Milky Chance relaunches self-owned label Muggelig with 100-person global marketing team

While most musicians build toward the goal of signing with a major label to accelerate the peak of their careers, German duo Milky Chance (aka Clemens Rehbein and Philipp Dausch) have boldly announced their move toward total independence. In an effort to exercise more autonomy, flexibility, and control, the high school friends turned alt-pop standouts have assembled a personalized team of industry veterans and trailblazers to see their vision through. It’s a move that’s been a long time coming since their breakout 2014 single “Stolen Dance” which became one of the decade’s smash hits and was named #20 on Billboard’s list of the Biggest Alternative Songs of All Time. Their last single, 2020’s “Don’t Let Me Down,” already has over 55 million streams and went Top 15 in Germany, Top 20 in the US, and Top 30 in Canada at radio. Now bigger than ever before with over five billion career streams - 900 million in 2020 alone - and a slew of global headline tours in the process, they’re prepared to take a leap of faith for their next album which will fully realize their creative direction and bring them closer to fans in the process.

Philipp explains, “Clemens moved to Berlin during the pandemic, making it the first time we were based in the same place in years. It allowed us to go back to our roots and write together in the studio, rather than sending music back and forth. When we played our team what we’d come up with, we got incredible feedback. We knew we had to make a big step.”

Clemens adds, “When we looked at the different opportunities available to us, independence made the most sense. Not only because of the usual things people talk about like maintaining ownership, but because we knew it would allow us to do things the way our fans wanted. We could superserve them.”

The first piece of the Milky Chance puzzle is Wasted Talent Entertainment, the duo’s Berlin based management company since 2014. Now part of the fully independent team, the career strategists are afforded the opportunity to align their marketing with the band’s goals and fully explore avenues like reimagining touring in 2022. Milky Chance’s move also allows them the opportunity to emphasize their label home since 2016, Muggelig Records, which gave them a newfound confidence to move toward self-determination.

Wasted Talent’s Björn Deparade explains, “We’re excited for the next phase of our partnership with Milky Chance because the band has never been more motivated to take control of their own career. It has always been a pleasure to work with such creative and down to earth artists but now it seems like we can grow even stronger together whilst developing in the directions that only the band feels they want to move.”

Muggelig Records' GM Rob Steiger notes, “Muggelig is putting trust in long term partners like Wasted Talent and is excited to work with new and motivated teams around the world. We’re proud to be working with Ansatz Music Group as our holistic marketing partner and Believe as our distribution partner because we believe their global-focused approaches will be game changers for the label’s work and Milky Chance’s career. We are very much looking forward to this new chapter having aligned some of the industry’s best partners behind the goal of continuing and building on the successes of Milky Chance’s great career.”

Milky Chance have enlisted global marketing experts Ansatz Music Group, a team best known for their work with Major Lazer and Petit Biscuit. With an established non-traditional and holistic approach, they partner with entrepreneurial artists to empower them to maintain ownership of their work bringing the global vision of a major while providing the creative, entrepreneurial, and independent drive of an indie. Founded in January 2021 by Eric Fritschi, former Head of Artist Partnerships at mtheory (and previously GM at Nettwerk Music Group and VP of Marketing at Warner Bros. Records), the company is also steered by VP of Marketing Emily Williams who previously held senior marketing roles at mtheory and Downtown Records. Ansatz has helped assemble a marketing team with over 100 global members to demonstrate that independence does not necessarily equal DIY - there’s a wealth of dedicated talent united behind Milky Chance’s mission.

Fritschi explains, “When we first joined the project, we encouraged the team to take a step back and approach the band’s entire career with a more strategically integrated perspective. Everything works together -- digital platforms, recommendation engines, traditional global marketing, touring, etc. Our first objective was to lean into the existing fans knowing that they will be the key to unlock success in streaming and touring. The next step is to build a global strategy to amplify that momentum.”

Williams offers further context for the Ansatz approach as she adds, “Regional territories work together too, so we’ve put together a wide-ranging team across 30 markets including radio, press, advertising, commissioned content, sports, and lifestyle marketing. Each territory needs its own approach to drive a local story that builds back into our global strategy. This is also why we’re thrilled to have Believe as our distribution partner for Milky Chance. We know from our work together on other projects that they’ve been investing in regional teams and understand that local marketing is global marketing.”

The Milky Chance team is rounded out by Paris-based digital music company Believe. With top shelf clients ranging from Cr2 Records to Crucast, the team specializes in digital strategies that facilitate global success stories, utilizing technology and analytics to help develop independent artists and labels at every stage of their career. As the music market continues to change, they’re prepared to take advantage of this transformation to maximize the development of Milky Chance in the digital world.

Believe CEO Denis Ladegaillerie enthuses, “We’re thrilled that Milky Chance has partnered with us in going independent. We know we can bring immense value to Milky Chance because we can continue to add localized fans to their worldwide success story.”

With an immense, skillfully driven lineup behind them, Milky Chance are prepared to tackle new music in 2021 and focus on the bigger picture beyond. Their first single under their new structure, “Colorado,” is out June 17 via Muggelig Records.