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Bose joins the record label game but promises not to rob artists
June 24, 2026
- Audio brand Bose is working to establish a music label.
- Its CMO recently revealed in an interview that the company does not want to compete with the Big Three of music recording.
- Instead, it wants to help budding artists and use their music for its own promotions in exchange for promoting them.
- Bose says it won’t own master recordings or prevent artists from collaborating with other labels.
Over the last six decades that the audio brand Bose has existed, it has been largely limited to consumer products, the most popular of which are its headphones, as well as home and PA system speakers. Even with instances of dabbling with other products, such as AR glasses or earbuds for better sleep, the foundation has been based on learnings within its wheelhouse of acoustics and noise cancellation. But now it wants to leverage those learnings to explore the uncharted waters of music production — mostly the business side of it.
Bose recently launched a new venture called Bose Studios, its first step away from leaning on campaigns and partners to help sell products and toward self-reliance. And it doesn’t stop there. In a recent interview with Business Insider (via The Verge), Bose’s chief marketing whiz Jim Mollica broke the news of the audio brand pivoting to audio creation through its new Studios enterprise. The plan is to graduate into an established record label, especially for small and emerging artists, with the objective of saving licensing costs when Bose needs fresh music to promote its products. Thank goodness it’s not just using AI to rip off artists!
Mollica says Bose doesn’t plan to compete with the three big labels in the US — Sony, Universal, and Warner. But at the same time, the company plans to help produce music for original TV series and movies involving “some legendary Hollywood names.” Along with movies, Bose also wants to venture into producing YouTube videos, podcasts, and help hold live events.
Following the founder Amar Bose’s path of philanthropy (Bose donated the majority of the company’s non-voting share to MIT, and the dividends fund research), the company does not plan to take a share of the artists’ earnings or bind them from working with other labels. If that happens, it would go against the winds of the industry, which thrives on asserting ownership over the mastered recordings and leeching earnings from musicians.
In doing so, however, it would face the same test as other brands that attempted to launch their music labels, but eventually gave up. The list includes Starbucks, Toyota, and P&G, among others. However, it could actually benefit from its footprint so prevalent in, and vital to, the music industry. In fact, I hope it’s as rocksteady and resilient as Bose’s active car suspensions.
Mollica did not reveal the specifics of the future projects or potential partners. In recent years, it has collaborated with artists including BLACKPINK’s LISA, Steve Lacy, Griff, and many more to launch products (or their special editions), and all these years of partnership may finally pay off, especially with its easy-going approach.
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