Since 1991, Ian Peel has worked for ZTT Records, the record label founded in 1983 by
Trevor Horn,
Paul Morley and
Jill Sinclair. DJ Food described Peel as "keyholder to the ZTT vaults and curator of the label's reissue series for the last 30 years or more... Ian knows the catalogue and the archive inside out, having spent years cataloguing it from the master tapes, along the way discovering all manner of hidden, lost or unreleased treasures." He began by writing about the label for
Record Collector magazine in 1987, and then penned and produced three issues of a ZTT
fanzine in the early 1990s. This led to first working for the label on
Frankie Goes To Hollywood's
Bang! and
Reload! compilations released in 1993. He then went on to create further releases for Frankie Goes to Hollywood (including
Sexmix and the
Inside the Pleasuredome box set) and all of the label's artists, notably
808 State,
ACT,
Adamski,
All Saints,
Art of Noise,
The Buggles,
The Frames,
Kirsty MacColl,
MC Tunes,
Propaganda,
Shades of Rhythm and
Lisa Stansfield. For 808 State's
Blueprint he elicited input from
Moby,
Aphex Twin and
Orbital. Of his work curating the Propaganda back catalogue, co-founder Ralf Dörper said "the curator Ian Peel did a very good job. Respect." while The Quietus explained how "curator Ian Peel's exhaustive research match the care and attention he has lavished on other ZTT re-releases, and the wealth of material he has accumulated shed fascinating light on the working methods of both the band and the label." Peel has worked on several live events celebrating the label's history including the
Produced By Trevor Horn concert at
Wembley Arena in London in 2008, an aborted "ZTT takeover of Trafalgar Square" with the
Institute of Contemporary Arts the following year, and The Buggles' 'The Lost Gig' at which he arranged for
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark to perform as
opening act, and for Horn to sing backing vocals on a performance of
Duel by
Claudia Brücken and
Paul Humphreys. His curation of the visual style and ethos of the label has included exhibitions of
cover art in London and Tokyo called
The Art of ZTT and a DVD titled
The Television is Watching You featuring videos directed by
Johnny Depp,
Anton Corbijn,
Brian De Palma,
Godley & Creme,
Wayne Hemingway,
Zbigniew Rybczyński,
Andy Morahan and
Bernard Rose. His
compilation album series for the label have included three double-album volumes of
The Art of the 12" and a set of three double albums for the label's thirtieth anniversary: the London, Tokyo and New York editions of
The Organisation of Pop. As Craig Haggis wrote of
The Organisation of Pop: "I guess squeezing as much as possible in was always going to be an enormous task for Peel and his cohorts, and it's gratifying to see
Grace Jones’ sleek
Slave to the Rhythm included and other, bigger, hits from
Seal,
Tom Jones and a beautiful ballad by
Shane MacGowan and
Sinead O’Connor. A label notable for its use of catalogue numbering, Peel continued
Paul Morley's Action Series and Incidental Series at the behest of
Jill Sinclair and started several of his own: the Definition Series includes more than 100 digital editions, while the Element Series ran for 50 physical releases across 10 years. In 2013 he signed
FEMME and Aaron Horn's A Theory to the label, assigning the former to the Action Series and the latter to the Incidental Series. That year, Terra listed FEMME as one of "the most interesting women in music right now" alongside such artists as
Grimes and
MIA. In 2023 he devised and issued 40 weekly digital singles and albums to mark the label's 40th anniversary. These included previously unreleased works by
All Saints,
Apollo 440, Art of Noise, Aurora, Das Psych-Oh! Rangers, Davids Daughters,
Thomas Fehlmann,
Inga Humpe, Instinct,
Thomas Leer,
Leilani Sen (which reached No. 13 on the Amazon Pop Chart), Nasty Rox Inc., Tara Newley,
The Orb,
Anne Pigalle,
Andrew Poppy, Propaganda, Sexus, Shades of Rhythm,
Sun Electric and Time Unlimted. ==Classic Pop magazine==