Xploded Music is a British

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, ...

set up by Cris Nuttall and Matt Cadman. The label is a joint venture with

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company that is a subsidiary of Comcast ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of N ...

, and has developed from their previous partnership with the All Around the World dance music label. All Around the World (also known as AATW) originated in

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

and has had success with artists such as

N-Trance N-Trance () are a British electronic music group who were formed by Kevin O'Toole and Dale Longworth in 1990. The group is known for their European hit songs " Set You Free" and " Electronic Pleasure", and their covers of the 1970s disco songs " ...

Cascada Cascada (, Spanish language, Spanish, 'Waterfall'), is a German dance music act founded in 2004 by singer Natalie Horler and DJs/composers/ producers DJ Manian and DJ Yanou. They functioned as a trio from 2004 to 2021, with their last track ...

, Scooter,

Dannii Minogue Dannii Minogue (; born 20 October 1971) is an Australian singer, television personality, and actress. As a child, she became known for her appearances on the television talent show ''Young Talent Time'' (1982–1988). She went on to play the r ...

, Armin van Buuren,

Lost Frequencies Felix De Laet (born 30 November 1993), known by his stage name Lost Frequencies, is a Belgian DJ and record producer. He is best known for his singles " Are You with Me" in 2014, "Reality" featuring Janieck Devy in 2015, and " Where Are You No ...

N-Dubz N-Dubz are an English hip-hop trio from Camden Town, London, England, consisting of cousins Dappy and Tulisa, and their friend Fazer. After winning a MOBO Award for Best Newcomer in 2007, N-Dubz briefly signed with Polydor Records before j ...

Loud Luxury Loud Luxury are a Canadian music production and DJ duo consisting of Andrew Fedyk and Joe Depace and currently based in Los Angeles. They gained recognition for their 2017 releases "Body" and a remix of the Martin Garrix and Dua Lipa single "Sca ...

Skepta Joseph Olaitan Adenuga Jr. (born 19 September 1982), known professionally as Skepta, is a British grime MC, rapper, record producer and DJ. Alongside his younger brother Jme, he briefly joined Roll Deep before they became founding members of ...

, Starley,

Yolanda Be Cool Yolanda Be Cool are an Australian music duo made up of Andrew Stanley and Matthew Handley. History In 2010, they collaborated with Australian producer DCUP (real name Duncan MacLennan) to release an international single " We No Speak Americano" ...

, and many more. AATW also owned & operated four music TV channels;

Clubland TV Clubland TV is a British satellite free-to-air, cable and subscription Dance/Electronica genre music channel. It is based from the Clubland compilation albums. Clubland TV airs various sub-genres of dance/EDM from the 90's to the late 2010s, such ...

, and three Now Music-branded channels -

Now 70s Now 70s (formerly Channel U, Channel AKA, Massive R&B and Total Country) is a British free-to-air music television channel, owned by All Around the World Productions, available through Sky UK, Freeview (UK), Freeview and Virgin Media within the ...

Now 80s NOW 80s is a British free-to-air music television channel, focusing exclusively on playing music from the 1980s. The channel launched in its current form on 27 December 2016, initially as a temporary pop-up rebrand of Now Music, previously a con ...

and

Now 90s Now Rock is a British free-to-air music television channel, focusing exclusively on playing rock music for 10 months of the year, with a sister channel called Now 90s featuring rock hits from the 1990s available in other territories. For the oth ...

, all of which are now fully owned by Universal.

History

All Around the World

All Around the World was founded in 1991 in

, Lancashire by record store owner and former Phonogram employee Cris Nutall, who decided to team up with former BMG employee Matt Cadman to launch the label. Throughout the 1990s, AATW established an abundance of British

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

acts including

Love Decade Love Decade, a.k.a. Decadance, was an English electronic music group that was formed in 1991 by producer Peter Gill, who did the production and writing on the singles that were released during its brief career. Among its members in this project ...

, 2 Funky 2,

Bus Stop A bus stop is a place where Public transport bus service, buses stop for passengers to get on and off the bus. The construction of bus stops tends to reflect the level of usage, where stops at busy locations may have shelter (building), shelters ...

Porn Kings The Porn Kings were a British dance music group from Liverpool. Originally formed by Davy T, Paul Rowland, and Dan Evans. Davy and Dan were members of 2 Funky 2 most known for the 1993 hit Brothers and Sisters. Davy was also A member of DJs coll ...

and

- who achieved a number two UK single with their track " Set You Free" on the label in 1995. The 2000s saw the label expand under the management of John Donaghey with the signing and development of artists such as

Flip & Fill Flip & Fill are an English electronic dance music duo, based in Manchester, England, consisting of the producers/remixers, DJs Graham Turner and Mark Hall. They are signed to the Filtrate record label. Career Having released tracks since 20 ...

Ultrabeat Ultrabeat are a British electronic dance music group from Liverpool, England, formed in 2002. Originally consisting of vocalist and producer Mike "Re-Con" Di Scala and producers Ian Redman and Chris Henry, Ultrabeat emerged with their cover o ...

, Scooter,

Darren Styles Darren James Mew (born 23 May 1975), better known as Darren Styles, is an English music producer, DJ, singer and songwriter from Clacton-On-Sea, Essex. Originally a member of the breakbeat hardcore group DJ Force & the Evolution, Styles found s ...

and many more. During the early 2000s, AATW also founded the long-standing '' Clubland'' compilation album series, as well as various other branded compilation titles released in partnership with

UMTV Universal Music On Demand (UMOD) is a London-based record label owned by Universal Music Group, formed in 1998 as Universal Music TV (UMTV). UMOD specialises in producing compilation albums and occasional single releases. It was founded whe ...

/ UMOD. Other compilation series' included ''Rock the Dancefloor'', ''Floorfillers'', ''Ultimate Club Anthems'', ''Love2Club'', ''100% Chilled'', ''Ultimate NRG'' and ''Dance Mania''. In March 2008, AATW organised a series of Clubland arena events, followed by a second tour, Clubland Live 2, which took place in December 2008 and a third in 2010. In 2012, AATW became more strongly integrated with Universal's compilation division UMTV as Nuttall and Cadman became the joint Managing Directors of the division, a role which saw them overseeing the ''Pop Party'', ''Dreamboats & Petticoats'' and ''NOW'' compilation brands.

Xploded Music

In 2017, AATW founders Cris Nuttall and Matt Cadman sold the record label and Clubland branding to Universal with the duo staying on at the label for another year until their new label Xploded Music, was ready to launch. In 2018, Xploded Music launched with many of the AATW staff, including A&R Manager James Hill, keeping their roles at the new imprint, and artists such as N-Dubz and Darren Styles staying with Nuttall and Cadman as well as releasing music from new signings such as; Loud Luxury, Armin van Buuren, Sam Ryder,

Ben Nicky Ben Nicky is a British disc jockey and electronic dance music record producer from Bristol, England. Largely known as a trance music DJ, Nicky's music often covers other styles and genres. Biography Nicky is from Bristol, England, and started ...

, Timmy Trumpet, PBH & JACK, MENTIS and more. Since 2021, the AATW brand has been discontinued by Universal with the TV Channels broadcasting licences transferring fully into the hands of Universal. In 2022, late 2000s AATW-signed act N-Dubz released their comeback single after 11 years away. with the single, called "Charmer", getting the label's first Top 40 hit.

Former television channels

On 28 January 2008, All Around the World launched their own TV channel,

. The channel broadcasts official music videos and acted as a platform for emerging dance and pop music artists as well as featuring programmes focused around bygone eras. Primarily the channel broadcasts dance music videos. As of 2022, Clubland TV focuses only on throwback dance music, as the sale of AATW and the channel to UMOD meant many of the partnerships with other record labels ended, making it more difficult for the channel to have rights to play new music. All Around the World also owned three other music TV channels, branded in partnership with ''Now Music''. *

In 2017, following the sale of AATW, all of the channels were acquired by Universal, who continue to broadcast the channels on Sky and Virgin Media.

Former highlighted roster

Sigma Sigma ( ; uppercase Σ, lowercase σ, lowercase in word-final position ς; ) is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 200. In general mathematics, uppercase Σ is used as an operator ...

ATB ATB or atb may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ATB (DJ) (born 1973), German DJ and music producer * Active Time Battle, a role-playing video game mechanic * Andy Timmons Band, a band led by guitarist Andy Timmons * Atelier-Théâtre Burkinab ...

Avicii Tim Bergling (8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii, was a Swedish DJ, remixer, and record producer. At age 16, he began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first record deal. He rose ...

* Armin Van Buuren *

Abra Cadabra Aaron Philips (born 3 May 1997), known professionally as Abra Cadabra, is a British rapper and singer. He is a member of the UK drill UK drill is a subgenre of drill music and road rap that originated in the South London district of Bri ...

* Agnes *

Axwell Axel Christofer Hedfors (; born 18 December 1977), better known by his stage name Axwell, is a Swedish DJ, record producer, remixer and owner of Axtone Records. He is a member of Swedish House Mafia along with Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello ...

Alexandra Stan Alexandra Ioana Stan (born 10 June 1989) is a Romanian singer. Born in Constanța, she made her worldwide breakthrough with the 2010 single " Mr. Saxobeat", which was written and produced by Marcel Prodan and Andrei Nemirschi. They had previous ...

Basshunter Jonas Erik Altberg (; born 22 December 1984), known professionally as Basshunter, is a Swedish singer, record producer, songwriter and DJ. As indicated by his stage name, Basshunter is known for bass-heavy Eurodance music. Born and raised in Ha ...

Cash Cash Cash Cash is an American EDM-pop rock band / producer / DJ trio from Roseland, New Jersey. The group consists of three DJs / musicians: brothers Jean Paul and Alex Makhlouf and Samuel Frisch. They produce, record, mix and master all their mus ...

Dappy Costadinos Contostavlos (Greek language, Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Κοντόσταυλος; born 11 June 1987), better known by his stage name Dappy, is an English rapper, singer, songwriter and actor. He is the lead singer of the Lond ...

Icona Pop Icona Pop ( ) are a Swedish synth-pop duo that formed in 2009, with electro house and indie pop music influences. Its two members, Aino Jawo (born 7 July 1986) and Caroline Hjelt (born 8 November 1987), grew up in Stockholm and created what the ...

Liz McClarnon Elizabeth Margaret McClarnon-Cho (born 10 April 1981) is an English singer, songwriter and actress, who is the longest serving member of the girl group Atomic Kitten, with whom she has scored three number-one singles and two number-one albums. M ...

Martin Solveig Martin Laurent Picandet (; born 22 September 1976), better known by his stage name Martin Solveig (), is a French DJ, singer, songwriter and record producer. He hosts a weekly radio show called ''C'est La Vie'' on radio stations worldwide, incl ...

Professor Green Stephen Paul Manderson (born 27 November 1983), better known by his stage name Professor Green or simply Pro Green, is an English pop artist, rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, television personality and mental health activist from London. Gr ...

Pixie Lott Victoria Louise "Pixie" Lott (born 12 January 1991) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. Her debut studio album, ''Turn It Up (Pixie Lott album), Turn It Up'' (2009), reached number six on the UK Albums Chart and sold over 1.5 millio ...

Petra Marklund Petra Linnea Paula Marklund (; born 12 September 1984), known also by her previous stage name September, is a Swedish singer, songwriter, and television presenter. Marklund started recording in professional studios around the age of twelve, and ...

* Scooter *

Showtek Showtek is a Dutch electronic dance music duo consisting of two brothers from Eindhoven, Wouter Janssen (; born 20 August 1982). and Sjoerd Janssen (; born 6 April 1984). The duo regularly manages to reach the top of multiple music charts and wor ...

Sweet Female Attitude Sweet Female Attitude are an electronic music act from Manchester, England. They are known for the UK garage remix by Sunship of their track "Flowers", written by Martin Green a.k.a. Shine MC and Mike Powell, which reached number two on the ...

* Starley *

Thomas Gold Thomas Gold (May 22, 1920 – June 22, 2004) was an Austrian-born astrophysicist, who also held British and American citizenship. He was a professor of astronomy at Cornell University, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and a Fe ...

Tulisa Tula Paulinea Contostavlos (; born 13 July 1988), known professionally as Tulisa, is an English singer, songwriter, rapper, and television personality. As a part of the R&B/hip hop group N-Dubz with her cousin Dappy and friend Fazer, they ga ...

Wideboys The Wideboys are an English electronic music duo known for club remixes and for their own song "Sambuca", featuring Dennis G on vocals, which reached number 15 in the UK in October 2001. Another top 40 single, "Daddy-O" featuring Shaznay Lewis ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control British record labels English electronic dance music record labels Electronic music record labels House music record labels IFPI members Record labels established in 1991 1991 establishments in England