Dutch record label Armada Music, which was set up by DJ Armin van Buuren and his business partners Maykel Piron and David Lewis 20 years ago, is entering the music rights business, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Thursday.

Armada claims to be the biggest independent dance record label in the world and will now compete with the likes of Sony, Universal and Warner in the fast growing music rights market.

Piron told the FD he plans to spend €400 to €500 million on rights in the coming five years. The first deals have already been done with the purchase of the catalogue of KMS Records, set up by techno veteran Kevin Saunderson, and the music of trance DJ Arty.

While investors so far have focused on big names such as Bruce Springsteen and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, dance music is also attracting attention.

Piron told the FD that he had been approached by several companies wanting to buy Armada’s rights. ‘So I thought, soon there will be 10 investment companies at the door, so I had better buy them myself.’

Armada has bought up several different labels over the past 20 years and now has a catalogue covering 40,000 titles.