Inertia (record company)
| Inertia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Founder | Ashley Sellers |
| Genre | Various |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Location | Surry Hills, New South Wales |
| Official website |
www |
Inertia is an independent record company based in Sydney, Australia. It was established in March 2000 by Ashley Sellers. Inertia releases exclusively the music from many of the world's most prominent independent labels. Inertia services include marketing, promotion, sales, distribution, product management, production, digital, publishing, third party, rights administration, and merchandising. Inertia also houses labels Pod, Inertia Recordings, Rogue Records and Provenance, each of which license releases from select local and international acts.
Inertia currently releases albums from many popular artists including Adele, Sia Furler, Bon Iver, The Herd, Radiohead, The National, Battles, Fleet Foxes, Vampire Weekend, UNKLE, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, M.I.A., Midnight Juggernauts, The xx, Floating Me, Glass Towers, Best Coast, Fat Freddy's Drop, Wavves and Ice Cube. Over the last decade, the label has also worked with The White Stripes, Mos Def, Santigold, Ben Lee, TV On The Radio, The Dandy Warhols, Frightened Rabbit, Dizzee Rascal and Eagles Of Death Metal.
Promotion and Distribution
Inertia's roster of labels and partners is one of the biggest in Australia, taking in many of the world's most prominent independent labels, from many styles and genres. The most well-known of these include Sub Pop, Warp Records, XL Recordings, Fat Cat, Matador, Soul Jazz, Ninja Tune, Beggars Banquet, 4AD, Secretly Canadian, PIAS Recordings, Jagjaguwar, Young Turks, True Panther Sounds and Light in the Attic Records.
Australian labels represented by Inertia include Remote Control, Elefant Traks, Dot Dash, Popfrenzy, Speak N Spell, Cross Section, Cartell, Invada and Mistletone.
In-house labels and companies
Beginning its licensing operation in 2002, Inertia has since become home to a number of specialist in-house labels.
Inertia Recordings was founded in 2002 as the vehicle for Australian and New Zealand signings. Artists released on this label have included Ben Lee, The Cops, Shapeshifter, N'Fa, Concord Dawn and Gersey. In February 2009, Inertia Recordings announced that they had signed Sydney band Bridezilla, and would release the group's debut album late in 2009.
Founded in 2003, Rogue Records is Inertia's destination for a broad spectrum of music styles, including indie, folk, and alt. country. Rogue Records has licensed and released albums from Bon Iver, El Perro Del Mar, CocoRosie, Vashti Bunyan, Alela Diane, Pinback, and The Hold Steady.
In 2007, Inertia started another in-house label, Pod, focusing on international independent acquisitions. As of 2011, Pod has released albums from Wavves, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Girls, Darwin Deez, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, The Antlers, Destroyer, MellowHype, Spank Rock, Memory Tapes, The Soft Pack, Hanni El Khatib, M83, Zola Jesus, UNKLE, The Whitest Boy Alive, and We Were Promised Jetpacks.
In 2008, Inertia established its imprint Provenance to reissue and export important, classic and rare Australian and New Zealand music. Provenance's first release is a limited edition boxset that reissues the first three Beasts of Bourbon albums.
Handsome Tours
In 2006, Inertia launched its sister touring-company, Civil Society. Teaming with an artists of a variety of styles, Civil Society worked with nearly all the major festivals in Australia and organised tours for the likes of The National, The xx, Sia Furler, Delorean, Girls, Darwin Deez, Autechre, Grizzly Bear, The Morning Benders, James Lavelle (UNKLE), MNDR, Pink Martini, The Dandy Warhols, Spank Rock, !!! and Pendulum.
In 2010, Civil Society announced that it would be merging with fellow touring company, Handsome Tours.[1]Also established in 2000, Handsome have toured the likes of Bon Iver, Band of Horses, Interpol, Pavement, The Shins, Lykke Li, Friendly Fires, Yeasayer and José González.
As of 2011, the merged Handsome Tours operates under directors Ashley Sellers, Mat Everett, Colin Daniels and Dave Chatfield.
Commercial success
Inertia's commercial successes include an Australian 6× Platinum record for Adele's 21, a double Platinum record for Ben Lee's Awake Is the New Sleep, a Platinum record for Gotye's Like Drawing Blood and Australian Gold records for Sia Furler's We Are Born and Some People Have Real Problems, Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago, Radiohead's In Rainbows, Interpol's Antics, Pendulum's Hold Your Colour and The White Stripes' Icky Thump.
Ben Lee's Awake Is the New Sleep earned a series of ARIA Awards in 2005, including Best Male Artist, Best Independent Release, Best Cover Artwork and Single of the Year (for "Catch My Disease").
Sia's We Are Born earned a series of ARIA Awards in 2010, including Best Independent Release, Best Pop Release and Best Video for "Clap Your Hands".
References
- ↑ "Civil Society, Handsome Merge". Mess+Noise. Retrieved 2010-11-09.