German rock and alternative duo Milky Chance have signed to Believe as part of a long-term independent vision for their music.
Clemens Rehbein and Philipp Dausch broke through with 2013 single Stolen Dance, which has sales of 752,274, according to the Official Charts Company. Parent album Sadnecessary (Ignition/PIAS) has sales of 67,626.
Their first single under their new structure, Colorado, is out June 17 via Muggelig Records. Label partner Believe will focus on streaming opportunities for Milky Chance, whose previous single Don’t Let Me Down (Ignition/The Orchard) has racked up 55 million global streams.
Believe CEO Denis Ladegaillerie said: “We’re thrilled that Milky Chance has partnered with us in going independent. We know we can bring immense value to Milky Chance because we can continue to add localised fans to their worldwide success story.”
Milky Chance’s Clemens Rehbein said: “When we looked at the different opportunities available to us, independence made the most sense. Not only because of the usual things people talk about like maintaining ownership, but because we knew it would allow us to do things the way our fans wanted. We could super-serve them.”
Wasted Talent Entertainment have been the duo’s Berlin-based management company since 2014.
Wasted Talent’s Bjorn Deparade said: “We’re excited for the next phase of our partnership with Milky Chance because the band has never been more motivated to take control of their own career. It has always been a pleasure to work with such creative and down to earth artists but now it seems like we can grow even stronger together whilst developing in the directions that only the band feels they want to move.”
We can continue to add localised fans to their worldwide success story
Denis Ladegaillerie
Milky Chance have enlisted global marketing firm Ansatz Music Group, who have worked with Major Lazer and Petit Biscuit. Founded in January 2021 by Eric Fritschi, former head of Artist partnerships at Mtheory (and previously GM at Nettwerk Music Group and VP of marketing at Warner Bros Records), the company is also steered by VP of marketing Emily Williams, who previously held senior marketing roles at Mtheory and Downtown Records.
Eric Fritschi said: “When we first joined the project, we encouraged the team to take a step back and approach the band’s entire career with a more strategically integrated perspective. Everything works together – digital platforms, recommendation engines, traditional global marketing, touring, etc. Our first objective was to lean into the existing fans knowing that they will be the key to unlock success in streaming and touring. The next step is to build a global strategy to amplify that momentum.”
Emily Williams added: “Regional territories work together too, so we’ve put together a wide ranging team across 30 markets including radio, press, advertising, commissioned content, sports, and lifestyle marketing. Each territory needs its own approach to drive a local story that builds back into our global strategy. This is also why we’re thrilled to have Believe as our distribution partner for Milky Chance. We know from our work together on other projects that they’ve been investing in regional teams and understand that local marketing is global marketing.”
Muggelig Records has been Milky Chance’s label home since 2016.
Muggelig Records GM Rob Steiger said: “Muggelig is putting trust in long-term partners like Wasted Talent and is excited to work with new and motivated teams around the world. We’re proud to be working with Ansatz Music Group as our holistic marketing partner and Believe as our distribution partner because we believe their global-focused approaches will be game changers for the label’s work and Milky Chance’s career.
“We are very much looking forward to this new chapter having aligned some of the industry’s best partners behind the goal of continuing and building on the successes of Milky Chance’s great career.”
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