- Vincent Clery-Melin and Pete Dodge Appointed to New Roles

Thursday 21st August, London:- Kobalt Label Services (KLS) has undertaken an internal reorganisation of its team in response to the continued expansion of its services and strong growth in clients and sales.

Vincent Clery-Melin has been promoted to the role of Managing Director KLS UK. In addition to his current responsibilities as Managing Director of AWAL, Clery-Melin will now head up the Label Services team in the UK, and will oversee the marketing of KLS releases in the territory. He will also be responsible for signing new clients to KLS, and will continue to identify and sign new clients for AWAL's digital distribution services worldwide.

In addition, Pete Dodge has been appointed VP, KLS Operations and Distribution from his former position as General Manager of KLS. In his new role, Dodge will oversee KLS' global digital distribution platform and digital account management, as well as its relationships with physical distribution partners internationally and the physical product supply chain.

Clery-Melin and Dodge will both continue to report to Paul Hitchman, who has also assumed a new position as President of Kobalt Label Services International.

Hitchman said: “Vincent and Pete have both made huge contributions to the success of KLS and I’m delighted to see them in these new roles as we continue to expand both our team and our services.”

Vincent Clery-Merlin commented: “It’s a real honour to be heading up such a fantastic team, and I look forward to continuing to work closely with Paul to offer a first-class service to KLS and AWAL clients.”

Pete Dodge added: “It is very satisfying to be creating a global infrastructure that supports both digital and physical releases at the highest level, and to offer a truly viable and progressive alternative to the traditional labels.”

Already this year, KLS’ full-service model, which sees artists retain master ownership, has continued to attract significant talents with recent signings including Lenny Kravitz, David Gray, Billy Idol, Die Antwoord, Todd Terje, Julian Casablancas, Karen O, Kele Okereke and Macy Gray.

About Kobalt Label Services (KLS)

Part of Kobalt Music Group, KLS provides the next generation of services for artists and labels worldwide, empowering recording owners with a full-service solution to releasing and marketing records while maintaining ownership of their masters.  Established as an alternative to the traditional label model, KLS maximizes client opportunities and revenues from a wide range of global digital retail, traditional physical retail, audio and video streaming, synch licensing, D2C and social media services.

Clients benefit from Kobalt expertise in multi-rights management, the security and trust of Kobalt's proven and transparent royalty accounting, advanced data analytics and experienced staff to co-ordinate and manage releases.

For more information, go to: www.kobaltmusic.com

About AWAL

Part of Kobalt Label Services within Kobalt Music Group, AWAL is a digital distribution and marketing company that offers a transparent, simple, straight to market solution for artists. Originally founded in the UK in 2003, AWAL was architected to empower content owners to take control of their digital business. Integrated in 2012 within Kobalt, one of the world’s leading tech companies in music, AWAL’s presence has extended into North America.

The company has provided global distribution and marketing services to a vast range of labels and artists, including Arctic Monkeys, Editors, Radiohead, Beck, Klaxons, Moby, Royal Blood, Beverly Knight, Eddie Izzard, Chaka Khan, Frank Turner, AR Rahman, Nina Nesbitt, Gabrielle Aplin, Flight Facilities, Orbital, David Ford, Passenger, Daughter, Snakehips and Tina Dico.

Clients benefit from Kobalt's expertise in multi-rights management, the security and trust of its proven and transparent royalty accounting, advanced data analytics and experienced staff to coordinate and manage releases.

For more information, go to: www.awal.com