Sony Buys Ultra

Ultra Music – the label home to EDM acts like Deadmau5, Kaskade, David Guetta, Tiesto  and Steve Aoki – has a new owner in Sony Music.

Yet another sign of electronic music’s growing popularity, Ultra has reportedly been courted by every major music label before its execs signed on the dotted line with Doug Morris and crew.

Ultra Music President Patrick Moxey will become president of electronic music at Sony. Moxey told Financial Times his label has seen 20 percent annual growth with $30 million in income last year at a time when other record labels are losing cash.

“[EDM] has been bubbling beneath the surface for a long, long time,” Moxey told the paper, adding that when Ultra was formed in 1996 radio stations refused to play the dance music. These days, however, “dance music is a global language. A dance record sounds just as good if you’re in the Philippines as it does in the UK on Radio 1.”

Moxey said Morris and his team offer the company marketing expertise and an international distribution network.
The investment amount was undisclosed.