About Us

2022 will be an exciting year for COP International with ambitious plans for its expanding roster of artists, already including Stabbing Westward and Azam Ali, as well as Blackcarburning, Black Needle Noise, Chiasm, Deathline International, GW Childs IV, Junksista, Johnny Tupolev, Rohn-Lederman, Vaselyne, Sick Jokes, and Suicide Queen.

The label reached a turning point in 2020, teaming up with legendary producer John Fryer to form a production company under the COP International umbrella. Fryer is producing and engineering the majority of the forthcoming COP catalog and also working as A&R in helping to select appropriate acts. “The level of craftsmanship, artistic talent, and meticulous attention to detail is what sets John’s work a world apart,” says COP International founder Christian Petke. "When we first started talking, I brought up John’s relationship with 4AD where he was the principal engineer and producer. This is exactly what we have in mind for this collaboration. Our philosophy is quite simple: Find exceptional talent, don’t limit ourselves or the artists, and build momentum based on the excellence of the releases. We have signed a couple of bands that have major chart potential based on previous entries, and we are very excited about our projects for this year.

Another thing that is rather important to us is the level of closeness and mutual appreciation we have between the label and the artists. COP provides a nurturing environment that allows them to focus on their craft. We support and shield them and provide the business machinery that will develop their full potential. Both John and I are artists as well and that helps tremendously to build a bridge between the world of pure art and commerce without sacrificing the individual vision"

What is our vision for a 21st Century Label?

We are patrons of the arts. We are creating a community, a platform, not just for music, but also for the visual arts. A record label deals with a broad spectrum of art and design, so the idea of unifying all of these aspects into a media company is not that far-fetched.

If you are a videographer, VR specialist, or visual artist, and our vision sounds appealing to you, do not hesitate to reach out to us.

History - COP International was founded by Christian Petke in 1991 in San Francisco/Frankfurt to give a home to the emerging West Coast Industrial/Coldwave scenes. Within 6 months, we created our German counterpart label 23Frankfurt (Trance/Techno/Chill/House) with Armin “Jeff” Johnert, and our American label COP International (Industrial/Coldwave), with Kim X. Our current combined catalog, including all the subsidiaries, totals to roughly 450 releases - an amazing 30-year run.

And we are just getting started!