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Job of the Month #18: Physical distributor

by IDOL

New episode of our Job of the Month series to discover the many facets of the music industry. This month, Gregory Pezard tells us about the future of physical distribution.

Each month, IDOL presents a job in the music industry. Or more than a job, a person! Because behind the same job title, there are significant differences from one structure to another. Each person can define the scope of his or her job according to his or her career path, qualities and skills! Meet Gregory Pezard, who tells us about the evolution and, above all, the future of physical distribution.

First and foremost, can you present Bigwax?

Bigwax is an independent distribution service specializing in physical formats in France and internationally, both for imports and exports. I’m the manager of Kairos Club, which includes Bigwax Distribution, Squeezer, Lelp, and more recently, Kub Systems. All of these entities revolve around vinyl manufacturing, distribution, direct-to-fan services, and consulting. My daily role is aligning a strategic and operational vision within the group by coordinating resources and the synergies between the sister companies.

Our network is both B2B, with clients such as independent record stores, chain stores, online record stores, media libraries, and foreign sub-distributors, but we also have a B2C through our website bigwax.io, which functions as both a direct-to-fan platform and an online record store. We also provide white-label artist and/or label sites, utilizing our purchase system and logistics.

Can you tell us a little about your career path?

I started in 2004 at the distributor Topplers, which was then the main exporter of French Touch 1.0. Among other things, I led a legal download platform project, developed the digital distribution department, and built a custom e-commerce offering, which allowed us to manage the official shops for Daft Punk, Kitsuné, and Deeply Rooted House—what we now call D2C (Direct-to-Customer).

In 2010, I founded a publishing and management company (Les Editions Limitées Paris / LELP), and at that time, Pascal Bittard offered me a partnership in the form of outsourced label management for signing mostly one-off projects. Why? Because of my network from electronic music labels, but mostly because one-off projects never aligned with IDOL’s DNA, which has always focused on long-term label development and working with quality musical aesthetics.

In 2011, I founded the company Squeezer to offer a pressing solution, relying on the expertise of the German factory Optimal Media and becoming a sort of independent French office. Since 2022, we’ve been working on developing business applications in SaaS through a new group entity called Kub Systems.

With Kub Systems, we’re developing a forward-thinking vision for our industry. We’ve created a planning tool to manage vinyl production, and we’re currently working on sales analysis tools across channels and identifying super-fans.

Back in 2015, we started online distribution in the form of purchase pages, a kind of precursor to D2C under the name bigwax.fr. This name stems from our Squeezer pressing offers, where we manufactured ‘Miniwax’ (7-inch), Mowax (10-inch), and of course ‘Bigwax’ (12-inch) records. In 2018, I had the opportunity to acquire La Baleine, a distribution company founded in 2000. Since their activity aligned with what we were doing on the website, we renamed the company Bigwax Distribution.

Why did you decide to start your own business?

As a kid, I wanted to run a sports store, and by the age of 12 or 13, I started tinkering with two-stroke engines to build my own transportation. I think I’ve always had the desire to be entrepreneurial and free, especially in what was sometimes a difficult family environment.

I operate a lot on intuition. Even though I’ve developed services, I’ve been fortunate to seize opportunities as they arose. I’ve never been a fan of business plans, and I think my management style is quite atypical. After reading the book Rework, I identified with the entrepreneurial approach of Jason Fried, founder of the project management tool Basecamp. He presents many concepts that break the traditional business mold. For example, during brainstorming sessions, he uses the largest pencil possible, because you should start with big ideas and avoid getting lost in the details from the beginning. That’s just one example, but I recognized myself in his way of managing a business.

What are the qualities required for your position?

To progress and achieve your goals, you need to be curious, patient, willing to take risks, and surround yourself with the right people. I’ve always been fortunate to have amazing teams by my side—people who give meaning to my professional life and inspire me to share, support, and push my ideas further.

What do you like about your job?

Vinyl is a medium I’m deeply attached to. I still love making a record, holding it, listening to it, and distributing it—that’s what gets me out of bed in the morning. I enjoy thinking about how to optimize this industry, how to integrate technology into the mechanics of a physical world that I want to see remain forever.

At the end of the day, physical distribution is logistics. You need to step back from logistics, so we developed our internal tool to be as transparent as possible with our suppliers and labels. Using API connections and Webhooks, we’re building a reporting and analytics tool that will really allow us to dive into the details, track stores delivered worldwide, and calculate and harmonize label shares for each sales channel based on contracts with our suppliers.

Our partners have remained almost the same for the past 20 years, which means the codes haven’t evolved much. But for us, distribution is about both selling a record on Spotify using the latest feature available, and selling through record stores. In fact, I think we’re one of the few distributors to offer so many options: D2C, YouTube, Spotify, Bandcamp, and soon Discogs… I’m curious, so whatever we can develop, we will.

Vinyl consumption has evolved dramatically. At the very beginning of streaming, I remember we had to press records with unreleased tracks just to give ourselves a small chance of selling them. Now, we’re selling vinyl through Spotify, so the lines between digital and physical are disappearing.

There are plenty of opportunities, as records and merch have brought back the limited-edition concept, which creates a closer connection to the artist, and thus this dimension of superfans, who need to be carefully targeted.

What is your connection with IDOL?

My relationship with IDOL has lasted a long time and has evolved over the years. For about eight years, IDOL never imposed anything on me and even supported my own signings. This freedom allowed me to sign great projects like C2C, Fauve, Roche Musique, and Feu! Chatterton. Coming from the physical distribution world, I saw an opportunity to offer a broader distribution solution, so I proposed a national distribution solution to the labels, which I set up with the distributor La Baleine.

Today, my relationship with IDOL involves more people. The main focus is on pressing and D2C strategy. We have many labels in common; IDOL specializes in digital, while Bigwax specializes in physical. This configuration is ideal for labels because we know each other well, enabling us to offer a rather premium service. It’s a healthy relationship; we value it both professionally and, above all, on a human level.

The bond is strong, we’re able to say things to each other, which isn’t always possible with all partners. It shows the collective and professional intelligence and goodwill at both IDOL and Bigwax.

What’s the strangest task you’ve done in your career?

There have been a few… but one that comes to mind is signing a distribution contract in a club bathroom, being forced by my boss to buy exactly 100 grams of grapes every day on my lunch break for weeks, and drilling 500 foam discs to fit the diameter of a vinyl turntable spindle for Young & Rubicam’s holiday card.

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