Liberator Music

History

Liberator Music was founded in March 2006 by Nick Dunshea, a former Shock Records employee, and Michael Gudinski, founder and chairman of the Mushroom Group, as the international recording division of the Mushroom Group. The label established joint ventures and distribution deals with international labels such as [PIAS], Glassnote Records, Infectious Music, S-Curve, Norman Cook's Southern Fried Records, and Partisan Records, as well as direct artist signings for Australia and New Zealand including CHVRCHES, Garbage, Dizzee Rascal, Kaiser Chiefs, and Childish Gambino. In 2007, the company entered into a 50/50 joint venture with European record company [PIAS]. In early 2013, [PIAS] acquired Cooperative Music and the Coop-owned V2 Records label from Universal Music Group, forming [PIAS] Cooperative, which gave Liberator Music exclusive rights to the catalogue in Australia and New Zealand. After nearly ten years, the partnership ended on 23 January 2017 when [PIAS] acquired Australian label Inertia Music. Garbage, who had originally signed to Mushroom Records in 1995 for their debut single 'Vow', signed with Liberator Music on 18 November 2011, with the label taking control of the band's catalogue and future recordings; the first new album released via Liberator Music was Not Your Kind Of People. Childish Gambino's debut album Camp was released on 15 November 2011 through Liberator Music, followed by because the internet on 10 December 2013, the mixtape STN MTN on 2 October, the EP Kauai the following day, and 'Awaken, My Love!' on 2 December 2016. As part of a Mushroom Group restructure in July 2024, Liberator Music and other labels were consolidated into a new division called Mushroom Music.