Here’s a story that caused a double take for us at Ears To The House HQ when it arrived this afternoon – and we suspect it might be the reason for a few ruffled feathers in the US house and garage scene as it becomes more widely known. For King Street Sounds – home to many a release by Mood II Swing, Louie Vega, Kerri Chandler, and far more – is no longer an independent label.
The company, founded by Japanese entrepreneur Hisa Ishioka in 1993, has been bought up by Beat Music Fund. This is, according to their own profile on Instagram, “the first dance music investment company” and was founded by Armada Music – which itself was created in 2003 by the trio of Armin Van Buuren, Maykel Piron and David Lewis.
Ishioka himself is quite pleased with the deal – not just because he’s likely to be making a sizeable amount of money out of the sale, but also because King Street posted this photo of him having a celebratory drink with Maykel Piron…
The full terms of the deal have not been made public – although Ears To The House understands that King Street will still be managed by Ishioka as a sub-label of Armada Music. Beat Music Fund also admits this is their biggest acquisition to date – other recent buys include the Chocolate Puma catalogue and Kevin Saunderson’s KMS Records.
One of the seemingly bizarre consequences of this deal are that catalogue tracks by trance DJs like Armin Van Buuren and catalogue tracks by underground artists like Blaze, Louie Vega, Kerri Chandler, and Mood II Swing are now all part of the same group. This new age is certainly bringing about some unusual new bedfellows, that’s for sure.
What’s currently unclear is what Armada Music intends to do with its shiny new gizmo. Beat Music’s statement on the acquisition vaguely references “reinvigorating the music catalogue by optimising and promoting it” – although in practice, it’s unlikely to mean label classics such as Blaze’s “Most Precious Love” getting EDM style remixes.
We suspect this one will run and run…
