One Media IP cues up new vinyl record label as market explodes

21 January 2024 - Press release

One of the world’s first digital-only record companies, One Media iP, has launched a vinyl imprint to exploit the continuing growth of the UK vinyl market.

 

One Media iP PLC (OMIP:LON) unveiled its new record label, ‘The Carolean’, to take advantage of the explosion in the vinyl sector, which has just posted its sixteenth consecutive year of growth in the UK. A recent report from the Entertainment Retailers Association showed vinyl sales grew by 17.8% in 2023, generating £177.3m in revenue.

One Media will use its Carolean record label to reissue some of the biggest songs and artists from its 250,000-strong catalogue. Initial reissues include collections from Mungo Jerry, who’s global hit ‘In the Summertime’ remains the joint-third biggest selling single of all time (30 million sales), The Troggs, disco legend George McCrae and soul-reggae star Judy Boucher.

"The hunger for physical product - vinyl in particular - among music fans is something we’ve been tracking for several years and we believe it’s a niche now worth exploring. One Media is still, at its core, a digital record company and distributor: we were the first to acquire and exploit digital rights in 2005 – long before the major record companies and hedge funds - and 95% of our revenue comes from streaming. But, like most other music fans, we have a soft spot for 33’s and 45’s and now there’s a genuine business case to ‘get physical’!”       

The Carolean – so named after the era of King Charles 3^rd (the ‘Carolean’ age, as opposed to the former ‘Elizabethan’ age) - will reissue the four albums below, with the Mungo Jerry LP in mono, as a special. The first four releases will be followed with a further tranche of four reissues – details TBA. The catalogue will be distributed by Lasgo.