Over the past week England has witnessed some particularly disturbing scenes of civil unrest and our thoughts go out to those who have been directly affected by last weeks rioting, looting and violence. The weeks events became particuarly poignant when we learnt that a Sony warehouse which shared its space with the largest UK Independent Music Distributor ‘PIAS‘ was burnt to the ground. PIAS store and distribute music for most of the UK’s independent labels and artists. Overnight they lost an estimated 750,000 CDs, records and DVDs to the fire.
Toddla T (Pictured above) – lost all copies of his soon-to-be-released album ‘Watch Me Dance’
Indie labels are the vital grass roots to the future of our music industry and this fire brings into sharp focus how fragile the future prosperity and diversity of our beloved music scene is. Indie labels operate on very tight budgets, often with one release funding the next, and although much of the damage should be covered by insurance this does not take into account carefully timed promotion campaigns and disrupted time scales. In an already stretched industry it is vital such an incident does not deal a knock out blow.
Thankfully since putting this article together a number of initiatives have been launched to help those labels affected by the fire. The British Phonographic Industry, which represents British music companies is to create a fund of more than £100,000 (Read More Here). Whilst online music blog Drowned In Sound is co-sponsoring a campaign called Label Love where they’re encouraging fans to donate to the cause.
To find out how you can get involved and support an already stretched Independent music scene hit up one of the following links:
Label Love Website
Label Love Twitter
Label Love Guardian
By Matt Allfrey (Battery Powered) & Jonny Cassell (BBB)