Believe, one of the world's leading digital music companies, acquired a 25% stake in Global Records, a top independent record label founded in 2008 by Romanian Ștefan Lucian. Global Records represents top artists such as INNA, Minelli, Carla's Dreams, Antonia, Holy Molly, DJ Project, Irina Rimes, and more, and is on its active route to global expansion. 

Romania-based Global Records secured physical presence in Germany, but also in US via the Honua Music Group subsidiary, a division created following Global Record's acquisition of independent US music publisher Honua Music.

The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals, according to RTPR, which has assisted Global Records and Ștefan Lucian in the deal.

"I would like to thank RTPR for their dedication in this transaction. Very commercial, very involved, […] we managed to close a record deal for the Romanian music industry," declared Ștefan Lucian, founder and CEO of Global Records.

This strategic partnership with Global Records falls in line with Believe's blueprint strategy to focus on music genres where artist development and music consumption are digital, Believe said in a press release. 

"This alliance is set to further accelerate Global Records' growth and allow it to become a global leader, by bringing together Believe's successful track record of developing digital friendly music genres across multiple geographies and unrivaled capacity to scale and grow local businesses, and Global Records' powerful full-service model and A&R capacities in dance music," reads the statement.

In 2023, Global Records cumulated over 6 billion streams across all platforms and over 20 billion streams for its global catalogue to date, making it "the biggest independent music company in CEE."

According to the same source, dance music is one of the fastest-growing and few global digital music genres today. It constitutes a massive market with high potential and worldwide audiences, now valued at USD 11.8 billion.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Korn Vitthayanukarun/Dreamstime.com)