Ingrooves Music Group
Independent music distribution and marketing company. Acquired by Universal Music Group in 2019 and folded into its Virgin Music Group division in September 2022.
- Based in
- Not established from the documents read.
- Website
- virginmusic.com
Ingrooves Music Group is a music distribution and marketing company serving independent artists and labels, combining distribution services with technology platforms. Its chief executive at the start of 2021 was Bob Roback.
Ingrooves entered the African market on 7 January 2021 by acquiring Electromode, the Johannesburg distributor founded in 2001, whose roster at the time ran to more than 200 artists and a catalogue of over 30,000 songs. Electromode’s managing director Chris Ghelakis continued to lead the Johannesburg team, saying Ingrooves had “the same kind of independent spirit that we have fostered over the last two decades at Electromode”.
Ingrooves is not an independent company. Universal Music Group acquired it in 2019, and on 13 September 2022 UMG announced Virgin Music Group, a new global division uniting Virgin Music Label & Artist Services, Ingrooves Music Group and the label division of mtheory Artist Partnerships. UMG’s own announcement names Ingrooves as “Acquired by UMG in 2019”. The ingrooves.com domain now redirects to virginmusic.com.
The distinction that matters for rights reporting is that Ingrooves is a distributor and services company rather than a frontline label. A distribution agreement moves no copyright: the phonogram owner remains whoever the credit names. Artists who sign distribution deals with Ingrooves may therefore retain ownership of their masters while nonetheless contracting with a company owned by a major.