UNIFIED Music Group launches distribution service Community Music

UNIFIED Music Group has always had community spirit, now the company is making it official.

The Melbourne-based independent music powerhouse today (Nov. 18) unveils Community Music, its new distribution service for those indie artists with a DIY ethos and a smart, supportive team.

CM will provide an “enhanced distro experience” for physical and digitally recordings, reads a statement, the goal of which is to help their clients “flourish creatively” and execute their releases at a high standard.

Artists and teams plugged into CM will have access to a range of services, from A&R and campaign strategy support, to physical production management, DSP and sales pitching, online store and fulfilment, team coordination and more.

Internet Friends

Leading the new arm is Dan Nascimento, UNIFIED Music Group’s Senior Artist, A&R and Events Managers, with support from Will Stoeckel, who joined the UNIFIED Music Group team in April in the role of Project Coordinator, as well as managing The Grogans.

Also on board are UNIFIED’s Sales Manager Brit de Groot and Production Manager Tianna Eger.

“We felt that ‘Community’ was the perfect word to capture what our distribution offering is,” explains Nascimento in a statement, “an option for artists who operate independently or with an independent team to enhance the resources they have in their corner, in turn elevating their release plan.”

Distribution is a logical next step for a company built on the twin pillars of label and management, explains UNIFIED Recorded Music General Manager Luke Logemann.

“It takes a special type of person, and a lot of work, to manage an artist as it is. To manage their recorded music on the other side is an even bigger job,” he tells TIO.

With CM, Logemann explains, we’re “facilitating, helping and guiding, but they’re doing the work.”

Gloomie

UNIFIED Music Group isn’t coming in from the cold. The company has offered distribution services in recent years, first with Remi, and, more recently, with the likes of Ocean Alley and Jack Botts.

“Looking back over the history of the company, we’ve used this model repeatedly but always in the background,” Logemann recounts.

“We’ve always had a pretty good idea of the things that artists need when it comes to releasing music. Some need a proper label set up, others need a major label set up,” he continues.

“But what we’ve also found is there are plenty that really need someone to be able to just service the music and lend some expertise.”

By putting in systems and resources, “we’ve made that more of a formal process.”

Ocean Alley

Community Music launches with a thirteen-strong roster, featuring Bugs, Dick Dudley, First Beige, Gloomie, Internet Friends, Jack Botts, Jacob Fitzgerald, Local The Neighbour, Majak Door, Mal de Mer, Ocean Alley, Sarah Saint James, The Grogans and Wolf & Chain.

Several of those artists have already distributed releases through Community Music, which soft-launched in early 2021 but today enjoys its official launch in the artist services and distribution space.

The CM platform is open to artists from outside the UNIFIED group. “We’re very genre agnostic,” says Logemann. 

And the criteria for selection is simple: “We have to love the music and love the people involved,” he explains. “And believe that they’re ready to work on their career.”

Read more here.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.