LONDON — Utopia Music is planning to rebrand as Correct Group AG, named after its core bodily music distribution enterprise, to mirror modifications to the Swiss-based agency’s “strategic route,” the corporate mentioned Thursday (March 28).
The proposed identify change, which must be permitted by shareholders, comes nearly two months after co-founder and former head Mattias Hjelmstedt exited Utopia Music following a shake-up of its government ranks.
“As Utopia has developed underneath new management, we acknowledge the necessity to align our model with our new technique and because of this, new market positioning,” mentioned Michael Stebler, who was appointed CEO in January, in an announcement despatched to Billboard.
“Our earlier model id doesn’t precisely mirror who we’re at the moment and the place we intention to go sooner or later,” mentioned the chief government – a former managing director of Funding Advisors Zug AG, which operated on behalf of Utopia’s majority shareholder group. Like Utopia Music, Funding Advisors Zug AG is headquartered within the scenic Swiss city of Zug, situated near Zurich.
Utopia Music acquired Correct Music Group, the UK’s largest unbiased bodily music distributor, which offers distribution companies for almost 6,000 indie labels and repair firms, for an undisclosed sum in January 2022.
Eight months later, the corporate purchased up the belongings of U.Ok.-based Cinram Novum — which offers warehouse, achievement and distribution companies to music labels and residential leisure firms, together with Common Music Group, Sony Music Leisure and [PIAS] — and renamed it Utopia Distribution Companies (UDS).
Each acquisitions passed off throughout a interval of intense hyper-growth between 2020 and 2022 when Utopia quickly acquired 15 firms spanning music tech, finance, publishing, advertising and distribution.
A well-documented downsizing adopted, encompassing a number of rounds of job cuts, firm divestments and ongoing authorized actions, finally resulting in the appointment of a brand new CEO and government workforce at first of the 12 months.
Altering the corporate’s identify to Correct Group “represents a contemporary begin,” mentioned Stebler, “and displays the modifications to our strategic route, the place distribution sits on the core of the industrial worth chain.”
Beneath the brand new association, Billboard understands that Utopia/Correct Group will probably be divided into 4 essential departments: Correct Distribution, Correct Funds, Correct Processing and Correct Music Information.
Collectively, the corporate says, they’ll present purchasers with a “complete suite of tech companies” — together with cross-platform analytics and royalty monitoring, processing and funds — all constructed across the agency’s music distribution enterprise, which has lengthy generated the majority of its income.
“By leveraging the Correct model,” the corporate will “profit from the optimistic and powerful model fairness Correct has within the music business,” mentioned Stebler.
The corporate’s government workforce stays unchanged with Stebler supported by deputy CEOs Alain Couttolenc and Drew Hill, a long-serving veteran of the U.Ok. bodily music business, who doubles as Utopia/Correct Group’s chief of distribution.
Hill’s duties embrace overseeing the U.Ok.’s largest distribution warehouse for bodily music and residential leisure — a 25,000-square meter facility within the city of Bicester with dealing with capability of as much as 250,000 models per day — which Utopia opened final 12 months as a part of a £100 million ($125 million) long-term cope with worldwide logistics firm DP World.
Extra lately, Utopia efficiently secured round half of a Sequence C funding spherical (understood to complete greater than 15 million euros) with a second tranche of C-round funding underway. The funds will probably be used to drive industrial development, improve product improvement and strengthen the corporate’s steadiness sheet, Stebler informed Billboard in January.
Shareholders will get to vote on the proposed identify change when Utopia holds its Annual Normal Assembly at first of Could.
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