PMR BROS JOIN VIRGIN EMI

The brothers behind tastemaker British label PMR Records, Ben and Daniel Parmar, have been tapped as co-Presidents of A&R at UMG U.K. label Virgin EMI. As part of the deal, PMR will become a partner label of Virgin EMI.

The Parmars have a long history with UMG — Ben spent seven years as an A&R scout for Polydor, where he worked with Klaxons and La Roux, before founding PMR in 2010, which has been a subsidiary of Island Records. Prior to PMR, Daniel worked in TV production.

Acts they’ve had a hand in developing include Disclosure and Jessie Ware, who have sold more than 5m albums worldwide, and Two Inch Punch, Cyril Hahn and producer T. Williams. In addition, PMR's management arm has looked after Jai Paul, Julio Bashmore and Two Inch Punch. Their current label roster includes SG Lewis and Amber Mark.

Ben and Daniel join Virgin EMI following the exit of former SVP of A&R, Nick Burgess, who was named co-President of Warner label Parlophone in January.

Discussing his new hires, Virgin EMI boss Ted Cockle said: “Having been there at the formation of PMR, which came along and reshaped British dance music, I’m delighted to be here again to see it go a stage further. Ben and Daniel are taste dictators who will add further cultural and creative vigour to Virgin EMI.”

Ben Parmar said: “PMR has been an amazing ride so far, but we’re really excited by the prospect of scaling things up as part of a label with the global weight and influence of Virgin EMI. Their legacy and Britishness really sang to us and something feels very right about bringing our entrepreneurial spirit, energy and vision to a bigger, frontline operation.”

Daniel added: “We have always been super ambitious at PMR and the success of Disclosure gave us a taste of how to break an artist globally. We’re looking forward to doing even more of that as part of Virgin EMI, bringing everything we’ve learnt building PMR from the ground up to the absolute powerhouse of Universal.”

Pictured above: Daniel Parmar, Ted Cockle and Ben Parmer