In June 1982 the store "Casablanca Moon" was closed down and they made plans to start an import company named "Play It Again Sam".

The company was incorporated in March 1983 with a starting capital of €5000 and the strategy rapidly became a "distributor" rather than an importer / wholesaler; that meant offering a full range of services to labels, such as promotion and marketing.

As part of the deal, the catalogues of several Universal artists were transferred to PIAS, including Jurassic 5, DJ Shadow, The Dandy Warhols, Texas, and Eels.

The PIAS-Universal alliance was further extended with the Universal Music's acquisition of the existing shareholding owned by the company's founders Kenny Gates and Michel Lambot, announced on 15 October 2024.

[3] On 8 August 2011, during the 2011 riots in England, a Sony DADC warehouse in the London Borough of Enfield which also acted as PIAS' primary distribution centre was destroyed by fire.