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Sony Music’s merch business buys Probity

By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 9 December 2020

Sony Music’s merch business The Thread Shop has expanded again through another acquisition. This time it has bought UK-based Probity, which will become, and I quote, an “entrepreneurial division of The Thread Shop” led by its founder Mark Stredwick.

Confirming the deal, the head of The Thread Shop, Howard Lau, says: “We are very pleased to be further enhancing the reach and competitive capabilities of The Thread Shop around the world with the welcome additions of Mark Stredwick and the Probity team”.

“Probity is an established independent leader in the European merch market representing some of the world’s most iconic music artists”, he goes on. “Together we can offer our artist clients and the music community an even more robust set of merchandising opportunities to complement their music revenues, branding, and marketing”.

Meanwhile, Stredwick himself adds: “We are delighted to fully cement the organic relationship we had already developed with Howard and Sony Thread Shop. The deal with Sony allows our growing roster to tap into more opportunities globally and benefit from innovative and creatively driven merchandising programmes that Thread Shop deliver with such passion”.

Artists that Probity work with – and therefore bring to Sony’s expanding merch business – include Metallica, Noel Gallagher, Oasis, Paloma Faith, Rage Against The Machine, Robert Plant and Van Morrison.

The expansion of The Thread Shop in recent years has involved some other acquisitions, including another UK-based outfit Kontraband and the music merchandise division of US theatre firm The Araca Group.