Artist First and Various Artists Management Unveil Partnership ‘To Discover and Develop Italian-Based Artists’

Venice, Italy. Photo Credit: canmandawe

Milan-headquartered record label and distribution company Artist First has officially inked “a wide-ranging new agreement” with London- and LA-based Various Artists Management (VAM).

12-year-old Artist First and 13-year-old Various Artists Management just recently unveiled their pact, which will see the companies coordinate “to discover and develop Italian-based artists for the global market.”

VAM counts as clients The Libertines, Sad Night Dynamite, and Supergrass, to name some, whereas Artist First “works with numerous successful Italian artists alongside a number of high-profile international acts,” according to the entities’ formal announcement message.

Roster-wise, Artist First has deals with Gazzelle, Fulminacci, and Zero Assoluto, among others, and the company also “distributes a wide range of labels,” per the text. Lastly, regarding the operational specifics of the label-distributor and its 50-person Milan team, Artist First possesses “a significant shareholding in 432 Srl,” which manages “Italian artists Le Vibrazioni, Francesco Gabbani Mace, Dolcenera and Ana Mena.”

In a statement, Artist First founder and CEO Claudio Ferrante made clear his ambitious vision for Italian artists’ global appeal in the approaching months and years.

“Italy is currently enjoying a musical renaissance thanks to [sic] in no small part to Maneskin’s success in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest,” said Ferrante. “We already have a great relationship with David Bianchi and the team at Various Artists Management, and we are looking forward to combining the strengths of our two companies to help create more opportunities for Italian artists to reach a global audience.”

And in remarks of his own, Various Artists Management founder and CEO David Bianchi emphasized that he intends to assist Artist First’s acts in reaching international fans.

“Artist First is a wonderful success story in Italy and has been at the forefront of innovation in the music industry there for many years,” said the longtime VAM head Bianchi. “They are incredibly ambitious and eager to build a presence in the international marketplace so it is an absolute privilege to have formed this alliance with them and to be part of this exciting new chapter in their story.

“There is some incredible Italian taken, [sic] which is deserving of a wider audience and we are joining forces to help that happen,” he concluded.

Moving forward, it’ll be interesting to see whether the Artist First-Various Artists Management deal helps Italian creators to achieve success on the world stage. The aforementioned Eurovision winner Maneskin (which releases tracks in English as well as Italian) has quietly garnered nearly 30 million monthly Spotify listeners, with a staggering 800 million streams for “Beggin.’”

Worth noting in conclusion is that the IFPI over the summer began pursuing legal action against Vimeo in Italy, taking aim at the video-sharing service’s alleged “failure to prevent unlicensed music appearing on its platform.”