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Business News Deals Labels & Publishers
Brownswood Recordings announces joint venture with Warner Music
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 2 May 2023
Brownswood Recordings, the independent record label co-founded by Gilles Peterson, last week announced a new joint venture with Warner Music.
The alliance, the two companies reckon, will “enable Brownswood Recordings to expand its reach and offer its artists new opportunities for growth and development, while Warner Music UK will share its expertise in distribution, marketing and promotion, and give Brownswood Recordings access to a global network and a wealth of resources”.
Says Peterson of the deal: “After sixteen years developing Brownswood’s catalogue, we are very excited to work with Warner Music to level up globally on some of our biggest projects”.
Adds Warner Music UK boss Tony Harlow: “Brownswood Recordings has a proven track record of discovering and developing an eclectic range of artists and music, and in Gilles they have a tastemaker label owner with experience of finding talent and making records”.
“At Warner Music”, he goes on, “we have a rich history of supporting important independent labels and, going forward, we hope to help Brownswood’s artists connect with an even wider global audience”.
Peterson co-founded his label with Simon Goffe and Emily Moxon, and over the years Brownswood has worked with artists like Kokoroko, Swindle, Kassa Overall, Shabaka & the Ancestors and Ghostpoet. The first release via the Warner JV will be the debut album from Yussef Dayes called ‘Black Classical Music’.
On that, Peterson continues: “There is no better artist to kick off this collaboration with than Yussef Dayes – he is already an icon with so much star power. He has delivered us an opus with ‘Black Classical Music’, his debut studio album as a solo artist”.
This new alliance with Warner will also see Brownswood delve into the jazz archives of Warner’s Atlantic label via its Arc imprint, something that actually began last month with a Record Store Day re-release of Yusef Lateef’s 1969 album ‘Detroit Latitude 42° 30′ Longitude 83°’.
Regarding that, Peterson concludes: “I am also THRILLED to be shining a light on some of the Atlantic Jazz catalogue on Brownswood’s sister label Arc – starting with Yusef Lateef’s classic ‘Detriot Latitude 42 30 Longitude 83’, which we have beautifully restored from the original tapes”.
