Sentric, part of Believe, one of the world's leading digital music companies, has signed a joint venture for future co-publishing opportunities and an administration agreement with Scruff of the Neck.

Based in Manchester, UK, Scruff of the Neck is an established record label, music publisher, concert and festival promoter, and artist management company. Its records division won Best Small Label at the AIM Awards in 2019, with the company subsequently signing a global masters distribution deal with Believe.

Scruff of the Neck signs, distributes and promotes exciting new acts from across the UK and Europe with a range of talent on its roster such as Bilk, IST IST, The Lilacs, The Slow Readers Club, Shelter Boy and Shambolics with A&R currently refined within the Alternative genre specialising in indie, rock & roll and punk. 

The company historically signed a pioneering content partnership with Twitch in 2021, enabling the launch of Scruff of the Neck TV - a weekly music showcase reaching over 15 million unique viewers, as well as an innovative hybrid stream at Y Not? Festival in 2022, which amassed 1.1 million viewers alone highlighting their focus on innovation and modern promotional platforms.

This new partnership will leverage Sentric's proficiency in administration, royalty infrastructure, technology and global sync team to provide Scruff of the Neck's roster with enhanced opportunities and resources. Meanwhile, the co-publishing agreement will also benefit from Scruff of the Neck's extensive expertise in the alternative genre space for signings and creative.

So far, Shambolics have been signed to a co-publishing deal under the JV, with administration deals for the catalogues of Glass Caves, Lucy Deakin and Andy Gannon.

Sentric CEO Chris Meehan said: "We are delighted to be working with the Scruff of The Neck team and their exciting catalogue. Mark and the team are total specialists when it comes to guitar music and we're looking forward to seeing what opportunities their knowledge paired with our administration expertise will bring. The JV has hit the ground running and we are expecting to move forward on the same trajectory."

Mark Lippmann, CEO and founder of Scruff of the Neck said: "We have a really clear vision for the future of our publishing catalogue, and Sentric is the perfect home for our writers and their copyrights moving forward. The cultures of our businesses are very much aligned, we share the same passion for music and, both being from the North, we feel this is a great example of cultivating an ecosystem for artists and writers to flourish outside of the usual London centric industry. The recent acquisition of Sentric by Believe is also serendipitous as we are into our fifth year of thriving with Believe with our record label, and so envisage innovative collaboration between our great organisations. 

"The team at Sentric really believe in our vision and potential and that's why we've signed a long term deal across administration and our exciting new JV. Initially focussing on our speciality genres of indie, alternative punk and rock and roll, we envisage Scruff of the Neck as a 'one stop shop' for the best guitar music in the UK."