[6] They'd spend time at his small apartment with friends such as the members of the electro-industrial band Skinny Puppy, and soon he and Jowett starting putting out their records, along with Moev's and The Grapes of Wrath.

On this point, George Maniatis, one of the label's early promotion managers, stated: "'Remission' (Skinny Puppy's mini-album), which was one of our first releases, grabbed everybody by the you-know-whats... Because of it, everybody assumed we were just industrial dance.

Among them: Belgium's Play It Again Sam label running the Nettwerk Europe imprint in exchange for Nettwerk licensing Front 242 in Canada; licensing Tackhead's North American distribution rights from England's On-U Sound; and cross-licensing with Australia's Volition label which brought Severed Heads and Single Gun Theory to North America.

At a show in Halifax, McBride met nineteen-year-old singer-songwriter named Sarah McLachlan[11] – he'd been introduced to her music through Jowett, and tried to recruit her to front Moev.

"[12] At this point, McBride and Jowett had moved Nettwerk into a new office, and McLachlan relocated to Vancouver to write, finishing her debut, Touch, in 1988.

Though McBride was resistant at first, he pushed forward, and they assembled a lineup that they then were told was "suicidal": Paula Cole, Aimee Mann, Patti Smith, Lisa Loeb and McLachlan to close.

[16] After steady radio promotion, McBride booked the band for a show at City Hall Plaza in Boston to launch their album Stunt.

[17] The concert drew 80,000 fans, and the first single, "One Week", reached number one on the charts, also earning the band a Grammy nomination and a Juno Award for Best Pop Album.

[19] In 2000, EMI decided against a North American release for Coldplay's debut album Parachutes, which was distributed by subsidiary Parlophone in the United Kingdom.

[20] McBride studied reports showing the sea change in fan preference, and realized that he'd rather cater to the growing MP3 culture rather than work against it.

In 2005, Nettmusic became one of the first major music companies to sell MP3s free of DRM (digital rights management),[21] and supported the consumer case in the battle against the Recording Industry Association of America.

McBride conceived of a concept he called "collapsed copyright", set to revolve around a new business model that empowered artists themselves and not just the corporations.