However the well-documented operational woes it’s grappled with all through 2022 and 2023, Utopia Music has revealed that its UK warehouse shipped north of three.3 million physical-media items throughout November.
The Switzerland-based firm reached out to Digital Music Information with phrase of the “record-breaking” November, which is alleged to be the “busiest month to this point” for Utopia Distribution Companies (UDS) for the reason that September of 2022 buy of Cinram Novum.
Regardless of this buyout’s having arrived about 15 months in the past, it was solely in late August that UDS, to not be confused with “movie distribution and gross sales firm” Utopia Distribution, opened the 269,000-square-foot Bicester warehouse (below a tie-up with Dubai World’s DP World) behind the initially talked about distribution feat.
Then, we reported in October that Sony Music and Common Music had seemingly swooped in with an asset-backed monetary lifeline to maintain UDS afloat. Although the exact particulars of the agreements weren’t publicly disclosed, regulatory filings shed mild upon the stringent nature of the pacts, together with the far-reaching powers held by the most important labels over UDS in reference to the union.
In any occasion, Utopia Distribution Companies particularly shipped 3,360,067 items (protecting each bodily music and visual-media merchandise) all through November, with a peak of 820,778 items moved in the course of the month’s closing week, in keeping with the corporate.
The sum connected to the entire of November marks a 26.2 % increase from October and its 2,662,314 items distributed, Utopia additionally signaled.
Significantly on the music aspect, the warehouse is alleged to distribute “70% of the UK’s bodily music for purchasers” such because the aforementioned Common Music and Sony Music in addition to [PIAS] (through which Common has a stake) and Cargo Music. In the meantime, the ultimate main label, Warner Music, has tapped UDS for “invoicing, money assortment and returns providers,” per the latter enterprise.
Addressing his firm’s November milestone, UDS managing director Drew Hill emphasised the necessity for a succesful and evolving distribution framework for bodily merchandise together with vinyl.
“As demand for bodily music continues to develop,” communicated Hill, “it stays important that the recording’s [sic] enterprise can profit from a fit-for-purpose provide chain capable of service the largest main to the smallest indie.
“I’m extremely happy with the infrastructure UDS has constructed, with the success of our new warehouse being testomony to the collective arduous work from business stakeholders to make sure bodily codecs can proceed to thrive in years to come back,” he concluded.