For music lovers, by music lovers.
Impressed Recordings was founded and is helmed by expat Brit, and former UMG Exec and Apple Music ANZ Lead, Luke Bevans.
The 100% independent record label was largely inspired by the impassioned social media call-out by rising First Nations hip hop star Tasman Keith after he missed out on ARIA Award recognition (Australian Recording Industry Association) for his debut record A Colour Undone.
Keith didn't have the funds to pay for vinyl pressings, and the ARIA charts are calculated with a weighted formula which places higher value on sales of physical products such as vinyl, CDs and cassettes.
Most Australian artists debuts on ARIA top 50 albums chart are fuelled by vinyl sales as opposed to their streams.
This inspired Bevans to create an independent company that was a lighthouse for independent artists and offered an opportunity to press their vinyl, and collect a full royalty for their work.
Impressed has, since launching in November 2023, pressed records by Australian artists such as Royel Otis, Birds of Tokyo, Chet Faker, Fisher, Elsy Wameyo, The Terrys, and The Wiggles and, as well as host of other independent artists including those from outside Australia who require label services and want to sell vinyl, including Fink, Nick Mulvey and Emma-Jean Thackray. They’ve also worked with UMG, AWAL, Future Classic and ABC Music amongst others to press vinyl for the Australian market.
Impressed isn't rooted in one genre, just in a love of great music and its ability to be pressed on vinyl, and artists to be compensated for their work.
Impressed has started signing artists directly, their first direct signing being the first new music by Australian music icons Jet in 15 years - the single ‘Hurry Hurry’.
Since then, and with a growing management roster too, they have signed a few select and diverse artists.
Impressed is distributed physically worldwide by Republic of Music and digitally via Australian distributors, Xelon.
We're not just another record label or record store - we manufacture the overwhelming majority of our vinyl records for sale ourselves in direct collaboration with the artist.
We believe in supporting local musicians visions for their work, not just musically but their whole overall creative vision, including physical vinyl and its packaging. We strictly work with artists who have a strong and unique vision for the music they are releasing into the world - in a time when thousands of songs are uploaded onto streaming everyday - we work with artists who want to create something special, memorable and with the legs to stand out in this noisy streaming world.
We work closely creatively with each individual artist to create a beautiful, meaningful and interesting physical representation of their album. It's not just the highest quality sonic pressing (though this is always our first box to tick) it's also creating a story of their album through colours, patterns, vinyl techniques, graphic design, exclusive photography, booklets and live instore gigs and tours - it's an overall presentation of how each artist sees their specific music vision coming to life physically.
No shade to anyone - each to their own - but that's why you won't see any bulk-buy Taylor Swift records for sale here.
We’re always transparent about how much a record will cost - both to you and the artist - and we’re passionate about (and personally responsible for) making sure that the artist and songwriters are paid for their art. Simply put, we want to make unique, quality vinyl records by artists we love, and share them with the wider public.
As we're based in Sydney, Australia, we concentrate on making records for Australian artists - or for overseas artists that we love coming into Australia.
