Virginia Records
Virginia Records was founded in 1992 by Michael Kunstman and Stanislava Armoutlieva with the goal of becoming a partner in Bulgaria for the world’s largest music company at the time, PolyGram, thus laying the foundation for the legal music business in Bulgaria. In 1999, PolyGram merged with Universal Music to form Universal Music Group, bringing together a significant portion of the world’s most successful music labels. For 18 years, Virginia Records was an exclusive partner of PolyGram/Universal Music in Bulgaria.
In 2010, the company became the exclusive licensee for Sony Music in Bulgaria, taking on physical and digital distribution of the catalog, as well as marketing and licensing at all levels.
Virginia Records is also the official representative of The Orchard, the world’s largest digital distributor of music content and service provider for independent artists. In this capacity, the company handles the digital and physical distribution, as well as the marketing of recordings for some of Bulgaria’s most successful artists and labels, including Lyubo Kirov, Maria Ilieva, Miro, Karizma, Deep Zone Project, D2, PIF, Doni and Momchil, Doni and Neti, Tangra, Riton, Inner Glow, Nina Nikolina, Kalin Velyov, Rumyaneza and Enchev, and others.
Over the years, Virginia Records has also started developing local talent, building the careers of several Bulgarian artists. Among the company’s catalog are some of the most successful music projects from winners and finalists of formats like Music Idol and X Factor, including Nevena Tsoneva, Teodor Koychinov, Toma, Nora Karaivanova, Magi Djanavarova, Rafi, Angel and Moisey, Zhana Bergendorf, Slavin Slavchev, 4Magic, Kristian Kostov, Nevena Peykova, Plamen and Ivo, Christiana Loizu, Eva Parmakova, Yoana Dimitrova, and others.
The label’s greatest successes are associated with the development of artists such as DARA, Michaela Marinova, Pavell & Venci Venc’, ALMA, and Dara Ekimova.
Virginia Records has a creative center equipped with three recording studios, a dance rehearsal space, a photo section, and a conference room. This creatively outfitted space is designed to support the daily activities of artists and their development as music creators.
The company is the initiator and organizer of the first international creative songwriting camp in Bulgaria – Sofia Songwriting Camp.