| Nettwerk | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1984 |
| Distributor(s) | Alternative Distribution Alliance (U.S.) EMI (non-US) |
| Genre | Alternative music, Electronic music |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| Location | Vancouver, British Columbia |
| Official Website | http://www.nettwerk.com/ |
The Nettwerk Music Group is the umbrella company for Nettwerk Management, Nettwerk Records, Nettwerk One Publishing, Nutone Records, and Artwerk. With over 150 employees, the Vancouver-based company has offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Boston, Nashville, and Hamburg. The principals of Nettwerk are founders Terry McBride, Mark Jowett, Ric Arboit, and Dan Fraser.
Nettwerk Management handles the careers of artists including Sarah McLachlan, K-OS, Jars of Clay, Sum 41, Josh Rouse, and Sixpence None The Richer.
Nettwerk's Producer Management arm also handles the careers of producers such as Don Was, Howard Benson, Bob Clearmountain, Chris Lord-Alge and Tom Lord-Alge.
As a record company Nettwerk has released over 200 full-length albums and sold over 150 million albums in its 25-year history.[1] Artists on the roster include: Howling Bells, Old Crow Medicine Show, The Weepies, Will Blunderfield, Ladytron, The Submarines, Uh Huh Her, Datarock, Delerium, Abigail Washburn & The Sparrow Quartet and Kinky.
On June 9, 2010, Nettwerk announced that it would depart from Sony Music and their records would now be distributed by WMG's Alternative Distribution Alliance.[2]
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The label specializes in alternative music acts, particularly in genres such as industrial music, electronica, and folk-rock, releasing albums by both Canadian and international artists in those genres.
Artists that have recorded on the label include the following:
Nettwerk also manages a number of artists including Tiësto, Sarah McLachlan, Kinky, The Pipettes, Leigh Nash, Griffin House, Bombay Bicycle Club, MC Lars, Elsiane, Fear of Music, Sixpence None the Richer, Chromeo, Brand New, Jars of Clay, State Radio, Stereophonics, Katherine Jenkins, Young and Divine, and Fun.
On July 22, 2009, long-time Nettwerk artists the Barenaked Ladies announced it had terminated its management contract.
Nettwerk has joined the fight against the RIAA by offering to pay the legal fees of a teenager in Texas who is being sued for downloading songs.[3] They will also pay any fines if it loses the case. The label came in contact with the teen when she wrote to MC Lars (who is managed by Nettwerk) about his song "Download this Song."
Nettwerk further sells actual MP3 music files for singles and FLAC music files for certain albums from its artists, and artists it manages, directly from its Web site. While these files are generally priced at 99 cents as many online music files are (including those from iTunes and most songs from Amazon MP3), these files do not include any digital rights management. Hence, unlike files purchased from Napster but similar to iTunes Plus—unprotected songs purchased from iTunes—these files allow consumers the freedom to copy the songs they purchase to any other device of theirs.
Nettwerk states on its Web site
| “ | Litigation is destructive, it must stop.... [in regard to] Nettwerk copyrights, we have never sued anybody and all our music is open source to encourage fans to share it with others and help us promote our artists. [In regard to] those artists we manage on other labels (Majors), we take issue with those labels claiming that litigating our fans is in our interest, as it clearly is not. | ” |
Nettwerk was one of the first major music companies to abolish DRM, releasing songs in the unrestricted MP3 format, as well as the lossless FLAC and Apple Lossless formats. Many songs are available on Nettwerk's own store as well as Puretracks, a Canadian music-download site. Nettwerk was also the first major music company to have its music listed on Amie Street.