The [PIAS] Entertainment Group was founded in 1982 by Kenny Gates and Michel Lambot and is one of Europe´s leading independent entertainment companies. It provides the definitive marketing, sales, distribution and licensing solution offering a highly professional and flexible service for music, film, comedy and sport repertoire on an international basis.
Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, the [PIAS] Entertainment Group supplies a broad range of highly professional services for leading repertoire owners across both physical and digital routes to market.
The group has significant operations in the UK, France, Netherlands, Spain, Germany, and Ireland.
In addition to its local operations [PIAS] Entertainment Group has an international network of partners that enables it to offer its services on a truly global basis.
[PIAS] Entertainment Group owns premium repertoire via its [PIAS] Recordings, [PIAS] Visuals, [PIAS] Comedy and publishing operations. It also has significant interests in the record label Wall of Sound, the DVD company Twin Pics and mobile specialist company Indie Mobile.
About [PIAS] Comedy
[PIAS] Comedy was launched 5 years ago in the Benelux as a special imprint to release comedy related content on all available formats through the existing [PIAS] distribution network. Today [PIAS] Comedy is a uniquely positioned, full service comedy company within the [PIAS] Group offering a wide range of services as sales and distribution of DVD’s, TV sales, digital distribution, mobile distribution and activities including production of live shows, live promotion and TV sales.
[PIAS] comedy has released some of the biggest stand up comedy artists in the Benelux including Theo Maassen, Najib Amhali, JanJaap vd Wal, Alex Agnew, Wouter Deprez among many others.
The phenomenal success of the initial comedy releases on DVD and CD, very soon established [PIAS] Comedy as the market leader in the Benelux. [PIAS] Comedy decided to expand its activities to production of live Comedy shows, artist representation and touring. Last year [PIAS] Comedy organized the Amsterdam Comedy Festival with nationwide media coverage. The 2-day festival had a line up including some of the biggest Dutch, Belgian and English speaking comedians and did sell out on both days.
Apart from continuously expanding its successful roster of Benelux comedians, [PIAS] Comedy started to sign and work with some of the biggest names in stand-up comedy from the US, UK and Australia including its first international release by Pablo Francisco. The first major success however was the Sparks of Insanity DVD by US stand-up comedian Jeff Dunham.
The Jeff Dunham release also was the first DVD to be released by [PIAS] Comedy across Europe and in Australia and South Africa throughout the [PIAS] Entertainment Group´s international marketing, sales and distribution network. A ringtone for mobile phones featuring Jeff Dunham´s Achmed the Dead Terrorist routine, produced and marketed by [PIAS] Comedy and the [PIAS] group´s mobile division, was a major commercial success and the biggest ringtone hit in Europe last summer.
The philosophy of [PIAS] Comedy puts the artist at the centre of each project, strategically developing the artist´s profile in the relevant markets or on an international level. We strongly believe in building long term artist profiles and developing multiple revenue streams through marketing and promotion. That sets us apart from other companies who focus on the content rather than the content provider i.e. the artist.
This philosophy comes from our background and the experience of the [PIAS] Entertainment Group who have been working with performing artists for more than 25 years. Comedy is the new Punk!!