Best Music Businesses in Liverpool

From inspiring artists to brilliant venues, the city of Liverpool is a home for music of all sounds and styles. 

As key pillars of the local industry ecosystem, there are also plenty of music businesses that call Liverpool home, including studios, record shops, music publishers and more. 

With ICMP now launching undergraduate music courses in Liverpool, including a BA in Music Business and Entrepreneurship, here's our overview of some of the best and most exciting music industry businesses in Merseyside.

Sentric Music

Sentric Music formed in 2006 as an independent music publisher with ambitions to disrupt the traditional publishing sector. The aims of the company were to offer a fairer deal and empower artists and songwriters to collect royalties they were owed.

With 400,000 artists now among its roster, Sentric calls Liverpool home alongside locations around the world, including New York, London and Spain. 

Some of its eclectic roster features electronic music producer Mark Knight, Iraina Mancini (pictured above) and heavy metal band Bleed from Within. 

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Probe Records

As you might imagine, Liverpool is blessed with plenty of inspiring and well-informed record shops. From Dig Vinyl and Defend Vinyl in the suburbs of Smithdown Road to the newly opened Rough Trade, there are a multitude of spots for all your vinyl needs. 

Perhaps the most iconic and important is Probe, a haven for music and counter culture since it opened in 1971. Described by famed Liverpool music writer Paul Du Noyer as "the semi-official control room of Liverpool music", it's been the location for the birth of various sounds over the years including the infamous post-punk scene of the early eighties. The likes of Pete Burns, Paul Rutherford from Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Pete Wylie are all believed to have served behind the counter. 

Despite numerous re-locations for the shop and the recent passing of original co-founder Geoff Davies, its influence and legacy lives on. 

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Cream 

Cream is perhaps one of the most successful dance music brands of all time, a business that emerged as a nightclub before evolving into a global powerhouse with festivals, merch, compilations and events taking place all around the world. 

Initially launched as a club at the now demolished Nation, the venture was first set up in 1992 by promoters and DJs Darren Hughes, James Barton and Andy Carroll, running house nights. 

The club, which welcomed many of dance music's greats to grace its turntables, subsequently closed in 2002 and grew into the successful Creamfields brand, a dance music festival which is hosted all around the world.

It's also seen the launch of Cream Classical, an event that features a live orchestra performing electronic music classics. Cream was acquired by Live Nation in 2012 and founder James Barton is an increasingly revered figure. He was dubbed the 'most important' person in the world in electronic dance music in 2024 by Rolling Stone magazine. 

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Dorothy 

If you're a fan of music and art or culture, then you'll likely have come into contact with the creative visions of Liverpool-based studio Dorothy.

While their works are not just limited to music, the business is staffed by a team of music lovers with many of their most loved prints and visuals influenced and inspired by DJs, bands, and nightclubs. 

Their prints map out different music scenes and styles with the 'Rock and Roll Love Blueprint', a history of rock music mapped out on the circuit board of a guitar amplifier. 

The 'Acid House Love Blueprint'​ is a history of dance music and rave culture mapped out on the circuit diagram of a 303 bass synthesizer. Many of these prints are stocked around the world while Dorothy also collaborates with music brands including Rough Trade and Moog. 

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The Jacaranda

The Jacaranda is many things in Liverpool and a vital business for supporting emerging and established musical talent.

The venue first opened in the fifties and provided a platform for Merseybeat talent. It is believed to have been the location for the first-ever performance from the original Beatles line up. 

The venue on Slater Street continues to be an important one with open mic and jam nights alongside clubs and appearances from touring acts. A record store is located above the venue while a new space was opened in the Baltic - so far, this new, more intimate venture has hosted shows by acts including the Kaiser Chiefs, The Libertines, Jess Glynne, and Travis. 

FKA Twigs and Father John Misty are some of the most recent guests to appear and meet fans at the Jacaranda Baltic too. 

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EVOL

EVOL is a group of live music promoters, who've been active in Liverpool for more than 20 years.

Initially starting out in 2003, the first EVOL events were located at Heebie Jeebies before moving to legendary Liverpool nightclub, Korova. Founded by Danny Hunt, Reuben Wu, and Steven Miller (aka Revo Ziganda), the club night has hosted some of the biggest names in alternative and electronic music.

The likes of The xx, Arctic Monkeys, Metronomy and Hot Chip all performed in their early days; and more recently huge artists like Fontaines DC and Courtney Barnett have all visited Liverpool thanks to the brand. 

Events are now hosted in various venues around the city including the Arts Club, Kazimier Stockroom and Rough Trade Liverpool. 

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Pirate Studios 

Pirate is a global network of DJ, production, rehearsal, podcast and dance studios, giving musicians, DJs and producers round the clock access to work on their creations. Located on Regent Street in Liverpool's city centre, Pirate is fully self-serviced with artists able to pay by the hour for using the spaces. 

Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned pro, the Merseyside studios are a great place to create, write, produce, practice and mix without any distractions.

In Liverpool there are 15 affordable spaces up for grabs for artists and music-makers, making Pirate an essential cog in the machinery of the city's music scene.

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Ditto Music 

Located on the cusp of the Baltic Triangle, Ditto Music is a global music distribution company with an office in Merseyside. 

AJ Tracey, Big Zuu and Myles Smith are among the list of talents who have utilised Ditto Music's services to get their music into the ears of a global audience. The platform enables artists to release music on streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music, retain all royalties from the use of their music while tracking the performance of their work in a dedicated app. 

The company is always looking to expand into new regions while overhaul its offering. Its latest product is a new AI audio mastering tool aimed at emerging artists. Those looking to work with the company can access different service plans no matter what stage of their career they're at. 

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The Motor Museum Studio 

Set in a beautiful well-lit warehouse in the heart of Sefton Park in South Liverpool, The Motor Museum is one of Liverpool's most iconic recording studio.

The studio's ethos is a simple and inspiring one - to create remarkable music productions that help advance the careers of the artists who utilise the space to work and record. 

An over 30-year legacy has shaped the careers of some of the UK's brightest talents including The 1975, Bring Me The Horizon, Oasis, The Arctic Monkeys and Jake Bugg.

The studio is owned by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's (OMD's) Andy McCluskey and is now home to producer Al Groves and engineer Bob Mackenzie.

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