It seems incredibly corny to say that Republic Records’ ethos is contained in the label’s first-ever monster hit, Chumbawamba’s 1997 anthem “Tubthumping”: “I get knocked down, I get up again, you’re never gonna keep me down.” OK, it is incredibly corny — but it fits. Republic and its founders, brothers Monte and Avery Lipman, have been the most successful label of the past decade because of their entrepreneurship, ferocious work ethic and the fact that they just don’t give up.
“It actually goes back to our childhood,” Avery says. “When we were little kids, we had a lemonade stand, and when no one came around, we actually went to people’s doors and knocked. I mean, imagine answering your doorbell and seeing a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old selling lemonade — how do you say no?” he laughs.
“But it was the sense of resourcefulness,” Monte chimes in. “When we were kids, we were flat broke, but our feeling was, rather than just sit there and wallow in the fact that we didn’t have any money, let’s do something about it. Let’s figure this out.”
That ethos has not only led Republic to lead market share nearly every year for the past decade-plus — it’s been Variety’s Hitmakers label of the year four out of the last seven years, and appears headed to a fifth — they’ve also attracted an almost impossibly long list of the world’s biggest artists: Taylor Swift, Post Malone, Ariana Grande, Drake, the Weeknd, Lil Wayne, Pearl Jam, Nicki Minaj, John Mellencamp, Florence + the Machine, John Legend and Metro Boomin, along with Prince, Amy Winehouse and even Stevie Wonder. And earlier this year, the Lipmans were elevated by Universal Music Group chairman-CEO Lucian Grainge to head a new division, Republic Corps, which includes the titular label as well as the iconic Def Jam, Island and Mercury labels and the Imperial independent division.
Avery, left, and Monte Lipman with the Weeknd at the 2021 Super Bowl, where the singer was the halftime performer. (Photo courtesy Republic)
What is even more remarkable is the fact that the company — which was launched in 1995 from the kitchen table of the Lipmans’ shared Manhattan studio apartment — followed previous jobs that the brothers, well, might not consider glorious successes.
“My very, very first job out of college in 1986, was at Arista Records — I got fired,” says Monte, who started out in radio promotion. “Then I got hired at SBK, which became part of the EMI label group — got fired. Then made my way over to Atlantic — got fired! So that was my track record.”
Avery had better luck — ironically at Arista Records, where he worked as Clive Davis’ assistant. “I just got the job because I could type,” he laughs, “but just being around Clive, you learn so much.” Next, the brothers decided to try their hands at management, until “we realized we were probably the worst managers known to man, and so we realized that we should do a record label,” Avery says.
The label’s first release was a dance single by Lonnie Gordon called “Dirty Love,” and several other singles followed as the brothers gradually transitioned from managing Pennsylvania prank-rock act the Bloodhound Gang to being their label, beginning with the 1996 album “One Fierce Beer Coaster.” That album was picked up by Geffen Records via a savvy young A&R exec named Wendy Goldstein — who is now president of Republic Records — which led to a larger deal with the label and with what is now Universal Music Group. That company ultimately acquired the label in 2000 and appointed the brothers to top executive roles that have gotten bigger and bigger as the years and successes have piled up.
But the first song that truly put the label on the map was the aforementioned “Tubthumping,” an indelibly catchy — and anomalous — track by the British anarcho-pop collective Chumbawamba. The song topped the charts in multiple countries, reached No. 2 in Canada and No. 6 in the U.S., where it was certified triple platinum in 1998 (the last time its status was updated).
“That just took us into overdrive,” Avery says. “It really introduced us to, ‘Oh my God, this is what success feels like.’”
The success continued through the 1990s and into the 21st century with pop and rock hits from 3 Doors Down, Godsmack and, later, Winehouse (via Island Records U.K.). But the key alliance during the label’s first decade was a partnership with Cash Money Records, the powerhouse founded by Ronald “Slim” Williams and Bryan Williams (who goes by “Baby” or “Birdman”) and Universal that drove the careers of Lil Wayne, Juvenile, Hot Boyz and later Drake, Nicki Minaj and Tyga. Although they say every arrangement is different, the partnership that the Lipmans struck with that label set the mold for similar deals over the years, with Lava Records (Lorde, Greta Van Fleet), Big Loud Records (Morgan Wallen), the Korean companies HYBE (Tomorrow X Together) and JYP (Stray Kids, Twice), most recently Jelly Roll and BMG and more — even Swift, who is in many ways her own industry.
Monte is quick to highlight the collaborative nature of those partnerships.
“We want to be good partners, and that goes back to our relationship with Wendy when she was at Geffen,” he says. “She treated us with a level of respect and support that we hadn’t seen before and was always a good listener. She’d say, ‘Guys, your instincts are spot on. Whatever you’re doing, it’s working, so keep going, and let us know how we can help.’ It was so simple but profound at the same time, and we try to do that as well.
“For example,” he continues, “we’ve been with Cash Money for 30 years, and Slim, in particular, in every single conversation, would say at some point, ‘What do you think?’ He never had the attitude of ‘We’ve got all the answers’ — he’s curious, ‘Is there another way to do this?’ That’s a big part of it for us too, because we learn from our partnerships. We’ve got a strategic alliance with the two biggest companies in South Korea, JYP and HYBE, and they’re doing things that we hadn’t seen before, with their commitment to fans and fan engagement. We’re still students of the game.”
That ethos is being put into practice with the Lipmans’ new roles as heads of Republic Corps (with longtime lieutenant Jim Roppo as president-COO), which includes the Republic label (under Goldstein), Island (whose co-CEOs Imran Majid and Justin Eshak are lighting up the charts with Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan after just three years in the job), Mercury (under Post Malone’s longtime A&R Tyler Arnold and Ben Adelson), Def Jam (under Tunji Balogun) and Imperial (under Astralwerks veteran Glenn Mendlinger). In past interviews, Monte has described the brothers’ role as “coaching the coaches,” and that approach has continued with their broader purview.
“We’re field generals — we’re not [giving orders from] the tent,” he says. “But with that in mind, the idea is to let these people operate, let them make decisions,” he says. “Avery and I are not here to micromanage; we’re here to support and tap the institutional knowledge — ‘We’re a bit older than you, we’ve experienced a little more, so there’s a good chance that whatever issue you’re dealing with at that moment, we’ve seen it.’ But the idea is not to just go in and fix it,” he continues. “It’s ‘I’m not going to make the decision for you, but here are a few things you may want to consider.’”
It doesn’t hurt that several of those executives came up at Republic. “We call it ‘Republic University,’” Monte says, “and I give Avery tremendous credit: Both Imran and Justin came in under Avery; he hired Tyler Arnold out of college; [Mercury general manager] Ben Adelson had one other job before he came to us at an entry-level position as Avery’s assistant. So all four of them aren’t just leaders of these labels, they’re leaders within the industry. I mean, what Island is doing right now with Sabrina and Chappell, and Mercury with Post Malone and Morgan Wallen and the alliance with Big Loud, is just incredible.” He says big plans are in the works at Def Jam and Imperial as well. 
“We’ve been intact as a team for a long time,” he adds. “The majority of our senior officers have been here for over a decade, and the same is true for a lot of the artists. That’s very important to us, because we do think long-term in terms of relationships.”
