Mike Chadwick
| Mike Chadwick | |
|---|---|
| Born | London, 1953 |
| Occupation(s) | Co-founder and Managing Director, Essential Music & Marketing |
| Years active | 1976 - present |
| Labels | Essential Music & Marketing |
Mike Chadwick is the co-founder and managing director of Essential Music & Marketing. Having spent his whole career in the music industry, Chadwick’s past roles notably include owner of Revolver Distribution, co-founder of Heavenly Records and managing director of Vital Distribution.
Mike Chadwick began his career in 1976 as a sales assistant at Revolver Records in Bristol, which became a notable branch of Rough Trade’s independent distribution network, the Cartel, at its inception in 1979. Chadwick became joint owner of Revolver Distribution in 1981, before buying the company outright in 1989.
A year later, in 1990, Revolver left the Cartel and set up as a sales & marketing bolt-on to distribution company Pinnacle, one of the first of its kind, offering a unique European distribution network. 1990 also saw Chadwick co-found Heavenly Records with Jeff Barrett. During Chadwick’s tenure the company signed such acts as Saint Etienne, Flowered Up and Manic Street Preachers.
In 1993 two of the UK’s leading distribution companies, Chadwick’s Revolver and PIAS-owned APT, merged to launch Revolver/APT, before changing the name to Vital Distribution a year later. By 1999 Vital, with Chadwick as managing director, was one of the most successful independent distributors in the UK, working with top labels and artists. Famously this included over 4 million album sales for Britpop stars Oasis.
Chadwick co-founded Essential Music & Marketing in 2003, along with Cooking Vinyl owner Martin Goldschmidt, after leaving Vital (now PIAS). Essential was initially founded to offer marketing and distribution services to select US independent labels looking to release across the UK and Europe. Today it provides a comprehensive service incorporating all aspects of releasing records from physical and digital sales and marketing to product management.
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