Armada Music

History

Armada Music was founded on 1 June 2003 by Dutch producer Armin van Buuren, Dutch business executive Maykel Piron, and music manager David Lewis. The name is an acronym containing the first two letters of each of the founders' names.

In 2022, Armada launched the investment company BEAT (Best Ever Acquired Tracks) Music Fund. The company bought Cloud9 Music a year later.

In 2023, Armada acquired New York record label King Street Sounds, their largest acquisition to date.

Sub-labels

Labels within Armada Music include:

• All I Need
• Armada Captivating
• Armada Chill
• Armada Deep
• Armada Electronic Elements
• Armada Subjekt
• Armada Trice
• Armind
• A State of Trance
• Days Like Nights
• Delecta Records
• Flashover Recordings
• InHarmony Music
• KMS Records
• Modena Records
• Slash
• Sono Music
• The Bearded Man
• Who's Afraid of 138?!

Awards and nominations

As of December 2015, the label had won the "Best Global Record Label" award for five years in a row at the International Dance Music Awards (IDMA's). Armada received two nominations at the 2014 IDMAs, and seven in 2019. The Academy of Electronic Music, a joint venture between Armada, Google, Point Blank, and DJ Mag, was the recipient of the 'People's Voice Award' at the 2014 Webby Awards. In 2016, Armada Music was one of the 21 labels nominated for the IMPALA FIVEUNDERFIFTEEN campaign shining a light on Europe's most inspiring young labels. The label received the IMPALA Young Label Spotlight Award.

References

References

1. "A night in the life". [[Time Out (company).
2. "Artists".
3. "Armada Music signs D.O.D to long-term recordings deal".
4. Szalai, Georg. (2025-04-24). "Bloom Twins, Shells and Trance Wax Sign With Armada Music Publishing".
5. (10 August 2019). "Armada: Inside the world's biggest independent dance label".
6. (2023-04-20). "Armin van Buuren's Armada Music launches $100m catalog-buying fund backed by Pinnacle Financial".
7. (2024-04-16). "Armin van Buuren's Armada forms new parent company, acquires Amsterdam's Cloud 9 Music, and targets $500m in new investments via its BEAT Music Fund".
8. "Armada's BEAT Music fund acquires publisher Cloud 9 Music".
9. Szalai, Georg. (2024-04-16). "Beat Music Fund, Part of Armin van Buuren's Armada, Buys Amsterdam Music Publisher Cloud 9".
10. (2023-06-29). "Armada’s $100m BEAT Music Fund acquires indie label King Street Sounds, and catalog of dance duo Chocolate Puma".
11. "Labels".
12. Papadatos, Markos. (10 December 2015). "Meet Maykel Piron: Co-Founder and CEO of Armada Music SPECIAL". Digital Journal.
13. "31st Annual International Dance Music Awards – Winter Music Conference 2016 – WMC 2016". Winter Music Conference.
14. (2019-02-25). "Zeven International Dance Music Awards nominaties voor Armada Music".
15. "GOOGLE, ARMADA, POINT BLANK, DJ MAG: ACADEMY OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC". Webby Awards.
16. (27 July 2020). "IMPALA Young Label Spotlight". Impala.
17. "FIVEUNDERFIFTEEN: Armada Music (The Netherlands)". The Independent Echo.