Carl Hitchborn’s High Time Records signs 5 year global distribution deal with 
ADA/ Warner Music

11 July 2018 - Press release

Independent label High Time Records, founded by maverick entrepreneur Carl ‘The Baker’ Hitchborn, announced today a unique deal with ADA / Warner Music that will be a 5 year worldwide distribution partnership.

Hitchborn, who is building a trailblazing reputation for 50/50 deals that put the artist first, first signed High Time’s UK distribution to Warner Music/ADA in 2015. The UK deal established a trusted relationship that has now evolved into a new deal for global sales and distribution, as part of High Time’s long term strategic ambition. The new partnership will allow High Time to switch on full label services including PR, Radio and TV promotion, on an artist by artist and territory by territory basis.

High Time Records is a UK-based independent record label, as part of High Time Group, a disruptive startup founded by Hitchborn in 2015. Created with the founder’s ethos of challenging the status quo and innovating with the artist deal, High Time Group houses artist management, publishing, recording, live ticketing, tour promotion, merchandise, with more revenue streams in development to truly offer artists a 360 deal.

Aided by ADA/Warner Music’s UK distribution and Hitchborn’s innovative approach, High Time’s own The Hunna have enjoyed over 60,000 sales on their debut album ‘100’, 100 million streams on Spotify, over 300,000 Facebook fans, sold out shows around the world and more than 80,000 tickets sold to date. The Hunna have received huge demand on pre-sales for their highly anticipated second album ‘Dare’ (released 13^th July) and UK tour this month ending with an Alexandra Palace show in November.  Meanwhile, Coasts, Hitchborn’s first signings are finishing their 3^rd album, having achieved 40 million streams, 100,000 sales and downloads, sold out global shows with over 50,000 live tickets sold. 

High Time has embraced the changing music industry landscape by pioneering the 50/50 artist deal, innovating in social media marketing, live promoting, brand endorsement and merchandise, using data to create unique campaigns for its artists. Under Hitchborn’s leadership, High Time continues to build global followings across multiple monetised income streams, aside from traditional sales alone.

Dan Chalmers, President, ADA UK at Warner Music added: “Working together in the UK over the last few years, we’ve witnessed, first-hand, Carl’s deep-rooted sense of quality and his inherent understanding of what today’s music fan wants. He’s smart, savvy and knows how to make calculated risks that play to his advantage; a music industry pioneer in the truest sense. It’s really great to have signed this new, 5-year deal and to be working to help drive High Time further forwards, expanding their artists across the world.”  

Carl Hitchborn added “I’m delighted to extend the partnership with ADA/Warner Music to a 5-year global distribution deal and look forward to working with ADA to break HIgh Time artists on a global scale. Our successful campaigns working with the enthusiastic UK team, led me to forge a long term global partnership with Warner Music at a hugely important time in High Time’s growth. Given my strong relationship, developed over the last 4 years, with both Dan Chalmers and Max Lousada, as well as meeting with various ADA teams around the world, the excitement and enthusiasm to work with us made this deal a no brainer. High Time will soon be opening an office in LA and Sydney, with more signings and artist innovations to come, we are committed to proactively pursuing and maximising opportunities for our artists. High Time is proud to blaze a new trail for the industry.”