About the AD Music Record Label

Put simply, our musical artists explore electronic music, new age, melodic & rhythmic chill out styles, with the occasional ambient and ethnic influences.

But what you will also find is music that doesn't follow trends or the latest musical styles, but exists in its own right, simply as a unique and personal musical statement. That "uniqueness" is what gives our music its longevity. It's that "secret ingredient", if you like, that has allowed the label to survive the ever changing, fickle music business and to continue to expand both its catalogue, and its fan base.

More and more people are discovering AD Music. So, if you're already aware of David Wright, Robert Fox, Code Indigo, Bekki Williams, Callisto etc, you've already discovered the rich musical worlds they have to offer. If you haven't, then explore further. You may be more than just a little surprised and pleased at what you find.

A.D. Music - A Brief History. May 2005

In 1995 David Wright and close friend Dave Mantripp along with Elaine Hill (later to become Elaine Wright) established AD Music as a Limited Company with its own Publishing company, FX Media Publishing. (pictured - David & Elaine 2000, Robert Fox 2004)

The musical territory in which AD Music operated was described by the company as "electronic, experimental and esoteric", indicating just how difficult it was, (and still is!), to pigeonhole. It invented the term 'Evolutionary Ambient', which, while still vague, better represented what the label offered.

Much of, although not all the catalogue at the time, followed in the tradition of European Electronic Music, building on, rather than emulating the styles typified by such exponents as Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, Kitaro and Jean Michael Jarre.

However, it also presented new music that crossed over into other musical territories, i.e. ambient, trance, electro/gothic, synth rock. Early examples of these are the Wright/Fox ambient band Code Indigo, Chicago based band Witchcraft and California based Jan Hanford.

AD Music Ltd launched with a major electronic music festival at Derby Assembly Rooms in May 1996, headlined by special guest Klaus Schulze (courtesy of David Wright’s connection with KD Mueller & POEM Musikverlag). Also appearing were Code Indigo, Mazlyn Jones & Guy Evans, Bekki Williams and Chris Harvey.

Over the next few years AD Music continued to define its own vision of electronic music, building a solid reputation with numerous high quality, critically acclaimed albums. The talented roster of artists grew to include Israel based Raviv Gazit, Romanian Catalin Marin and UK based Robert de Fresnes.

A strong web presence (AD Music was one of the first UK labels to have a web site!), licensing through good Publishing connections, strong promotion in the USA, Italy and Holland plus a series of prestigious concerts in the UK and Germany by key artists, helped considerably to raise the labels profile.

During the early 2000's AD Music continued to evolve and redefine its musical style, releasing increasingly mature albums that also explored more commercial areas, such as trance, dance and chill-out.

AD Music also evolved as a company. In 2001 it relocated to the Suffolk market town of Bungay, delimiting and changing its management structure in 2003. Elaine Wright & Lynn Rutter administer the day to day running of the company, while Dave Massey took over Dave Mantripp's roll in charge of label art and design. By 2005 all art, design, promotion and web design & hosting was carried out "in house".

This period of consolidation also saw the departure of several artists. Robert de Fresnes left in 2003, while Jan Hanford and Chris Harvey left in 2004. However, new additions to the roster were Callisto, Ashok Prema, Dave Massey and The Kobalt Project.

By 2005, thanks to the network of contacts established over the years, music from the AD Music catalogue was being licensed for compilations regularly worldwide. The AD Music catalogue had increased to over 50 titles, available globally via all major internet and digital outlets.