EMI is riding high at the moment, but the label is also looking to the future with new opportunities.
Following its win in the Record Company category at the Music Week Awards 2023 and a No.1 market share result last year, the label started 2024 with a return to the summit for Lewis Capaldi.
The Universal Music UK company also launched its first album via EMI North, securing a new chart peak for Nadine Shah.
Music Week can reveal that EMI Records is now building its partnership with Gravity Records, a UK-based label which is focused on the “next generation of culturally important alternative artists”.
The joint venture was signed by EMI co-president Jo Charrington and SVP A&R Rich Castillo. Gravity Records quietly got under way last year including music by the band Divorce.
Gravity was founded in 2013 by Alex Katter and Jack Wise, who previously spent several years working together at management company Twenty First Artists. It is a multi-faceted music company providing services in artist management, writer/producer management, music publishing, and now Gravity Records, which acts as a standalone imprint of EMI.
The wider Gravity roster includes globally successful producers and writers. Over the last year, Gravity Records has signed recording artists including the widely tipped Nottingham band Divorce and emerging singer-songwriter Fiona-Lee from Yorkshire.
Divorce have just released new single Gears and announced their biggest UK headline show to date at London’s Islington Assembly Hall in October, as well as two hometown headline shows at Nottingham’s Bodega. The dates will follow a spring and summer live schedule that includes SXSW, a UK tour with Everything Everything and international festivals.
Jo Charrington, EMI co-president, said: “Everything we do starts with incredible artists. Becky and I are passionate about this and when Rich brought in the opportunity to work with Alex, Jack, and the Gravity team we knew this was an excellent way to expand our artist network.”
Rich Castillo, EMI SVP A&R, said: “Gravity will be a strong A&R source for EMI and will ensure we are laying the foundation for the next generation of breakthrough artists.”
We knew this was an excellent way to expand our artist network
Jo Charrington
In a statement, Jack Wise & Alex Katter, Gravity Records, said: “Gravity Records has been a vision for the company since we started out a decade ago. Having cultivated longstanding relationships with EMI presidents Jo Charrington and Rebecca Allen, as well as SVP of A&R Rich Castillo, the label became an obvious partner for the venture.
“EMI were keen to bring in not just a team, but a functioning ecosystem, with successful experience in developing artists, managing campaigns, and building business around every aspect of an artist’s career.
Gravity Records offers artists a management-led approach, providing holistic insight into artist development Gravity's label structure with EMI allows for the ultimate artist development service. Gravity is uniquely positioned to work with EMI developing talent from an embryonic stage to global album releases.”
The wider Gravity roster for management includes Grammy-winning producer Catherine Marks and multi-platinum selling Nick Atkinson and Edd Holloway, who have both written across Lewis Capaldi’s two chart-topping albums. Atkinson and Holloway have been with Gravity for the last decade.
Catherine Marks was co-producer on Boygenius’ Grammy-winning debut album The Record and has produced Divorce's new single Gears.
“It has been amazing to see the success of the incredible producer Catherine Marks recently,” Charrington told Music Week last year. “The producer world remains very male-dominated, and I hope she paves the way for more young women to come through.”
Gravity has also been the long-term management home of The Amazons. Jack Wise spoke to Music Week in 2022 about their NFT campaign with the band’s label, Fiction, targeting superfans.
Click here to read our world exclusive interview with EMI co-presidents Rebecca Allen and Jo Charrington.
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