Photo courtesy of Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group has announced that it has acquired a minority stake in Croatian independent music company Dancing Bear Music.
The agreement provides Dancing Bear recording artists with access to the infrastructure of ADA, Warner Music's global distribution and label services division, and the opportunity to upstream and sign with Warner Music's global roster. The agreement also includes renewed licensing agreements covering Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and North Macedonia.
Warner Music has worked closely with Dancing Bear for almost 30 years, and Dancing Bear has acted as Warner Music's licensee in Croatia since 1996. Sister company Dancing Bear Publishing also acts as local agent for Warner Chappell Music, the music publishing division of Warner Music Group.
Dancing Bear was founded in 1990 and is one of the oldest and largest record companies in Croatia. The label has released music by some of the most important artists from Croatia and the region, including Dalmatino, Dino Dvornik, Daleka Obara, Darko Lundek, Hradno Pivo, Kojoti, Kawasaki 3P, Zdenka Kovaček, Golibor, Vlado Karember & Srebrna Krila, Alen Vitasovic, Ivrica Jušić, Majke, Gustafi, The Bambi Molesters, Baba Yaga and many more.
Some of the releases by these artists are considered some of the most important and iconic records in Croatian and regional music history, and their success has contributed to the growth of the industry over the past four decades. Some of Dancing Bear's past releases and artists include The Bambi Molesters and The Strange, who have reached fans beyond the region and achieved international success.
The label's biggest hit is Dalmatino, a band formed in 1998 by Ivo Jagnic and Zdravko Sunara. With decades of support from Dancing Bear, the band has amassed over 250 million streams and regularly outsells Croatian artists globally in both digital and physical formats. While Dancing Bear has successfully penetrated the now-established local streaming market, it also continues to support the cherished traditional mediums of vinyl and CDs, offering a wide range of local and international records in multiple stores across the country.
“This investment by Warner Music shows their confidence in the future of music in the Western Balkans,” added Silvier Varga, co-founder and managing director of Dancing Bear. “We look forward to working together to take our existing artists' music to the world and unearth the next generation of local talent.”
“We are thrilled to expand our agreement with Dancing Bear, who has an incredible reputation as a major industry player in the region,” added Izabela Ciszek-Podziemska, general manager, Warner Music South East Europe. “We are already working on a joint release in the EDM space and look to expand our cooperation in the coming months.”
The move marks Warner Music's latest expansion in southeastern Europe, following the launch of EDM label Balkan Electro in April 2024. Warner Music also acquired a minority stake in Slovenian independent label NIKA in March 2024 and purchased a minority stake in Serbian label Mascom in October 2022.