IDOL inks global marketing and distribution deal with Berlin-based City Slang

Paris-headquartered independent music distributor IDOL has formed a strategic partnership with Berlin-based indie label City Slang.

The deal, announced Thursday (September 5), will see IDOL providing digital distribution, marketing, and audience development services for City Slang‘s roster of artists worldwide.

The imprint’s roster includes Caribou, Gold Panda, Boy Harsher, Waleed, Coma, Sinkane, Junior Boys, Roosevelt, Hauschka, Grandbrothers, José Gonzaléz, Son Lux, KAINA, McKinley Dixon, Anna B Savage, Noga Erez, Zouj, Sen Morimoto, Lambchop, Los Bitchos, King Hannah, Pom Pom Squad, Sprints, Nada Surf, and Calexico.

IDOL will oversee all aspects of digital distribution, marketing, and fan engagement for City Slang’s frontline and catalog releases worldwide. This includes utilizing IDOL’s global network and data analytics tools to track playlist placements and catalog performance.

To mark the start of the partnership, IDOL will be handling the digital distribution and marketing for Caribou’s upcoming album, Honey, as well as other releases from Efterklang, Faux Real, Jessica Pratt, Lambrini Girls, Los Bitchos, Sprints, Calexico, Tindersticks, and Lambchop.

“IDOL is delighted to partner with City Slang, a label that has not only built such a critically acclaimed roster over the years, but has continued to evolve and innovate, and is now one of the global standard-bearers of indie pop,” said Pascal Bittard, Founder and President of IDOL.

“We look forward to working closely together to apply our expertise, services and tools to building the careers of its many exceptional artists.”

Christof Ellinghaus, Founder of City Slang, added: “IDOL’s audience development and marketing prowess is truly impressive, making this partnership the logical next step for City Slang. We look forward to working together to optimize our international campaigns and deliver the best results for our artists.”

“IDOL is delighted to partner with City Slang, a label that has not only built such a critically acclaimed roster over the years, but has continued to evolve and innovate, and is now one of the global standard-bearers of indie pop.”

Pascal Bittard, IDOL

The partnership with Berlin-based City Slang comes four years after IDOL expanded its presence in Germany.

IDOL recently signed several new labels, including Japanese imprint Schole Records and three US labels: TOKiMONSTA’s Young Art Records, Le Plan Recordings, and Old Soul Music.

Additionally, IDOL has recently implemented new royalty accounting software from Details and eddy to streamline the process of exporting monthly royalty data from its digital distribution platform Labelcamp.

Founded in 2006, IDOL’s roster of clients includes Erased Tapes, Fire Records, Glitterbeat, Gondwana, Kitsuné, Local Action, Soundway, SRD, Ubisoft, and Bandai Namco. It also works directly with artists including Erick The Architect, La Femme, L’Impératrice, and Ibrahim Maalouf.

IDOL, through its Labelcamp platform, is also available as a SaaS product for third-party labels and distributors, and is used by companies like [PIAS], Because, Concord and Ditto.

Music Business Worldwide