The classical department of Proper Music Group have reflected on their 2018 – a year which has seen them sign up 28 classical labels for distribution, post a 23% increase in year-on-year sales in October and score a No.1 in the Classical Chart with La Serenissima and Adrian Chandler’s Vivaldi release on Avie Records.
The strongs results in October 2018 marked nearly a quarter compared with October 17, which already followed a 7.7% growth in revenues from April to September of 2018 versus the same period for 2017.
These increases exclude releases from many of the new additions to the roster.
Among the new labels added to Proper’s distribution roster were Prima Classic, E54 Music, Albion Records, EM Records, First Hand Records, Ars Produktion, Carus, Coviello and Belgium’s Passacaille. According to an official press release, Proper is “just short of 100,000 units shipped so far since April 18.”.
Speaking about their 2018, Proper Music Group MD, Drew Hill, commented: “It is great to see the stellar work being done by our classical department achieving such strong sales figures as well as being acknowledged widely in the classical music press. Their dedication and industry expertise is helping to expose these amazing works to people everywhere.”
In July, Proper Music Group launched a dedicated press and promotions department, headed by Jo Donnelly.
In 2018 the biz has seen a host of Classical music activity, from the return of The Classic BRITs to the success of Ball & Boe, The Greatest Showman, Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Andrea Bocelli recently scoring a No.1 album. You can read Music Week’s detailed look at the genre here.
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