Our story

We’ve been creating communities around music since the 90s. Today, we help build and nurture companies with the same sense of community through our investments.

Our story started in Sheffield in 1996 when James Cotterill, as a young music fan, launched Drum&BassArena, a website centred around his love of Drum & Bass music. It soon drew visitors from across the world and developed into a global community, with Drum&BassArena’s distinctive yellow branding becoming synonymous with the genre. AEI was formed by James and Diluk Dias in 1998, to grow and develop its commercial potential, and our passion became a business.

The venture turned out to be just the beginning for our company and we’ve gone on to build more music brands, festivals and labels – as well as partner with, and invest in music-makers and entrepreneurs. We’ve also expanded into hospitality and physical spaces across partnerships, investments and our own brands.

Over time we’ve developed a knack for identifying people whose passion and ambition isn’t stifled by the conventions of the traditional music industry. To these like-minded creatives, we offer the benefit of our experience, connections and team. Today, we invest in people and companies just like us: industry outsiders who want to build communities and positively impact the world.