Warner Music Group (WMG) has acquired Zebralution Music, a distributor for independent record labels in Germany and across Europe. The company is being bought from Frankfurt-based digital publishing firm Bookwire, and the deal was announced on November 3.
Zebralution Music was spun off from Zebralution earlier this year. The deal returns the business to Warner, which controlled Berlin-based Zebralution for around ten years before selling it to a group of independent music executives in 2017.
Ownership history#
Bookwire is controlled by New York-based private equity firm Insight Partners through UK-based Delta Software Group. Insight agreed to buy Zebralution from German collecting society GEMA in January and folded it into Bookwire when the deal closed in March.
Bookwire kept Zebralution’s audiobook and digital publishing business. In April, it announced plans to set up the music business as an independent company.
Warner acquired a majority stake in Zebralution in 2007, and its Central European division agreed to sell the company in April 2017. That sale was part of a divestment package WMG agreed with Merlin and the European independent music trade body IMPALA after its 2013 purchase of Parlophone Label Group.
The 2017 buyers were City Slang boss Christof Ellinghaus, Embassy of Music owner Konrad von Löhneysen, and Zebralution’s original founders, Kurt Thielen and Sascha Lazimbat. GEMA acquired a majority stake in December 2019 and later became its sole shareholder.
Insight also invested in DistroKid in 2021, in a deal that valued the platform at USD 1.3 billion. CVC Capital Partners agreed to make a majority investment in DistroKid in July, with Insight retaining a significant minority holding.
Deal terms and leadership#
- Buyer: Warner Music Group
- Seller: Bookwire
- Continuing leadership: Zebralution Music Co-CEOs Konrad von Löhneysen and Sascha Lazimbat will remain with the company and continue to run its distribution business
- Strategic alignment: The Co-CEOs will work closely with Niels Walboomers, President of Warner Music Central Europe
- Technology: Partner labels will gain direct access to WMG’s distribution, analytics and financial tools, powered by music tech and digital distribution platform Revelator
According to WMG, partner labels will continue to benefit from the distributor’s local expertise. WMG acquired Revelator in April, in a deal it said was part of an expansion of its distribution and label services.
Statements from the companies#
Sascha Lazimbat said: “This is an exciting new chapter for Zebralution Music, but for our label partners and the people we work with every day, it will very much be business as usual. We’ll continue to operate with the same team, the same relationships and the same commitment to delivering the best possible service.”
Lazimbat added: “What does change is the additional technology and resources now available to us, which will help us build on what we have already achieved.”
Konrad von Löhneysen said: “Zebralution Music has always been built around understanding the needs of indie labels and providing a personal, flexible service. Our partners can expect the same people, the same approach and the same independence they’ve always valued.” He continued: “It’s easy to say for me, as my label Embassy of Music has been a client for 20 plus years and will continue to be so.”
Niels Walboomers said: “Konrad and Sascha have built one of the most trusted homes for independent music in Europe, and a team that labels genuinely believe in.” He added: “Zebralution’s deep regional expertise, combined with our technology and global reach, gives its partners world-class capabilities without asking them to give up their independence.”
John Ruhrmann, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Bookwire, said in a separate statement: “It is particularly fitting that, with the Warner Music Group, Zebralution Music is in a sense returning to a former home.”
Industry criticism of the Revelator deal#
IMPALA criticised WMG’s Revelator deal when it was announced in April, saying the deal continued a trend in which “the independent ecosystem loses another chunk of its infrastructure.” The body called that trend “bad news for artists, fans, and Europe’s diversity as [a] whole.”
