Founded in 1984, Nettwerk Music Group is a leading global independent record label with a legacy of purpose-driven innovation. We nurture a diverse roster of artists within fan-connected communities, helping artists cultivate deeply engaged audiences to build sustainable, long-term careers in the ever-evolving music industry.
Headquartered in Vancouver, our hybrid workforce numbers over 200 and operates from strategic hubs in Los Angeles, London, Hamburg, Eora / Sydney, New York, Nashville, Berlin, Amsterdam, Toronto, and beyond. With a wealth of cross-market expertise, our unified global team creates impactful, culturally resonant music experiences that transcend borders.
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Nettwerk's Founding & History
In 1984, friends and lifelong music aficionados Terry McBride (Chairman & CEO) and Mark Jowett (President, International, A&R, Publishing) co-founded Nettwerk Music Group in Vancouver. They withdrew a $5,000 bank loan to fund a trio of inaugural releases from Moev, Skinny Puppy, and The Grapes of Wrath.
A globally recognized record label, management, and publishing company emerged from those humble beginnings. Nettwerk has been a launchpad for a myriad of artists, from Sarah McLachlan, Coldplay, Dido, Barenaked Ladies, Sum 41, and Avril Lavigne to Passenger, SYML, Ocie Elliott, Wild Rivers, The Paper Kites, Mallrat, and Paris Paloma—artists who have garnered countless awards sold millions of records, generated billions of streams and resonated deeply with audiences around the world.
Throughout its history, Nettwerk has welcomed and embraced the oncoming tides of change, whether it be co-founding the female-fronted Lilith Fair with McLachlan during an era of male-dominated festivals, fighting the RIAA on behalf of consumers downloading music in the early aughts, or predicting the rise of streaming.
Over the last decade, Nettwerk has consciously emphasized the expansion of our roster, signing an eclectic group of artists and doubling down on amplifying their global audience reach. Whether it be the platinum-certified “Bloom” by The Paper Kites, platinum-certified “Where’s My Love” by SYML, or “Coastlines” by Hollow Coves, or “Labour” by Paris Paloma, the Nettwerk team has championed a succession of immediately identifiable modern classics throughout its latest era. That brings us to one of its biggest success stories: Passenger’s “Let Her Go.” The anthem achieved a rare level of ubiquity, going Diamond in the United States and Canada, landing dozens of notable syncs, and taking flight as “one of only 95 songs to gather over 2 billion streams on Spotify.”
A ‘career-centric’ approach underscores the label’s philosophy, empowering each artist to pursue a sustainable future. The team has carefully cultivated and unwaveringly supported its latest vanguard of indie folk talent, represented by Paris Paloma, Mon Rovîa, Hazlett, Ocie Elliott, and more, always with a focus on artist development. The roster has also expanded into indie pop, indie rock, alternative rock, ambient, and beyond with artists like Mallrat, Vacations, NEIL FRANCES, Miya Folick, and The Album Leaf – giving artists of all kinds the latitude to share their stories.
What does being independent mean to you?
The independent artist is Nettwerk's foundational building block. Our mission is to partner with artists to create value by connecting them with fans and allowing them to make a living doing what they love.
We establish partnerships based on mutual respect and collaboration between us and the artist, with an aligned objective of building an authentic, engaged, and long-lasting fan base. We have analytics, data science, and audience teams dedicated to understanding how audiences discover and fall in love with artists, and how those audiences may overlap from artist to artist to represent a community of artists and listeners. We combine this audience intelligence with the artist’s unique voice and personality to create custom-designed artist campaigns to reach precisely those music listeners most likely to become long-term fans.
Artist development requires stamina and a long-term commitment. We like to say we run marathons and let the data provide insights into how those audiences respond to what we do. This information informs how we can adapt to achieve success for ourselves and our artists.
What is Nettwerk most excited about for the future of the company?
To build diverse and influential musical communities while fostering a caring and positive culture within Nettwerk. These communities have vibrant, engaged, and passionate audiences. We are experts in understanding those audiences and building fan-connected artist communities.
These communities have proliferated in number and size in recent years, and all signs suggest that this trend will amplify over the coming years. We’ve honed our expertise by understanding the differences in fan behaviour and nurturing artist-to-fan relationships, starting with our extensive roster of indie-folk and singer-songwriters. The community works to benefit all artists within it, and we use data science to understand those relationships, allowing us to effectively develop new talent and strategically align their content and brands.
We believe that this objective data-informed approach puts artists and audiences at the center of what we do, and that will never go out of style. We see opportunities to continue applying this approach to new communities. Building on our indie-folk successes, we’re heavily investing in other vibrant genres—indie pop, electronica, neo-classical, rock, and more—and applying our proven model to develop fan-connected artist communities in each.
What has been the key to your company's success?
We have fostered and maintained a creative and caring culture embodied in the core values we live every day: collaboration, transparency, connection and curiosity.
The key has been our commitment to fostering a strong connection to our artists. We do this by being great listeners, responsive, and prioritizing transparency in those relationships.
We don’t dictate what’s best for the artist. Instead, we first learn how audiences engage. With that knowledge, we collaborate with our artists to create bespoke strategies that reflect their vision.
We are always looking forward and are not afraid of change. We are perpetually curious. We work to understand trends - we find the path through.
What sets you apart from other companies in this business?
Our artist-first approach, combined with a deep understanding of how audiences interact across fan-connected artist communities, allows us to connect artists within these audiences to drive discovery and long-term sustained fan engagement.
We focus all our efforts on building streams and consumption for our artists:
- We are multi-platform experts across socials, DSPs, and the methods, means, partners, and tools that impact and engage audiences.
- Our global reach allows us to align our internal local market expertise with a worldwide growth objective.
- We are nimble and reactive; we can invest aggressively when an artist’s career requires us to capitalize on momentum in a campaign.
What advice would you give to an entrepreneur looking to launch their own music company or label?
Lead with passion and authenticity. You must love the art and creative process and be ready to take a long, steady, patient approach to artist development.
Identify the gaps in your offering. Be transparent about what you can fill in the short term and what you will need to find from outside partners. Identify the future pathways and growth requirements to be able to invest to fill those gaps internally. Expand your capabilities over time to offer differentiation and barriers to competitors.
Come with a learning mindset and attitude. Ideas can come from anywhere, anyone and at any time. Be open and ready for them.
