Communion Music

Communion Music is an independent music company, made up of Communion Records, Communion Presents, and Communion Publishing. It has offices in London and Brooklyn, NY. In its capacity as a label, promoter and publisher it currently works with a wide range of artists including Catfish and the Bottlemen, Ben Howard, James Bay, George Ezra, Bear's Den, Nathaniel Ratefliff and the Night Sweats, Daughter and Highly Suspect.

Communion was founded by musicians Kevin Jones (Bears Den), Ben Lovett (Mumford and Sons) and acclaimed producer Ian Grimble. It was born in the summer of 2006 as a monthly live music night at London's Notting Hill Arts Club. Frustrated by the overly competitive and often artist-unfriendly live music scene in London, the founders intention was to create a platform for their own and others music in an environment that was creative, collaborative and respectful. The night quickly grew into an active and supportive community of musicians and fans, and in 2016 celebrates its 10th anniversary.

From that West London basement bar, Communion has grown into a Record Label, concert promoter and publisher – with offices in London and New York, and a firmer than ever focus on artist development.

Communion Records was started initially as a way to document and present the community of musicians that was building in and around the Communion Clubnight and others like it in West London. Accordingly, its first release was a compilation simply titled Communion. Released as a limited edition 12" vinyl, it featured previously unheard recordings by the likes of Mumford and Sons, J J Pistolet (Justin Young from the Vaccinnes), Johnny Flynn, Alessi's Ark and Peggy Sue. It also featured a number of emerging artists who would end up releasing music on the label later, including Elena Tonra (Daughter), Andrew Davie (Bears Den) and Matthew Hegarty (Matthew and the Atlas).

With the compilation as a launchpad the label released its first artist release (Matthew and the Atlas's To the North EP) in 2010. It went on to release debut EPs and singles by a wide range of artists including Michael Kiwanuka, Ben Howard, Gotye, Daughter, Matt Corby, Marcus Foster Nathaniel Rateliff and others. In many cases the label's founders were highly involved in the creative process, with Grimble often producing and Jones playing with the artists in the studio or live.

Via a 2-year partnership with Island Records, Communion went on to release full-length albums by Deap Vally, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Half Moon Run and Catfish and the Bottlemen, whose debut album The Balcony has gone on to sell around 400,000 copies worldwide and saw the band winning a 2016 Brit Award for Best British Breakthrough.

In 2015 Communion Records signed a new distribution deal with Universal Music's Caroline International, under which it is releasing music by its current roster, which includes Bear’s Den, Joseph J Jones, Rukhsana Merrise, Banfi, Syd Arthur, Foreign Fields, and Matthew and the Atlas.

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