Phil Hopwood to Up The Rock at Cooking Vinyl

Phil Hopwood is to join Cooking Vinyl to strengthen and expand their rock & metal roster, ahead of some key signings and releases in 2012.

Phil joins as Repertoire & Product Manager on January 3 2012.  With a brief that extends from an enviable release schedule - including 2012 releases from rock legends The Cult and Marilyn Manson - to signing tomorrow’s hottest new upstarts, Phil’s appointment confirms Cooking Vinyl’s ambitions to push at the barriers at the front of the A&R moshpit.Phil’s appointment follows two years at EMI Music as Artist Merchandise Manager, a decade as a freelance label manager/ consultant and nine years at Vital / [PIAS] - over which time he has developed an enviable contact network.  During his tenure at Vital, Phil saw the company evolve from APT to the merger with Revolver to form Vital, where he worked alongside Vital MD Mike Chadwick (MD of Cooking Vinyl sister company Essential Music & Marketing).  He has known Cooking Vinyl founder Martin Goldschmidt for an equally long time.As well as signing bands, Phil will be drawing on his recent merchandising role at EMI to develop a rights management approach at the label, enabling artists to fully exploit all available income streams.Beyond consolidating Cooking Vinyl’s rock & metal credentials, Hopwood will also assist Essential Music & Marketing, both in signing labels to their roster and with up and coming talent, such as rock bruisers Dragonforce.  He will also be signposting writers to Cooking Vinyl Publishing.Said Phil of his appointment “It’s exciting to go back to guys I’ve known for years, where I’ll be using my contacts and knowledge to ensure they are fully connected with the rock community at all levels.   We’ll be expanding the label’s spectrum of the rock/ metal signings and developing rights with artists as well as passing publishing opportunities on to Cooking Vinyl Publishing.  Cooking Vinyl and Essential are very artist-focused companies, and I look forward to helping them find the right acts and labels for their rosters”Cooking Vinyl founder Martin Goldschmidt added, “We’re excited to have someone with Phil’s knowledge and passion to help Cooking Vinyl realise our rock ambitions.  We’ve known Phil for many years, and it’s great to have him join the team” www.cookingvinyl.com About Cooking Vinyl RecordsCooking Vinyl has developed a reputation as one of Europe’s prime artist-focused independent labels, inspiring an enviable loyalty among its artist roster. It is also in the vanguard of music companies offering innovative services-only deals that claim no stake in artists’ copyrights.Cooking Vinyl take full responsibility for the management of a project, whether functioning as a label or in a services-only setting. Adding more than just marketing muscle, Cooking Vinyl devise and implement worldwide sales, marketing and distribution plans for their artists, working alongside booking agents and artist managers.