Arlo Parks and Beatnik Creative Management join the Blue Raincoat Artists family

28 February 2022 - Press release

 

Blue Raincoat Artists, the management wing of the Blue Raincoat Music Group today announced a partnership with award-winning manager Ali Raymond and his company Beatnik Creative. The Beatnik roster includes multi award winning artist and poet Arlo Parks who will join the Blue Raincoat Artists fold. 

Ali has managed Arlo since the very start of her career and won the MMF’s ‘Breakthrough Manager’ award in 2021. In November 2018 he released her first single Cola through his Beatnik Creative record label, along with her debut EPs. Arlo then signed to the independent Transgressive Records and was nominated as part of the prestigious BBC Sound of 2020 list. In just the few short years since she first uploaded her demos to BBC Introducing 21-year-old Arlo has grown to become one of the most critically acclaimed artists in the world. 

Her 2021 debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams received two nominations for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Music Album at this year’s Grammys. Arlo has won the BRIT Award for Best New Artist, received the 2021 Hyundia Mercury Prize for album of the year and won the BBC Introducing Artist Of The Year Award. Collapsed In Sunbeams reached the top 3 on the UK Album Charts and won the AIM Awards for Best Independent Album and UK Independent Breakthrough. In addition, Arlo was nominated for Breakthrough International Act at the BET Awards and was named an ambassador for both the UK mental health charity CALM and UNICEF.

Commenting on Arlo’s 2021 Mercury Prize win, judge, DJ and broadcaster Annie Mac said, “We chose an artist with a singular voice who uses lyrics of remarkable beauty … and connects deeply with her generation as she does so." 

Along with the multiple awards she received last year, Collapsed In Sunbeams was included on almost every 'Best Albums of 2021' list and received critical acclaim from the likes of The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The FADER and many more. Arlo performed singles from the album on Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, James Corden, CBS This Morning: Saturday and Ellen DeGeneres in the US, highlighting her to the millions of viewers nationwide. She also appeared on Later...With Jools Holland and The Graham Norton Show in the UK.

Her songwriting has seen her gain new fans in Billie Eilish, Florence Welch, Michelle Obama, Angel Olsen, Phoebe Bridgers, Massive Attack and renowned writer Zadie Smith, amongst many others.

Also on the Beatnik Creative roster is up and coming artist Miso Extra. Miso Extra’s single “1013” was described by Clash as “fantastic” and she recently featured on the highly prestigious NME 100: Essential emerging artists for 2022 rundown and was announced as one of The Great Escape’s coveted first 50 artists for 2022.

Jeremy Lascelles, CEO Blue Raincoat Music Group said “Ali is one of the brightest of the new generation of British managers. We clicked instantly when we first met him and found that we had so many shared values. He will be a fantastic addition to our team. And of course, he brings with him the incomparable Arlo Parks. Much praise has - rightly - been bestowed on her seminal album Collapsed in Sunbeams, but what excites me is that I believe she is just at the start of what is going to be a long and brilliant career. Her talent, her artistry and her natural charisma are a force to be reckoned with. It’s an honour to be able to welcome her and Ali into the Blue Raincoat family.”

Ali Raymond said “I’ve been an independent manager for 10 years but meeting Jeremy and Robin (Robin Millar, Chairman Blue Raincoat Group) made the decision to join a bigger family an easy choice. Their wealth of experience is something I truly admire and discovering their shared values felt like we had known each other for years. You add to that a brilliant sense of ambition, integrity and passion for artist development, it feels like a winning combination. I’m very excited to join a dynamic family of fantastic managers and artists. It’s a new chapter for Beatnik and Blue Raincoat. The sky’s the limit