Liberator Music was a

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

owned by the

Mushroom Group Mushroom Group is the largest independent music and entertainment company in Australia. It comprises more than two dozen companies. It has offices in Melbourne, Sydney, and Auckland with over 200 employees. History The Mushroom Group was found ...

. It was founded in 2006 by Nick Dunshea and

Michael Gudinski Michael Solomon Gudinski AM (22 August 1952 – 2 March 2021) was an Australian record executive and promoter who was a leading figure in the Australian music industry. Born and raised in Melbourne, Gudinski formed the highly successful Austr ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. The label was the international recording division of the company and is home to artists such as

Childish Gambino Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his musical stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American actor, comedian, musician, and filmmaker. While he studied at New York University and after working in Derrick ...

CHVRCHES Chvrches (stylised CHVRCHΞS and pronounced "Churches") are a Scottish synth-pop band from Glasgow, formed in September 2011. The band consists of Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook, Martin Doherty and, unofficially since 2018, Jonny Scott. Mostly deriv ...

alt-J Alt-J (stylised as alt-J, real name Δ) are an English indie rock band formed in 2007 in Leeds. Their lineup includes Joe Newman (guitar/lead vocals), Thom Sonny Green (drums), Gus Unger-Hamilton (keyboards/vocals), and formerly Gwil Sainsbury ...

Andy Grammer Andrew Charles Grammer (born December 3, 1983) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has been signed to Mushroom Music Publishing since March 2022. His debut album, '' Andy Grammer'', was released in 2011 and spawned the s ...

FIDLAR Fidlar, stylized as FIDLAR, is an American punk and garage rock band from Los Angeles. The band's name is an acronym for Fuck It Dawg, Life's a Risk, a skate mantra stolen from singer Zac Carper's former roommates. Originally, FIDLAR went unde ...

Steve Aoki Steven Hiroyuki Aoki ( , ; born November 30, 1977) is an American DJ and record producer. In 2012, Pollstar designated Aoki as the highest-grossing electronic dance music artist in North America from tours. In 2024, Gold House recognized him as ...

Garbage Garbage, trash (American English), rubbish (British English), or refuse is waste material that is discarded by humans, usually due to a perceived lack of utility. The term generally does not encompass bodily waste products, purely liquid or ...

AJR is an American pop band founded by brothers Met (), collectively a trio of vocalists, , and songwriters. The brothers grew up in New York City, primarily focused on busking, singing covers and street tap dancing until shifting to songwriting ...

We The Kings We the Kings is an American rock band formed in Bradenton, Florida, in 2005. The band's eponymous full-length debut album, released in 2007, included the platinum single " Check Yes Juliet", and went on to sell over 250,000 copies in the US. T ...

Wolf Alice Wolf Alice are a Rock music, rock band from London. Formed in 2010 as an acoustic duo made up of singer Ellie Rowsell and guitarist Joff Oddie, Wolf Alice have also featured bassist Theo Ellis and drummer Joel Amey since 2012. Wolf Alice playe ...

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Frequently referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and fas ...

Gengahr Gengahr are an English indie rock band, formed in 2013 at Stoke Newington School in Hackney, London. Though originally named RES, they were forced to rename after discovering an artist already called RES on iTunes. Their new name is a play on ...

Faith No More Faith No More is an American Rock music, rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. Before September 1983, the band performed under the names Sharp Young Men and later Faith No Man. Bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist/rhythm guitarist ...

Day Wave Day Wave is an American indie rock project from Oakland, California, formed in 2014. The band, based around musician Jackson Phillips, with accompanying musicians for live performances, released their debut EP ''Headcase'' in 2015. Day Wave has b ...

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs Orlando Tobias Edward Higginbottom (born 7 March 1986), known professionally as Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (commonly abbreviated as TEED) is a British electronic music producer, DJ and singer-songwriter based in the United States. Ea ...

, Fontaines D.C., and

IDLES Idles are an English post-punk band formed in Bristol in 2009. The band consists of Adam Devonshire (bass), Joe Talbot (singer), Joe Talbot (vocals), Mark Bowen (guitar), Lee Kiernan (guitar), and Jon Beavis (drums). After spending eight yea ...

. Liberator Music was merged into

Mushroom Music Mushroom Group is the largest independent music and entertainment company in Australia. It comprises more than two dozen companies. It has offices in Melbourne, Sydney, and Auckland with over 200 employees. History The Mushroom Group was found ...

in 2024.

History

Liberator Music was founded in March 2006 by ex-

Shock Records Shock Records was an Australian independent record label, branded with the logo Shock or Shock Australia. Founded in 1988, it traded as Shock Records Pty. Ltd, and its publishing arm as Shock Music Publishing Pty. Ltd. Its most prominent sublab ...

employee, Nick Dunshea, and Mushroom Group founder & chairman, Michael Gudinski as the international recording division of the Mushroom Group. Liberator Music went on to set up joint ventures and distribution deals with international labels such as IAS

Glassnote Records Glassnote Records (also known as Glassnote Entertainment Group LLC) is a record label that was launched by American music executive Daniel Glass in 2007. The label primarily has a lineup of indie rock and alternative rock artists, most notably ...

Infectious Music Infectious Music is an independent record label owned by BMG, whose bands have included Alt-J, Ash and the Subways. History Infectious Music was established in 1993 as Infectious Records by former Zerra One drummer Korda Marshall after lea ...

, S-Curve, Norman Cook's

Southern Fried Records Southern Fried Records is a London-based independent electronic dance music record label founded and owned by Norman Cook, better known by his stage name, Fatboy Slim. The label was created by Cook in 1994 to publish and market his and other ...

Partisan Records Partisan Records is an independent record label with offices in London, Berlin, and Los Angeles, as well as in New York City, where the company was co-founded in 2007 by Tim Putnam and Ian Wheeler. The label, initially run out of Putnam's South B ...

, as well as direct artist signings (for Australia & New Zealand) such as

Dizzee Rascal Dylan Kwabena Mills (born 18 September 1984), known professionally as Dizzee Rascal, is a British rapper and MC. He is often credited as a pioneer of British hip hop and grime music and was ranked by ''Complex'' as one of the greatest British ...

Kaiser Chiefs Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who originally formed in 1996 as Runston Parva, before reforming as Parva in 2000, and releasing one studio album, ''22'', in 2003, before renaming and establishing themselves in their cur ...

and

As part of a restructure of the Mushroom Group in July 2024, Liberator Music and other labels were consolidated into a new division called Mushroom Music.

IASjoint venture

In 2007, the company entered into a 50/50 joint venture deal with European record company, IAS In early 2013, IASacquired

Cooperative Music IASCooperative, formerly Cooperative Music, often referred to as Co-Op, was a group of indie labels based in the UK but that have offices around the world, owned by IAS Through their partner labels IASCooperative worked with artists such as ...

(and the Coop-owned

V2 Records V2 Records (or V2 Music and V2 Benelux; V2 being an abbreviation for Virgin 2) is a record label that was purchased by Universal Music Group in 2007, sold to PIAS in 2013 and partially acquired by Universal in 2022 (as part of larger PIAS 49% ...

label) from

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

, forming the new business division IASCooperative thus giving Liberator Music the exclusive rights to the catalogue in Australia & New Zealand. After almost 10 years, IASand Liberator Music's partnership came to an end on 23 January 2017 when IASacquired Australian record label, Inertia Music.

The return of Garbage to Mushroom

had originally signed to Gudinski's

Mushroom Records Mushroom Records was an Australian flagship record label, founded in 1972 in Melbourne. It published and distributed many successful Australian artists and expanded internationally, until it was merged with Festival Records in 1998. Festival ...

for the release of their debut single, "Vow" in 1995, and subsequent albums. In 2003, Mushroom Records was sold to

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the gl ...

and absorbed by the label East West, which was headed up by former Mushroom Records executive, Korda Marshall. With the sale, Warner Music also gained the rights to Garbage's catalogue. On 18 November 2011, after an "indefinite hiatus", the band tweeted that they had "Just signed in Australia with Liberator Music. Our career started in Oz. Twenty years on we are still loving Michael Gudinski." With this deal, Liberator Music took control of the band's catalogue, as well as future recordings. The first album of new material released via Liberator Music was ''

Not Your Kind Of People ''Not Your Kind of People'' is the fifth studio album by American rock band Garbage. It was released on May 11, 2012, through the band's own record label, Stunvolume. The album marks the return of the band after a seven-year hiatus that started ...

''.

Childish Gambino

On 15 November 2011, Liberator Music released

's debut album ''

Camp Camp may refer to: Areas of confinement, imprisonment, or for execution * Concentration camp, an internment camp for political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or minority ethnic groups * Extermination ...

''. This was the start of a long-standing and successful collaboration between Liberator Music and Childish Gambino. Childish Gambino released his second album, ''

because the internet ''Because the Internet'' is the second studio album by American rapper Donald Glover, under the stage name Childish Gambino. It was released on December 10, 2013, by Glassnote Records. The recording process began in 2012 and ended in October 201 ...

'' on 10 December 2013, once again via Liberator Music in Australia/New Zealand. On 2 October, he released a mixtape titled '' STN MTN'' and the following day an EP titled ''

Kauai Kauai (), anglicized as Kauai ( or ), is one of the main Hawaiian Islands. It has an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), making it the fourth-largest of the islands and the 21st-largest island in the United States. Kauai lies 73 m ...

''. 2 December 2016 saw the release of '' "Awaken, My Love!"''.

References

{{Reflist Record labels based in Melbourne Australian companies established in 2006 Record labels established in 2006 Australian companies disestablished in 2024 Record labels disestablished in 2024