Republic Records Launches Imperial Music
• Republic Records has formally launched Imperial Music, a new independent music company led by veteran label executive Glenn Mendlinger.
Based in New York, Imperial signs, develops and markets emerging independent artists and creators, and partners with Ingrooves Music Group for distribution services. Imperial has already generated more than four billion cumulative streams for its artists’ releases since its soft launch less than a year ago. The partnership of Republic and Ingrooves, both divisions of Universal Music Group (UMG), allows Imperial to attract a more diverse roster of artists and expands the growing spectrum of independent services provided by UMG, including Virgin Music Label & Artist Services.
Before joining Republic Records to launch Imperial, Mendlinger spent 21 years at Astralwerks, serving as General Manager since 2006. In 2014, Mendlinger notably signed Halsey, and has also signed and/or worked with Sia, Phoenix, Porter Robinson, Empire Of The Sun, Kraftwerk and AIR. Prior to Astralwerks, Mendlinger worked at EastWest and Virgin.
Mendlinger now reports to Monte and Avery Lipman, Republic Records’ co-founders and executive leadership team — a structure that provides Imperial the flexibility to uniquely upstream artists to Republic who require more resources. “Imperial Music was created to support the incredible emerging talent that continues to grow in the independent music sector,” Mendlinger commented. “Artists and creators are seeking more independence, speed to market and services that scale with their needs. I’m thrilled with the quick and successful impact Imperial Music has made in the marketplace to support the next generation of musicians and creators.”
Imperial has already released a series of successful projects across nearly all genres. In the last two months alone, Imperial debuted five Top 10 albums, with two of those landing in the Top 5 of the Billboard 200. Additionally, Bo Burnham‘s Inside (The Songs) has already won three Emmy Awards. [Photo credit: Meredith Truax]
