Groove Distribution

Specialties

Groove Distribution is America’s largest dance music distributor and importer. We distribute a wide range of dance music including house, downtempo and lounge, mashups, dubstep, nujazz, cosmic disco and more, both on vinyl and CD. We also carry a selection of magazines, books and DJ accessories like record bags and slipmats. We are a wholesale distributor but we also operate a mail order service direct to deejays and music fans across the U.S. and around the world.

History

Established in 1999.

Groove Distribution was started in 1999 in Chicago by Dirk van den Heuvel, the former GM of Cargo Records America when that company closed at the end of 1998. Groove Distribution aimed to fill the gap left by Cargo Records America’s then shuttered dance department. From the very start Groove Distribution sold both to stores and direct to the public and was one of the first US distributors to do so. Over the years Groove Distribution has championed many genres and sub-​genres of dance music including acid jazz, funky breaks, broken beat (originally called house not house), mashups, nujazz, 2-​step, and most recently dubstep and cosmic disco. Groove Distribution was also the first US distributor to carry releases from Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, Zero 7, Danger Mouse, and many others. Groove Distribution is currently the largest dance music distributor/​importer in North America.

Meet the Business Owner

Dirk V.

Business Owner

I first got involved in the music business working at WNUR at Northwestern in the mid-​80s. I founded and hosted the radio show «Club Beat», which ran for several years and was the first radio show in Chicago to play the music being played in the clubs on the Northside (Neo, Smart Bar, Medusas, etc). I deejayed around town (Vinyl, Bedrocks, and other places) and got a job running the dance dept at Cargo Records America. I worked my way up to Genera Manager and was there for 9 years. When it closed in 1998 I decided to start my own distribution company. But unlike Cargo Records which was mainly an indie rock distributor with a dance dept, this new company would concentrate on dance music. And so in early 1999 Groove Distribution was founded. Our aim was, and is, to find and distribute the best dance music that otherwise might not be heard but should be. And we have a pretty broad definition of what «dance music» is.