Neon Gold Records – known for launching the careers of artists like Tove Lo, Charli XCX and Marina & The Diamonds – and New York-headquartered indie label Avenue A have announced the launch of a new independent music collective called Futures Music Group.
The key word here is “announced”: the label group had already been operating “in stealth” since January 2024, and already scored a commercial hit with Good Neighbours’ debut single Home, which, released in January, reached Platinum status nine months later.
Co-founded by Neon Gold’s Derek Davies and Avenue A’s Dave Wallace, Futures Music Group describes itself as “a collective of innovative labels, artists and executives setting out to shift the label paradigm utilizing creative deal structures and best-in-class technology to reshape the business of music.”
The New York-headquartered company promises “a new artist-forward label paradigm that’s built to move at the speed of the internet, empowering artists by offering transparent, flexible deal structures that prioritize incentive alignment and artist empowerment over outdated ownership models.”
Its launch roster includes Phantogram, whose new album Memory of a Day was released on Friday, along with Good Neighbours, The Knocks, Barns Courtney, Palace, and its most recent addition, Mt. Joy, via a joint venture with the band’s own Bloom Field Records.
“We believe the future of the music industry has never been brighter for artists and the independent sector,” Futures Music Group co-founder and co-CEO Derek Davies said.
“The industry has reached what we believe to be the largest inflection point in the history of the label system, as we are moving into a new music economy that is rightly trending towards artist ownership. We believe there’s a meaningful opportunity for a well-financed and resourced label group with a proven track record to deliver major results for artists on indie terms, which is what we’ve set out to build with Futures.”
Besides its co-CEOs Davies and Wallace (who founded Avenue A Records in 2019 after selling his management company to Three Six Zero/Roc Nation), the company’s leadership team also includes Sarah Kesselman (CMO and General Manager), Nicky Berger (COO) and Jeff Lin (CFO).
The company says it’s in the process of building its “internal team of core services,” which includes digital, sync, sales, and content production.
“The industry has reached what we believe to be the largest inflection point in the history of the label system, as we are moving into a new music economy that is rightly trending towards artist ownership.”
Derek Davies, Futures Music Group
New technology appears to be playing a large role in Futures’ development, with Davies and Wallace founding and investing in “tech ventures that push the music business forward and create value for artists.”
So far, strategic investments have included Big Effect, a digital marketing platform founded by former Spotify and Universal Music Group (UMG) data mastermind Mike Biggane, and Notes.fm, a royalty management platform from Stem co-founder Tim Luckow.
Futures says the partnership with Notes.fm has already proven lucrative, with the platform identifying “seven figures” of unrealized revenue for Futures’ launch artists, in the form of previously unclaimed existing royalties from historical releases.
The announcement of Futures’ launch comes four months after Neon Gold Records signed a multi-year global distribution agreement with UMG’s Virgin Music Group.
“The partnership allows us to maintain our independent spirit and artist-centric ethos, while benefiting from the scale, global infrastructure and team of Virgin Music Group,” Davies said at the time.
“It’s the perfect combination to support our mission of delivering major results on independent terms for artists, carving out new lanes for our acts to have more control both creatively and commercially.”Music Business Worldwide