# AWAL

AWAL is a global recording business that claims to serve as an alternative to the traditional record label, offering deal structures that provide artists with the resources and expertise of a global label while allowing them to retain ownership and control of their music. In 2021, Sony Music Entertainment purchased AWAL from Kobalt Music Group for $430 million.

## Services

AWAL's services include global marketing and creative services, A&R, playlist & radio promotion, publicity, synch, and brand partnerships, and access to real-time comprehensive music data and insights. In November 2018, Billboard wrote an article titled, "Can Kobalt Disrupt the Label Game With AWAL," outlining the company's approach and how it pays out as much as 80 percent of streaming revenue to its artists. In March 2017, AWAL introduced its music analytics app designed to collect and display data from an artist's Spotify and Apple Music presence.

## History

AWAL US was originally founded in 1997 by Denzyl Feigelson in Ojai, California, with mentorship help from founding member Andrew Ungerleider, and then joined forces in 2004 with record producers Kevin Bacon and Jonathan Quarmby. In December 2012, AWAL UK was acquired by the Kobalt Music Group and operated as the company's digital music distribution arm.
In January 2018, Lonny Olinick was named CEO of Kobalt's recording division. By March 2018, Kobalt announced it was investing $150 million into AWAL and that all of Kobalt's recording business would be combined under the AWAL brand. AWAL acquired In2une Music in June 2018, which provides multi-format radio promotion to independent labels and artists. AWAL announced a strategic partnership with independent label, Glassnote Records, in November 2018. Other notable announcements from the company include signing artists such as Tomer Aaron , Steve Lacy, Finneas, Little Simz, Girl in Red, deadmau5, JVKE, Jungle, Disclosure, Rex Orange County, Tom Misch, and Laufey.
In November 2018, AWAL was named on Billboard's 2018 Digital Power Players - Music Groups list. In April 2023, AWAL was named on Billboard's 2023 International Power Players list. Later that year, Billboard named AWAL's Lonny Olinick, Pete Giberga, and Paul Hitchman to their 2023 Indie Power Players list.
AWAL has offices in London, New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, Stockholm, Mexico City, Madrid, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Paris and Toronto.
On September 7, 2021, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the United Kingdom's antitrust regulator raised concerns that Sony's purchase of AWAL would reduce competition from other distributors. The CMA gave Sony and AWAL five days to address the CMA's concerns and offer legally binding remedies, or else the CMA would enter a Phase 2 investigation. The phase two investigation was launched on September 16, 2021. Following a consultation that ended on March 4, 2022, the CMA officially cleared the deal on March 16, 2022.

## Notable artists

* Aly & AJ
* A$AP TyY
* Banks
* The Beaches
* Ber
* BoyWithUke
* Bruno Major
* Claudia Alende
* CMAT
* Dashboard Confessional
* Dayglow
* Daði Freyr
* De La Soul
* deadmau5 / Kx5
* Die Antwoord
* DijahSB
* Disclosure
* Djo
* Esprit D'Air
* Everything Everything
* The Aubreys
* Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes
* Gabrielle Aplin
* Girl in Red
* Greyson Chance
* Gus Dapperton
* Honne (band)
* Jae Jin
* Jesse McCartney
* JPEGMAFIA
* Jungle
* JVKE
* iamamiwhoami
* ionnalee
* Katelyn Tarver
* The Kooks
* Kim Petras
* Kira Kosarin
* Laufey
* Laura Marling
* Lauren Jauregui
* Lauv
* Lil Peep
* Lisa Heller
* Little Simz
* Lizzy McAlpine
* Lovejoy
* Madison Beer
* Maximum Love
* Moby
* mxmtoon
* Naked Eyes
* Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
* The Night Café
* Now United
* Pouya
* Quadeca
* R3HAB
* Rex Orange County
* RMR
* Rickie Lee Jones
* SBTRKT
* Simi
* Spacey Jane
* Steve Lacy
* Tamera Foster
* Thom Yorke
* Todd Terje
* Tom Misch
* Vérité
* West Avenue (band)
* Wasia Project
* The Wombats
* Wretch 32
* You Me at Six
* Young the Giant
* Yung Bans
* Zolita

## Record labels

* Glassnote Records
* mau5trap
* Good Soldier Songs
* Nickelodeon Records
* B-Unique Records
* SideOneDummy Records
* World in Red (personal label for Girl in Red)
* Chess Club Records
* Bright Antenna Records

## Albums released

* Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1 (2017) — Lil Peep
* Fuzzybrain (2018) — Dayglow
* Friends (2019) — Omar Apollo
* Grey Area (2019) — Little Simz
* Portraits (2019) — Greyson Chance
* Twenty Twenty (2019) — Djo
* Bonito Recycling (2020) — Kero Kero Bonito
* Idiot Prayer (2020) — Nick Cave
* Orca (2020) — Gus Dapperton
* Sunlight (2020) — Spacey Jane
* Inbred (2021) — Ethel Cain
* A Touch of the Beat Gets You Up on Your Feet Gets You Out and Then Into the Sun (2021) — Aly & AJ
* Back in Love City (2021) — The Vaccines
* Harmony House (2021) — Dayglow
* If I Could Make It Go Quiet (2021) — Girl in Red
* From Me to You (2021) — Quadeca
* In Search Of Darkness (2021) — Chvrches
* Loving in Stereo (2021) — Jungle
* Sometimes I Might Be Introvert (2021) — Little Simz
* Anthology MegaThemes Vol. 1 (2023) — Dane Prophet
* 10 Tracks to Echo in the Dark (2022) — The Kooks
* All the Truth That I Can Tell (2022) — Dashboard Confessional
* Decide (2022) — Djo
* Five Seconds Flat (2022) — Lizzy McAlpine
* Fix Yourself, Not the World (2022) — The Wombats
* Forever (2022) — Phife Dawg
* Here Comes Everybody (2022) — Spacey Jane
* No Thank You (2022) — Little Simz
* People in Motion (2022) — Dayglow
* Preacher's Daughter (2022) — Ethel Cain
* Rising (2022) — Mxmtoon
* Serpentina (2022) — Banks
* Under the Shade of Green (2022) — The Happy Fits
* I Didn't Mean to Haunt You (2022) — Quadeca
* Living Somple (2023) - DijahSB
* With Love From (2023) — Aly & AJ
* Scaring the Hoes (2023) — JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown
* The Musical: Welcome to the Night of Your Life (2023) — Now United and Lilith Freund
* Sundial(2023) - Noname
* SCRAPYARD (2024) — Quadeca
* I Lay Down My Life for You (2024) — JPEGMAFIA
* West Avenue (2024) — West Avenue (band)
* Burnout (2024) — BoyWithUke