warner Music, Marshall became Managing Director of Warner UK’s East West and Warner Bros. imprints where he delivered profits of £20 million a year. He left Warner after disagreements with its digital strategy.

In January 2009, he re-launched Infectious primarily to release The Temper Trap’s debut album Conditions, which was issued in Australia on Gudinski’s Liberation Music. He partnered with Michael Watt, co-owner of Ronnie Scott’s Jazz club in London and had Gudinski on its board of directors. Conditions went on to sell 1.2 million copies worldwide.

Marshall then signed Alt-J whose debut album An Awesome Wave was issued in May 2012. It sold one million copies, has been streamed over 270 million times on Spotify, and won the Mercury Music Prize and an Ivor Novello Award. Its follow up This Is All Yours, out this month, is one of the most anticipated records of the year.

In the past two years, BMG has acquired other independents Sanctuary Records, Mute Records and Skint/Loaded Records.