Under Cover Music Group

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
UCMG logo, partly inverted

Under Cover Music Group , better known as UCMG was a techno - label based in Neckargemünd , which existed from 1992 by 2003.

UCMG was founded in 1992 by Joachim Keil, Konrad Best and Horst Abel . Several sub-labels existed under the umbrella of UCMG. In 2001 the company was restructured into a stock corporation in order, according to Joachim Keil, to build the largest infrastructure of an independent label in Europe . The goal could not be achieved because in 2003 UCMG ran into financial difficulties and filed for bankruptcy . Most of the sub-labels were taken over by daredo GmbH in 2004 .

Most of the sales took place via interGROOVE and the humpty webshop .

Development of the UCMG group

1992

The company was founded as a "living room company" by Joachim Keil, Konrad Best and Horst Abel in Neckargemünd near Heidelberg. At that time the company was still called "Under Cover Music Agency". The focus was on producing in our own recording studio. In August, the first own vinyl label Time Unlimited was launched, initially in cooperation with Frank Rohnacher (Humpty Heidelberg).

1993

After the studio's productions were released on Sony , ZYX Music , the three-man company expanded. The label Noom Records , which was operated with the A&R Commander Tom , was created and the first CD compilation was released. Horst Abel left the company in order to devote more time to his “Terminal” project (a shop in Heidelberg ).

1994

Alexander Hendorf joined them, initially as Artist & Repertoire Manager (A&R) of Plastic City . The booking agency urgent contact was founded. At this point in time, the foundations of the Prosoniq Products software were laid in addition to the sound carrier production . The independent graphic agency "uc graphic" was created, with which we worked almost exclusively. The DJ Bassface Sascha starts his jungle label Smokin Drum on UCMG , which sold records internationally and especially in England.

1995

In 1995 the company was renamed “Under Cover Music Group” ( UCMG Germany for short ) and became a GmbH & Co. KG. transformed. Shortly afterwards, UCMG Germany moved into a new company building in the old town of Neckargemünd. Tom Wax starts the Phuture Wax label with UCMG Germany . The in-house music publisher UCM Music Publishing was founded and the entry into the DJ retail chain "Humpty Records" (with a total of six branches) began. In the same year UCMG UK was founded in London and UCMG New York in Manhattan. The company's growth was interrupted in 1995 when the then sales company MMS Euro went bankrupt. However, the resulting financial losses could be absorbed. In order to guarantee financial security and independence in the future, the own sales organization interGROOVE Germany was founded in Frankfurt am Main with Ralf Zintel (today: Ralf Reichert ), a distributor in the dance sector. A short time later, interGROOVE UK in London and interGROOVE US in New York City were founded. The basic idea of ​​this distribution system was a label-specific distribution that was not limited to import / export. Accordingly, InterGROOVE not only operated (like most conventional vinyl distributors) purely buying and selling, but also specifically built up trademarks. UCM Music Publishing and EMI Publishing Germany signed a long-term co-publishing contract. Eukatech opened its first record store in London ( Covent Garden ) .

1996

In 1996 Prosoniq Products Software GmbH was founded in Karlsruhe - as a manufacturer of software based on neural networks . With the track “Back on Plastic” from AWeX , the first chart success (32nd place) was achieved by UCMG in cooperation with Universal Music (formerly MCA ). CyWare Neue Medien GmbH is founded: a media agency with a focus on the Internet, multimedia, virtual reality and 3D. In England a publishing house called Under Cover Publishing was founded. In the meantime interGROOVE Germany founded a subsidiary in Spain (interGROOVE Spain - Madrid) together with a local partner. AWeX hit the charts again with the track "Wicked Plasticmen" and in England Jesse Saunders signed a label deal with UCMG UK for his label Just Say House . The UCMG structure grew in other countries through the establishment of companies in Hungary (UCMG Hungary, interGROOVE Hungary - Budapest ) and in France (UCMG France - Paris ). InterGROOVE UK founded a recording agency in London called Cutgroove UK . UCNY Music Publishing opens in New York and a record store opens in Madrid .

1997

In 1997 the "press agency" Cutgroove Germany was founded as an agency for sound carrier production in Germany. The in-house promotion and marketing department was set up. This was followed by the greatest success in the company's history to date: Paris Red - Love Hurts was the first own chart success via interGROOVE Germany. InterGROOVE Norway was founded in Oslo with an already established partner . An in-house mastering studio was set up at the company headquarters. Then the brand of the Harthouse label was taken over. In Budapest a music publisher named UCP Hungary was launched. A record store (Proton) was opened in Neckargemünd.

1998

The subsidiary Prosoniq Products Software GmbH presented their latest development, the so-called "Prosoniq Pandora Music Decomposition" software. With this software, a recorded music track or a complex mixture of sounds can be broken down into its individual sound components or a voice can be subsequently extracted from a track. In cooperation with China Consult, it was possible to become the first company in Germany to set up a licensing business with a Chinese publishing house in Beijing . In the spring, five CD albums were produced and marketed directly in China. In August, DePhazz - Hero Dead and Gone was another chart entry in Germany (54th place in the German single charts ). UCMG Hungary placed with the group Anima Sound System at number 1 in the Hungarian charts. In November UCMG Germany published the one thousandth catalog number with the release of Kurtis Blow - The Breaks '98. Cutgroove UK and Cutgroove Germany became the exclusive partners of Record Industry (formerly Sony Europe Presswerk) in Holland . In Spain , the headquarters of interGROOVE Spain was relocated to Barcelona . UCMG New York is setting up its own promotion department. At the same time, interGROOVE US began to set up its own CD sales structures in New York.

1999

The Dutch record company Vernoth / United Recordings and UCMG Germany signed a "First Option Deal". As a result, records by DePhazz and Liquid Child were released in the Benelux countries and by Laidback Luke and Jark Prongo in Germany . Sony Dance Pool and UCMG Germany moved into the Media Control Charts with System F. - Out of the Blue . UCMG Hungary once again reached the top of the Hungarian charts with Anima Sound System . InterGROOVE Brazil in Rio de Janeiro was initially founded as a local record store. Energetic Records from Switzerland and the Groove On label from Miami (USA) have signed label contracts with UCMG Germany. Energetic Records took in the Swiss techno scene an exceptional position and Groove On was George Morel contracted. The shares in Cyware Neue Medien GmbH were sold. At the same time, a new, dedicated Internet department was set up, which was to play a central role in the further expansion of the previously achieved market position. The first chart success in England was achieved with the Liquid Child - Diving Faces group.

2000

The music publisher UCP France was founded in Paris . The company Toyota uses in its pan-European advertising campaign for the launch of a new sports car the song The Mambo Craze of the group De-Phazz. The co-publishing contract between EMI Publishing Germany and UCM Music Publishing was renewed. InterGROOVE Denmark started operations in Copenhagen . InterGROOVE UK (in cooperation with the sales label Hope) achieved chart success for the first time in the official UK sales charts with Rising High Collective - A Fever Called Love . UCMG Germany signed new distribution agreements with Connected (Germany) and TBA (Switzerland) for the MixTrax and Galvanic labels . UCMG Germany joined the record company Beats and Friends as a partner . The Beats for Friends publishing house was also founded. Beats for Friends also signed a co-publishing contract with EMI Publishing Germany. Energetic Records and UCMG Germany in cooperation publish the Energy 00 compilation in Switzerland (distributed by Warner Music Switzerland) and advanced to number 2 on the official Swiss sales charts. For more than 25,000 units sold, UCMG Germany was then awarded the first 'Golden Record' in Zurich. UCMG UK entered the UK sales charts with Killin 'Me by Timo Maas , distributed by interGROOVE UK (number 86). In Hungary, Yonderboi climbed to number 48 in the album charts with his album Shallow and Profound . There are also other charts in Germany. On the one hand, interGROOVE Germany with the distribution label Cocoon ( Sven Väth in the Mix ) managed to occupy number 28 in the official compilation charts . On the other hand, UCMG Germany, in cooperation with Sony Dance Division, reached number 62 in the Media Control Charts with Free from Ultra . This means that the UCMG structure was able to show six European chart positions for the first time in 2000. A “press agency for vinyl and CD production”, Cutgroove France, was also founded in Paris.

2001

The Under Cover Music Group GmbH and Co. KG (UCMG Germany) was transformed into UCMG Europe AG during the year . The new UCMG Europe essentially had three business areas (investments, European administration, strategic planning of the core business). At the same time, the record company's activities were outsourced to two new subsidiaries (UCMG Germany and UCMG Proton). While the new UCMG Germany from now on looked after labels such as Mole Listening Pearls, Harthouse, Audio, Plastic City etc., which had built up into well-known brands over the last few years, the UCMG Proton is increasingly concentrating on commercial dance products (labels: Reef, Groove On, Time unlimited, Planetary Consciousness, Noom, Energetic); With Proton Records and Luxury House, two more labels with chart potential were created. In addition, the administration of the individual record companies was centralized in UCMG Media, a department of UCMG Europe. In this way, European license inquiries could be processed centrally in the future and cooperation with major companies and cooperation partners from outside the industry could be facilitated. In Holland, the "First Option Deal" with Vernoth / United, which had existed since 1999, could no longer be extended. In the resulting vacuum, UCMG Europe considered how the potential of the Dutch market could be further exploited. In October the UCMG Holland was founded with Dutch partners. In the course of the year, the chart successes were more than doubled compared to the previous year (including titles by Eminem , Kool & the Gang , Mauro Picotto , Commander Tom ). UCMG UK was named “Independent Label of the Year” at the “Official UK Music Awards ” for the Eukatech / Eukahouse labels in London . Prosoniq Products participated in the Hartmann company . This developed and built a new musical instrument - the so-called Neuron Synthesizer . This synthesizer was the first instrument in the world that was able to generate sounds with the help of neural networks . In New York, the attack on the World Trade Center brought business activities at interGROOVE US and UCMG New York to a complete standstill for almost two months. Both offices were located about 400 meters from the scene of the accident. No sales could be made for several months. In December 2001 sales lagged significantly behind the figures before September 11th, as the desire to buy in America and especially on the east coast was impaired.

2002

All UCMG repertoire companies were forced to cut costs. The reasons for this lay among others in America, because up to a third of all records were sometimes sold in America. To make matters worse, in the spring, the general economic situation in the industrialized nations in general and in the media industry in particular deteriorated. The repertoire company Beats & Friends ceased operations. Due to a differentiated future planning (the UCMG Group wanted to set up European warehousing and logistics within the next few months) as well as differences in pricing policy towards retailers, UCMG UK initially sold its minority stake to interGROOVE UK. A little later, UCMG Europe AG parted with its interGROOVE Germany shares. InterGROOVE Germany's stake in interGROOVE US was taken over by UCMG Europe AG. At the same time, a new distributor called Fine Audio Distribution GmbH was launched in Germany. Fine Audio Distribution sold the UCMG sound carriers in Germany on the one hand, and organized the UCMG's European flow of goods and exports on the other. The new distribution in Germany cooperated with Soulfood (sales and field service) and Sony (logistics) for the CD format . Vinyl records and export, on the other hand, were offered through a dedicated sales team. InterGROOVE US has been renamed Fine Audio Distribution USA . In England, a new partnership has been entered into with the London-based distribution company Prime Distribution . While Prime sold almost the entire UCMG catalog in England, a large part of Prime's sales products in Germany could now be obtained from Fine Audio Distribution. A distribution agreement has been concluded with the film and media company MAWA (Potsdam) for the new DVD format. MAWA had several German rights to international films ( Cube , Sixth Sense , American Pie - Like a hot apple pie ). In addition, MAWA produced a large number of DVDs in the music sector ( Die Toten Hosen , Herbert Grönemeyer , Rockpalast ).

2003

Still troubled by the developments since September 11, 2001, which had hit the European part of the UCMG with a time delay due to the internal interdependencies and the flow of goods and financial resources, as well as new problems with MAWA, among others, major financial difficulties arose , so that in April 2003 an application for insolvency was filed for UCMG Europe AG and some subsidiaries.

In the summer of 2003 the company Holophon (at that time: Mole Music) took over a large part of the rights of the former UCMG group from the insolvency administrator of the UCMG group. In spring 2004, for reasons that were not known in detail, the purchase contract between Holophon and the insolvency administrator was reversed. Shortly afterwards, the newly founded company daredo from Mannheim , headed by Joachim Keil, bought these rights. Various former UCMG companies remained active - but later as independent companies. Examples are interGROOVE Germany, interGROOVE UK (bankruptcy in 2007), UCMG France (later Under Cover France ), UCMG Hungary (later Ugar ), Prosoniq Products and UCM Publishing (later daredo publishing ).

Sub-labels

The UCMG's entourage included over 50 sub-labels, including

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 03.08.2001 - Other: Undercover Music Group - 9 Years of Ascent ( Memento from October 31, 2001 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  2. ↑ daredo takes over former UCMG labels