History
Voices Music & Entertainment AS (VME) was founded in 1988 by Ketil Sveen and Dag Krogsvold. In the first years the company was a label focusing on signing and developing Norwegian rock acts. Since then the company has expanded rapidly, and business areas now also include distribution and publishing. In 1996 VoW founded a fully owned subsidiary in Denmark bringing in Tom Jensen as partner in the company.
In 2000 we established an important joint-venture company;
DJ Beat Records Scandinavia AS, together with DJ Beat Records GmbH from Switzerland. DJ Beat Scandinavia is releasing Dance/Trance in our territory. From the beginning of 2004 DJ Beat Records Scandinavia AS is a fully owned subsidiary of VME. DJ Beat Records Scandinavia now works very closesly with Aqualoop Records in Germany. Our first project together “Hard Dance Mania” went to # 1 in the charts in Norway and is currently # 11 in Sweden.
In 2001 we established a fully owned subsidiary in Sweden; Voices Music & Entertainment Sweden AB. In august 2003 the office was closed and we entered a strategic alliance with Showtime Distribution AB
Our strongest market penetration is in Norway where we are the leading independent record company with a market share between 3 – 4 %. In July 2002, thanks to the successful marketing of Kinks “Ultimate Collection” our market share exceeded 4.3 % and we were bigger than BMG. In 2003 we continued our summer success with a market share of 6.3 %.
VME now employs a total of 17 people (11 in Norway and 6 in Denmark). Turnover for VME Scandinavia in 2003 was MNOK 35. Our company has always been profitable.
Mission
VME’s Mission is to strive to be the best and most respected vendor of alternative music in our markets. Our goal is to satisfy the needs of a quality conscious segment of the music market. This means we must focus on Service, Efficiency, Knowledge and Integrity.
Repertoire
In-house labels are Voices of Wonder Records (rock/metal), Beatservice (electronica), Euphonious (metal), Head Not Found (metal), Jester (metal), Bad Afro (rock), DJ Beat Records Scandinavia (trance/dance) accounting for more than 200 releases. Some of the bestselling artists so far are; Mayhem (60.000), The 3rd and The Mortal (75.000), Motorpsycho (53.000), Ulver (50.000)
Distribution/Marketing/Promotion
For more than 13 years we have represented and marketed other labels in Norway and Denmark. At present our catalogue accounts for more than 12.000 titles. We represent more than 50 labels on an exclusive basis.
Our label roster contains some of the most successful independent companies in the Techno/Indie/Metal genres, among others; Sanctuary, Castle, DJ Beat Records, Tidy Trax, Repertoire, Noise, Inside Out, Warp, Ryko, Restless, Artemis, Ninja Tune, Metal Blade, Osmose, Trojan, Snapper, Proper and more. The services we carry out for the labels include full marketing and promotion in addition to sales and physical distribution.
Hits
In the recent years we have had quite a few top 40 chart entries in Norway:
1999:
Tom Waits “Mule Variations” (# 1), Dimmu Borgir “Spiritual Black Dimensions (# 18), Sternklang “Neolounge” (# 24), Bobby Hughes Experience “Fusa Riot” (# 25)
2000:
DJ Sakin - Goliath 6 (DJ Beat) (# 5), DJ Phrenetic - Live at Goliath 6 (DJ Beat) (# 8)
DJ Gee Moore - Bora Bora Ibiza 2 (React) (# 6), Angy Dee - Goliath 7 (DJ Beat)(# 6)
2001:
DJ Dream "Goliath De Luxe", Xploding Plastix "Amateur Girlfriends Go Proskirt Agents", Angy Dee "Future Dome", DJ Simple "Goliath 8", Angy Dee "Live At Goliath 8", Dimmu Borgir "Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia", Aphex Twin “Drukqs”, Angy Dee “La Pequinita”, DJ Stigma “Tranceformer”, DJ Blackmail “Goliath 9”, DJ Simple “Live at Goliath 9”.
2002:
Gotan Project “La Revange del Tango” (per date more than 23.000 sold units), Angy Dee “Goliath 10” (9.500 units), Kinks “Ultimate Collection” (# 5, 21.000 units, and Gold), Mum “Finally We Are No One” (4.500 units), Pure’n’Jamie “Sommer Parade 2002” (6.500 units), Grant Lee Phillips “Mobilize” (5.000 units sold), Max B. Grant “Goliath 2002” (#5) (10.000 units).
2003:
Black Sabbath “Best Of” (# 5 in the charts, 19.000 units sold). Folk&Røvere “Utadæsjælåpplevelse” (single Platinum). Uriah Heep ”Ultimate Collection” (# 15 in the charts, 12.471 units sold). Kiss “Alive IV” (# 5 in the charts, 9000 units sold), Miss Angelina “Sommer Parade 2003” (3.500 units sold), Folk&Røvere “Sommer Hele Året (Best Of)” (7.000 units), Warren Zevon “The Wind” (# 11 in the charts, 5.300 units), Various Artists “Reggae Love Songs” (6.800 units).
2004:
Silver “White Diary” (# 12, 7.100 units), Morrisey “You are the Quarry” (# 5, 12.700), Gene Simmons (# 12, 6.500 units), Hard Dance Mania (# 1, 12.500 units), Ravi & DJ Løv “Dødssøt” (Gold Single), Bob Marley “Roots of a Legend” (9.500 units).
Financials/Organization
VoW is a profitable and financially sound company. For more than15 years we have proven to be a high growth company. We have a highly qualified and motivated team ready for future challenges.
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