Stefan Strüver came from Paderborn to Herne in 1992 to work for Rough Trade, where he held positions as a telemarketer and promoter in the dance department. Until 1996 he was in charge of labels like Warp, Ninja Tune and R&S and worked with artists like Aphex Twin, Nightmares On Wax, LFO and Ken Ishii.

Stefan Strüver had already been working as a freelance A&R for !K7 Records since 1993, for which he then opened the Hamburg A&R branch of the Berlin label after a short detour of three weeks as PM and A&R at Motor Music.

Stefan Strüver was the sole Artist & Repertoire Manager at !K7 from April 1, 1996 until September 30, 2005. He was instrumental in developing the !K7 label as a globally influential brand for electronic music. In his function as A&R, Stefan Strüver also played a decisive role in the development and supervision of the compilation series X-Mix and the highly successful DJ-Kicks series. As head A&R, Stefan Strüver played a leading role in the strategic transformation of !K7 Records from a compilation label to an artist label with the musical selection and support of the artist releases. He signed contracts with artists like Kruder & Dorfmeister (and their solo projects Tosca and Peace Orchestra), Matthew Herbert, Ursula Rucker, Princess Superstar, Benjamin Diamond, Boozoo Bajou and many others.

 He joined [PIAS] Germany in 2008 as A&R Manager and was responsible for signings like Gisbert zu Knyphausen, Agnes Obel, Soap&Skin, Bohren & Der Club of Gore, Milky Chance or Trümmer. In March 2012, Stefan Strüver also took over the position of General Manager [PIAS] Germany GmbH and has since led the company, which has offices in Hamburg and Berlin with a total of twelve employees.