MBW’s Key Songs In The Life Of… is a series in which we ask influential music industry figures about the tracks that have – so far – defined their journey and their existence. Pushing the buttons on the jukebox of the soul this time is Maykel Piron, CEO & Co-founder of Armada Music, one of the largest independent dance music labels in the world. The Key Songs In The Life Of… series is supported by Sony Music Publishing.
As Armada Music Group CEO & Co-founder Maykel Piron himself (only half) jokes, “I like collecting dance records, I always have. At the age of 10 I started buying vinyl, and I still do. But now I’m also buying the rights to them! It’s basically the same, but a little more expensive and I get to do it with a great group of people.”
These days, the transactions aren’t done with a handful of Euros in a local record shop, they’re done via an investment vehicle, BEAT Music Fund, which plans to invest over $500 million within the next five years.
The fund was established as recently as 2023, with backing from Nashville-based Pinnacle Financial Partners. Since then it has made more than a dozen acquisitions, involving over 20,000 assets, including complete or part ownership in works from artists, labels and publishers such as KMS Records, ARTY, King Street Sounds, Chocolate Puma, Sola Records, VIVa MUSiC, Cloud 9 and Jax Jones.
Piron says: “We know and love the records involved in these deals – which makes them more than just deals to us. Because of that, a lot of artists and managers, they feel what kind of value we can add.
“Most of the selling artists are still touring, so they want us to work it, because that’s better for their career. And I must say, a lot of people we’ve done deals with are talking very positively about their experience, and that brings us more opportunities every day. There are many more deals in the pipeline.”
The rush of activity and diversification saw Armada restructure earlier this year, with a parent company, Armada Music Group, now sitting above the fund, recorded music (Armada bills itself as the largest independent dance label in the world, clocking up over one billion streams per month) and publishing division, with around 150 employees across offices in the Netherlands, US and UK.
It’s a huge leap from when Piron started the company 21 years ago, in partnership with Dutch DJ Armin van Buuren, and booking agent David Lewis. Its growth (before the acquisition-propelled turbo…
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