Epitaph Joins Forces With Cooking Vinyl Australia In New Label Services Deal

The stalwart Australian arms of indie icons Epitaph Records and Cooking Vinyl are uniting for a new label-services partnership to better serve the local market, with the latter welcoming Epitaph legend Dave Jiannis to the new role of Senior Product Manager as a result.

According to a statement from the companies, Epitaph's local and New Zealand distribution will remain with existing partner ADA, with the new deal instead providing dedicated marketing and promotional services for key releases on both Epitaph and sister label ANTI-.

The move comes with the resounding blessing, excitement and endorsement of Epitaph/ANTI- general manager Dave Hansen, Cooking Vinyl Australia co-managing directors Stu Harvey and Leigh Gruppetta, and Jiannis himself.

"We are really looking forward to our new partnership with Cooking Vinyl and our continued partnership with ADA and the Warner Music Group," Hansen said. "We have had a great relationship with both Stu and Leigh for years and are excited to work together with them to promote our music in Australia. 

"This partnership will allow Dave Jiannis to continue working with Epitaph artists, as well as give him the opportunity to work with Cooking Vinyl to help develop and break their artists. At the same time, Epitaph will benefit from the Cooking Vinyl team working to promote our records."

Added Harvey: "Epitaph is one of the world's truly great independent music companies. I've been a fan of the label for over 25 years now, originally for the music (they've released some of the best punk rock albums of all time!) but I am equally a fan of their attitude to artists and their team. 

"These are philosophies we share and look to emulate in how we do business at Cooking Vinyl Australia. Over many years Leigh and I have developed strong friendships with the Epitaph team, both locally and in the LA office, we are thrilled to announce our new partnership and welcome Dave Jiannis to the Cooking Vinyl family."

The trio of companies has seen broad success for several of their releases over the past couple of years: Epitaph nabbed a #1 ARIA Albums Chart result for A Day To Remember's Bad Vibrations, picking up top-10 debuts for I Killed The Prom Queen, Refused, Millencolin and Falling In Reverse; ANTI- has continued its good work in uncovering buzzworthy acts and lifting them to new heights — previous success stories include the likes of The Milk Carton Kids, Son little, Andy Shauf and more — and Cooking Vinyl Australia helped steer Parkway Drive's Ire to a #1 ARIA debut, subsequently becoming the country's highest-selling rock release of 2015.

Jiannis will report directly to Harvey and Gruppetta in his new role, working on releases across all three labels. As you would expect from the kind of history the labels boast, it'll be a challenging position, to be sure, but one for which Jiannis is perfectly suited, and keen to get started.

"I'm very much looking forward to the new partnership between Epitaph and the experienced and passionate team at Cooking Vinyl Australia as I see great parallels in the way both labels work and represent their artists," he said in a statement.

For more information, see Cooking Vinyl Australia's website.