Sony U.K.’s artist label and services division, RED, helmed by Ian Dutt, has acquired the Cooking Vinyl-owned independent sales and marketing firm, Essential Music & Marketing. The two will merge to form Red Essential, aiming to provide a "gold standard for worldwide access to market" for indie labels with the global scale of a major, based at Cooking Vinyl’s London offices.

Dutt and Essential founder Mike Chadwick will assume the roles of Co-Managing Directors.

Launched in 2014, Red has enjoyed success with campaigns for artists, including Run The Jewels, Lower Than Atlantis and The Cribs, alongside its hub of labels, namely Kitsune, Downtown, Easy Life, Red Bull Records and Mass Appeal.

Key milestones from Essential Music & Marketing in recent times include campaigns for The Prodigy, Passenger, Marilyn Manson, JME, Embrace, Seth Lakeman, Ghetts, Royksopp, Skepta and Lucinda Williams.

“This new agreement is good for Cooking Vinyl, good for RED, good for Essential and good for the independent community,” shared Cooking Vinyl Group Chairman Martin Goldschmidt. Dutt has plans to create “a forward-thinking company that can service the needs of a fast-evolving marketplace.” He noted, “[We] view this deal as an alliance, as a marriage of equals with both parties bringing a lot to the table.”

“Together we can work on incredible music, bring together some amazing people, focus our resources and combine the best elements of what both our companies have developed over the years, whilst also looking to the future,” Chadwick concluded.