Believe and Australian management company Immortal Music Group (IMG) have launched a heavy music label to develop acts from Australia and New Zealand for international audiences. The label takes IMG’s name and operates within the management company.
The partnership pairs IMG’s artist management experience with Believe’s global distribution network, local market knowledge, data-driven technology and international artist development resources.
The label will begin with a selected roster of priority releases while also developing a wider pipeline of emerging artists.
Its first release arrived in August, an EP (extended play) from Brisbane hardcore act ZUKO. Reliqa is scheduled to release next through the label.
Chris O’Brien, Head Promoter at Destroy All Lines, and Josh Smith founded IMG in 2019, initially as Open Door Management. Smith is also a member of Northlane.
The company’s Australian artist roster includes:
- Northlane
- Make Them Suffer
- In Hearts Wake
- RinRin
- Yours Truly
Mick Tarbuk, Believe’s Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand, described the arrangement as a joint development effort: “we’re not simply providing distribution, we’re building something together.”
Tarbuk said the partnership would combine IMG’s artist relationships, creative vision and genre expertise with Believe’s infrastructure, technology and market knowledge to support artists beyond Australia.
