Aurora's business (signed record deals, contracts etc.)

[likkevrom]

Gathered some details on Aurora's business. Not sure if this is the right place, feel free to move the thread if it's better elsewhere.

Thanks to everybody who helped me on this!

Aurora signed with publisher Budde Music (homepage) from Germany in November, 2013 (looks like the weekend of 8-10th).

Press article (Norwegian) from Music Norway (now defunct, via an archived version), higher quality photo from a Midtsiden article with the same text:

Aurora Aksnes signerte med Budde Music

Fornøyd gjeng: Per Mygland (Daglig leder i Made) Seth Hodder (Budde), Aurora Aksnes, Benjamin Budde, Jan Øystein Aksnes (pappa) Geir Luedy (manager, Made)

Aurora Aksnes har inngått publishingavtale med det toneangivende forlaget Budde Music.

Tyske Budde Music er ett av de mest suksessrike forlagene i Europa, med en enorm katalog bestående av alt fra legender som Alphaville til en lang rekke internasjonale låtskrivere og tekstforfattere. I helgen var representanter for selskapet på besøk hos Made Management i Bergen, hvor de signerte en avtale med den norske artisten og låtskriveren Aurora Aksnes.

- Budde har et stort nettverk av låtskrivere, produsenter og artister som vi nå er i gang med å jobbe med Aurora. Videre har de og et stort nettverk i Tyskland bestående av plateselskaper og andre samarbeidspartnere. Med andre ord har vi økt mulighetene til å nå flere interessenter når vi har en plate ferdig, forteller manager Geir Luedy ved Made Management til Music Norway.

Kontakten mellom Luedy og Budde Music ble ifølge Luedy opprettet via Music Norways Central Europe-kontor.

- Under forhandlingene har vi allerede begynt å jobbe, og Aurora har skrevet låter sammen med flere av Budde sine folk i Berlin. Nå fremover skal hun skrive i Bergen, Berlin,Stockholm og London. Vi konsentrerer oss neste halvår om skrivingen. Vi håper å være klar med et band under by-larm 2014, så blir det plate senere på året, fortsetter Luedy.

Seth Hodder, Intenational A&R ved Budde Music er stolt over å ha sikret seg signaturen til Aurora Aksnes.

- Vi er veldig stolte av å få muligheten til å jobbe med denne eksepsjonelt talentfulle låtskriveren, og vi gleder oss til å se hvordan Aurora vil overraske oss i nær fremtid. Budde Musics mål er å hjelpe henne med å utvikle seg både som låtskriver og som artist, sier Hodder i en kommentar.

Keywords: signed sign signs record deal record deals record contract record contracts label record company publisher business partner

[likkevrom]

Aurora signed with label Petroleum Records (homepage) from Norway circa May 2014.

A part of the statement (Norwegian) from Petroleum at the time (from an archived version, couldn't find the full text unfortunately).

Published May 3, 2014:

Aurora Aksnes til Petroleum Records
Vi kan med glede fortelle at Aurora Aksnes fra Bergen har signert med Petroleum Records! Aurora fikk for alvor mye oppmerksomhet etter to fantastiske konserter under årets Bylarm og jobber for tiden med sitt debutalbum som skal ut i løpet av 2015. Vi ser fram til å jobbe med Aurora og ønsker [...]

In the photo's metadata it is credited to Bent Renè Synnevåg and dated December 5, 2013.
I resized the photo in the quote above because it is so big. Original quality version:

[likkevrom]

Aurora signed with two labels circa September 2014, Decca Records (homepage) from UK and Glassnote Records (homepage) from USA.
Dated with the Instagram post and articles below.

Although there was little detail about the earlier deal with Petroleum Records. At this point in time it was published that the three labels serve (distribute / hold rights ?) various territories, see the Dagbladet article in the following post in this thread.

Petroleum Records - Norway

Glassnote Music - Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, USA

Decca Records - all other territories

Petroleum Records IG post with a photo of a Bergens Tidende article:

https://www.instagram.com/p/tkp37yS_ns

Caption, September 30:

Mye spennende som skjer rundt @auroraaksnes for tiden! 🎶👌@petroleumrecords @deccarecords @glassnotemusic @mademanagement

NRK P3 reported on the news as well (Norwegian), with a very interesting article+video (subtitled), a relevant bit from the article, machine-translated to English:

She is here to play during the festival Berlin Music Week, and has just signed a record contract with the somewhat legendary record company Decca. The company that once said no to The Beatles and later signed The Rolling Stones. It has been an eventful six months for the 18-year-old from Os in Hordaland.

- It has gone incredibly fast. I've only been playing with my band for eight months. I love Berlin, especially being allowed to play here during Berlin Music Week. It's very cool, incredibly fun and strange that we're here already. The fact that I have now signed a record contract is a great relief. I've been waiting for this and can't wait to release an album. We only have one song out, and it's not even a real song. Only a demo.

Aurora Aksnes has agreed to release four albums with the British record company and becomes a "colleague" with artists such as Elvis Costello, Melody Gardot and Louis Armstrong, to name a few. The company believes Aksnes has international potential and is a very special songwriting talent. The 18-year-old admits in all her confidence that she feels the fear of performance in the face of the big music world.

- It's very scary. I just do not have to give up and make a good album. I have to do that. But I think a lot that there will be a lot of work and a lot of pressure.

I haven't read or heard many other details about the record deals after this, and I don't know if the mentioned 4-albums contract is still current today.

There is also an interview, with Geir from Made Management (see below) who seems to contradict

[likkevrom]

A Dagbladet article mostly about the news of the Decca & Glassnote deal, copy below. I added the NRK P3 Ruben links as appearing in the article, but I think that broadcast is not available anymore.

Written by: Jonas Pettersen (in Norwegian)
Photos by Bent René Synnevåg  and Jonas Pettersen
Published: Tuesday September 30, 2014 - 15:21
Last updated: Tuesday October 18, 2016 - 12:36

Ville ikke gi The Beatles platekontrakt, men signerte norske Aurora (18)
Bylarm-vinneren har landet platekontrakter for hele verden.

SATSES PÅ: Aurora Aksnes har signert platekontrakter for hele verden. Foto: Bent René Synnevåg

Jonas Pettersen
Publisert tirsdag 30. september 2014 - 15:21
Sist oppdatert tirsdag 18. oktober 2016 - 12:36

(Dagbladet): Etter at den da 17-årige Aurora Aksnes spilte to konserter på Bylarm tidligere i år, utropte Dagbladet henne til en av «vinnerne» av festivalen.
Hun har bare gitt ut en låt, men har allerede nå blitt huket inn og signert av det respekterte plateselskapet Decca Records, ifølge P3-radioprogrammet «Ruben».

Det britiske plateselskapet er mest kjent for å være de som på 60-tallet sa nei til The Beatles. Senere bøtet de imidlertid på tabben ved å signere det da ukjente rockebandet Rolling Stones.
Nå har de blant annet Billie Holiday, Elvis Costello og Melody Gardot i stallen.

Aurora Aksnes' manager Geir Luedy opplyser til Dagbladet at 18-åringen fra Os har signert med Decca Records i alle land utenom Norge, USA, Sør-Afrika, Australia, New Zealand og Mexico. I Norge har Petroleum Records sikret seg Aksnes, mens det er Glassnote Records som kan skilte med pennetrekket hennes i de fem resterende landene, inkludert USA.

Glassnote Records har ikke veldig mange artister på lista, men Mumford & Sons, Chvurches og Phoenix er blant de andre utvalgte.
- Valget falt på Decca Records og Glassnote Records på grunn av menneskene som jobber der. De var så pågående og entusiastiske til Auroras musikk at det bare måtte bli dem, sier Luedy.
For tiden jobbes det med både singel og album, men først reiser hun til New York i oktober for å spille en rekke konserter under festivalen CMJ. Aksnes' første singel er ifølge Luedy forhåpentligvis klar på nyåret, mens det ikke er satt noen dato for det kommende albumet.


HÅRETE: Aurora Aksnes lager popmusikk, men avreagerer til metal. Her under Gojira-konserten på årets Øyafestival. Foto: Jonas Pettersen

- Det føles veldig godt å bli trodd på. Jeg er glad jeg har fått sjansen og nå skal jeg gripe den. Med en gang jeg møtte Glassnote, Decca og Petroleum kjente jeg at det var disse folkene jeg ville jobbe med. Alle delte samme kjærelighet for musikk, og det er det som betyr mest. Jeg gleder meg til å begynne å jobbe med teamet jeg har med meg og lage en fantastisk plate, sier Aksnes i en uttalelse til Dagbladet.

Til P3-Ruben forteller Decca Records' Tom Lewis at plateselskapet regnet Aksnes som et spesielt talent.
- Hun er en av sin generasjons mest spennende stemmer. Låtene hennes er fantastiske, med vakre og poetiske tekster som kommer til å kommunisere med hennes generasjon. Hun er i tillegg en veldig hyggelig person. Når du møter henne blir du sjarmert. Det ble i alle fall jeg.

18-åringen har nå sluttet på skolen for å følge popdrømmen, etter diskusjoner med familien.
- I sommer bestemte vi at jeg skulle sette skolen på vent. Jeg kan ikke gjøre to ting halvhjertet, sier Aksnes på «Ruben».

Machine-translation to English (minor edits mine):

Did not want to give The Beatles a record contract, but signed Norwegian Aurora (18)
The Bylarm winner has landed record contracts for the whole world.

INVESTMENT: Aurora Aksnes has signed record contracts for the whole world. Photo: Bent René Synnevåg

Jonas Pettersen
Published Tuesday September 30, 2014 - 15:21
Last updated Tuesday October 18, 2016 - 12:36

(Dagbladet): After the then 17-year-old Aurora Aksnes played two concerts at Bylarm earlier this year, Dagbladet announced her as one of the "winners" of the festival.
She has only released one song, but has already been checked in and signed by the respected record company Decca Records, according to P3-radio programme «Ruben».

The British record company is best known for being the ones who said no to The Beatles in the 60's. Later, however, they made up for the mistake by signing the then unknown rock band Rolling Stones.
Currently they have Billie Holiday, Elvis Costello and Melody Gardot on their roster, among others.

Aurora Aksnes' manager Geir Luedy informs Dagbladet that the 18-year-old from Os has signed with Decca Records in all countries except Norway, USA, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico. In Norway, Petroleum Records has secured Aksnes, while Glassnote Records can boast of her pencil case in the five remaining countries, including the USA.

Glassnote Records does not have a whole lot of artists on the list, but Mumford & Sons, Chvurches and Phoenix are among the other selected.
- The choice fell on Decca Records and Glassnote Records because of the people who work there. They were so persistent and enthusiastic about Aurora's music that it just had to be them, says Luedy.
She is currently working on both a single and an album, but first she travels to New York in October to play a number of concerts during the CMJ festival. According to Luedy, Aksnes' first single will hopefully be ready before the new year, while no date has been set for the upcoming album.


HAIR: Aurora Aksnes makes pop music, but blows off steam to metal. Here during the Gojira concert at this year's Øya Festival. Photo: Jonas Pettersen

- It feels very good to be believed. I'm glad I got the chance and now I'm going to take it. As soon as I met Glassnote, Decca and Petroleum, I felt that these were the people I wanted to work with. Everyone shared the same love for music, and that's what matters most. I look forward to start working with the team I have with me and making a fantastic record, says Aksnes in a statement to Dagbladet.

Decca Records' Tom Lewis tells P3-Ruben that the record company considered Aksnes a special talent.
- She is one of the most exciting voices of her generation. Her songs are fantastic, with beautiful and poetic lyrics that will communicate with her generation. She is also a very nice person. When you meet her, you will be charmed. At least it was so with me.

The 18-year-old has now left school to follow the pop dream, after discussions with the family.
- This summer we decided that I should put the school on hold. I can not do two things half-heartedly, says Aksnes to «Ruben».

[likkevrom]

More business partners:

I'm not sure about the role(s) of Universal Music, but as far as I could find, Decca is a subsidiary (a part) of their record company Universal Music Group and Glassnote Music has a distribution partnership with them.

Booking agency/artist rep The Windish Agency (later acquired by Paradigm Talent Agency, homepage) from USA has also represented AURORA since early on, but they seem to not be affiliated anymore since 2021.

Made Management (homepage) from Norway was the first business partner for Aurora, but I don't know the exact dates.

The Awakening single (2014) was released on Coco & Co, which is/was an in-house label of Made. Apparently Under Stars was also (initially?) released on this label, Geir talks a bit about it in the panel discussion linked below. (though he seems to misremember it as Under Stars).

Booking agency/artist rep Standing Ovation (homepage) from Norway is also a part of Made and has done work for Aurora I think.

Puppet was released at an unknown date on Sound Patrol Records, but there is hardly any information on this label.

Finally, as Aurora states in the NRK P3 article and elsewhere, her family is a part of her business. I don't have a lot of references handy here, but as most will know Miranda Aksnes (Instagram) is a makeup artist and Viktoria Aksnes (Instagram) is a costume designer for Aurora.

More information:

Vill Vill Vest Music Conference 2016, panel discussion with Aurora's global team (recommended listen)

Dagsrevyen Lørdagsportrett: Aurora Aksnes (also posted about here)

Bergensavisen article

[agehajihen]

Great information! Thanks for sharing likkevrom. 
About your last post and Coco&Co, I don't think Geir is misremembering.
In the Vill Vill Vest Music Conference 2016, at the start they talk about Awakening being the first song before Decca or anyone else in the panel was involved. Geir didn't get a response until he also sent a photo of Aurora with the song.
Then the Decca guy brings up Under Stars (first song where Decca was involved) and Geir comments about Coco&Co. Under Stars had a Promo CD from Coco&Co and was also released by Decca.
I think when they promoted the song it was under Coco&Co label but Decca was already involved. That's what I understand from this discussion.

[likkevrom]

I forgot to add another link to more information, gandalvr mentioned it to me before. Geir seems to contradict the 4-album contract in this interview.

Ballade - interview with Geir Luedy (Made Management) (translation by gandalvr on Reddit)

Thanks for the reply agehajihen you are right! I was going on memory from the panel discussion, but I had misremembered myself. I have edited the post above.

It's curious though, because Under Stars also seems to have been released in December on Decca and Glassnote. I guess you are right that it was under Coco & Co for the early promotion, for the "sending out to bloggers" Geir mentions. Link to the Promo CD on Discogs.

It might be related to the confusing release date for Under Stars, most shops now list December 2nd as release date and this lines up with social media posts. However on the Amazon track it notes November 25 and (one of) the song's Soundcloud links currently mentions December 2, but in the past mentions November 26. Geir also mentions Soundcloud in that section, but Coco & Co is not mentioned on Soundcloud.

[likkevrom]

Just a trivia - according to an article on Universal Music UK, Rebecca Allen played a key role in signing Aurora for Decca Records, excerpt:

Working her way through the ranks, Rebecca joined Universal Classics & Jazz 17 years ago as a press assistant, later rising to the role of director of media. She remained with the label after it was renamed Decca Records in 2009, becoming General Manager in 2012, Managing Director in 2014 and then President this year – the first female president at any UK major label.

During her time at Decca, Rebecca has signed major artists including legendary film composer Ennio Morricone and Norwegian songstress Aurora. She has united two beloved singers Michael Ball and Alfie Boe and turned them into a best-selling duo, has put UK country music in the spotlight with the success of The Shires, helped bring jazz to a wider audience with Gregory Porter and Melody Gardot, and championed young classical stars such as Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Nicola Benedetti and Milos. Rebecca continues to work closely with many high-profile artists including Rod Stewart, Andrea Bocelli, The Lumineers and Ludovico Einaudi.

[likkevrom]

Apr 19, 2022 22:00:54 GMT likkevrom said:

[...]
Booking agency/artist rep The Windish Agency (later acquired by Paradigm Talent Agency, homepage) from USA has also represented AURORA since early on, but they seem to not be affiliated anymore since 2021.
[...]

Some notes in an article at Pollstar, trade magazine for the live entertainment industry from USA. Published online on September 23, 2016, excerpt:

[...]
Aurora, who wrote her first song when she was 9 years old, caught the attention of Tom Windish of The Windish Agency early on.

Steve Goodgold, co-agent with Windish, told Pollstar, “Tom heard her on a blog in 2013. He pursued her through her Norwegian management and we all decided to work together,” he said. “Tom also introduced Daniel Glass at Glassnote Records to her and he decided to sign her to his label in the U.S.”
[...]
“Aurora has the charm, charisma and confidence of someone twice her age. She is a true artist and every time she takes the stage it’s impossible not to be drawn to her,” Goodgold said. “She inspires, every time she sings. Her passion is unmistakable and contagious.”

P.S. this is called a "cover story" on the site, but I could not find Aurora on their magazine covers (archived link).

[gandalvr]

Apr 19, 2022 22:00:54 GMT likkevrom said:

Booking agency/artist rep The Windish Agency (later acquired by Paradigm Talent Agency, homepage) from USA has also represented AURORA since early on, but they seem to not be affiliated anymore since 2021.

Wasserman Group is the "Exclusive Booking Agency for AURORA" in USA, Canada & Mexico: www.teamwass.com/music/aurora/

Agents are Steve Goodgold and Tom Windish.