Kenny Gates is the Co-Founder, Co-Owner, and Co-President of [PIAS], which is headquartered in both London, England and Brussels, Belgium.<\/p>\n
Gates was just 19 year old when he co-founded [PIAS] in the early eighties.<\/p>\n
The initial plan for [PIAS] was to be a record importation company, however, the firm later pivoted to distribution and services for fellow independents, as well as running its own in-house record labels.<\/p>\n
Kenny Gates co-founded [PIAS] in 1982 with partner and friend Michel Lambot after they met at Lambot\u2019s record shop. Lambot closed down his store by the end of 1982 as the pair planned to start [PIAS]. Lambot and Gates started off with the equivalent of EUR \u20ac5,000 in funding to import records from the UK.<\/p>\n
By early 1983, though, the pair shifted to a distribution business strategy. [PIAS] distribution primarily offered marketing strategies and tools to unaffiliated music labels. They would later expand [PIAS] to include its own in-house label business.<\/p>\n
Throughout the 1990s, [PIAS] acquired other independent music distributors and established offices throughout Europe. In 1993, [PIAS] took control of Vital Distribution, based in London, which has grown to be the UK\u2019s largest independent music distribution, sales, and marketing company.<\/p>\n
Gates\u2019 [PIAS]<\/a> now operates as both a distributor and service provider for outside record labels, while also running its own in-house label operation. Under Gates\u2019 leadership, [PIAS] has come to include [PIAS] Recordings, [PIAS] Cooperative, and [Integral].<\/p>\n In 2021, Gates struck a strategic global partnership<\/a> deal with Universal Music Group.<\/p>\n In the deal, Universal provided a package of funding to [PIAS] for access to [Integral]\u2019s international distribution and services business. Unusually, UMG did not take an equity stake in [PIAS].<\/p>\n In 2022, UMG announced\u00a0that it had acquired a 49% stake<\/a> of [PIAS] for an undisclosed sum. In 2024, UMG completed the acquisition<\/a>, purchasing the remaining 51% of shares.<\/p>\n According to the press release, [PIAS] will continue to run as a separate and \u201ccompletely autonomous\u201d division, with Gates remaining CEO of the company.<\/p>\n Gates commented on the sale: \u201cI am selling my shares not my soul. Since agreeing a strategic alliance with UMG in 2021 we have found them to be supportive and engaged partners who have added real value to our offering.”<\/p>\n Commenting about Gates and Lambot\u2019s leadership, Chairman and CEO of UMG Sir Lucian Grainge stated<\/a> \u201cI have known Kenny and Michel for more than 30 years and have deep respect for their passion for music as well their openness and authenticity.<\/p>\n “As pioneers of the label services model, they have created enormous opportunities for independent artists and labels and established [PIAS] as a beacon of excellence in the independent community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kenny Gates is the Co-Founder, Co-Owner, and Co-President of [PIAS], which is headquartered in both London, England and Brussels, Belgium. Gates was just 19 year old when he co-founded [PIAS] in the early eighties. The initial plan for [PIAS] was to be a record importation company, however, the firm later pivoted to distribution and services … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":18099,"template":"","class_list":["post-99501","people","type-people","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/people\/99501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/people"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/people"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/people\/99501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":235447,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/people\/99501\/revisions\/235447"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}