Rough Trade Records
Encyclopedia
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

 based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis
Geoff Travis
Geoff Travis is the founder of both Rough Trade Records and the Rough Trade chain of record shops. A former drama teacher and owner of a punk record shop, Travis founded the Rough Trade label in 1978.-Biography:...

 who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove
Ladbroke Grove
Ladbroke Grove is a road in west London, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is also sometimes the name given informally to the immediate area surrounding the road. Running from Notting Hill in the south to Kensal Green in the north, it is located in North Kensington and straddles...

. Having successfully promoted and sold records by punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 and early post punk bands such as Buzzcocks
Buzzcocks
Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton in 1976, led by singer–songwriter–guitarist Pete Shelley.They are regarded as an important influence on the Manchester music scene, the independent record label movement, punk rock, power pop, pop punk and indie rock. They achieved commercial...

 and Desperate Bicycles
Desperate Bicycles
The Desperate Bicycles were an English new wave group who released a series of independent recordings in the late 1970s and inspired many other bands to do likewise. The Desperate Bicycles pioneered the do-it-yourself ethic of punk, adopting a proselytising role exemplified by their ardent...

, Travis began to manage acts and distribute bands such as Scritti Politti
Scritti Politti
Scritti Politti are a British band, originally formed in 1977 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. Although there have been various changes to the line-up, Cardiff-born singer-songwriter Green Gartside was the founding member of the band and the only member to have remained throughout the group's...

 and began the label, which was informed by left-wing politics and structured as a co-operative. Soon after, Rough Trade also set up a distribution arm that serviced independent retail outlets across Britian, a network that became known as the Cartel
The Cartel (record distributor)
The Cartel, usually known as the Cartel without capitalisation but with the definite article, was a co-operative record distribution organisation in the United Kingdom, set up by a number of small independent record labels to handle their distribution to record shops...

.

Interest and investment of major labels in the UK indie scene in the late 1980s, as well as overtrading on behalf of of Rough Trade's distribution wing, led to cash flow problems, and eventually to bankruptcy, forcing the label into receivership
Official Receiver
An officer of the Insolvency Service of the United Kingdom, the Official Receiver is an officer of the court to which he is attached. The OR is therefore answerable to the courts for carrying out the courts' orders and for fulfilling his duties under law...

. However, Travis resurrected the label in the late 90s, finding success with The Libertines
The Libertines
The Libertines were an English rock band, formed in London in 1997 by frontmen Carl Barât and Pete Doherty . The band, centred on the song-writing partnership of Barat and Doherty, also included John Hassall and Gary Powell for most of its recording career...

, The Strokes
The Strokes
The Strokes are an American indie rock band formed in 1999 in New York City. Consisting of Julian Casablancas , Nick Valensi , Albert Hammond, Jr. , Nikolai Fraiture and Fabrizio Moretti ....

 and Anthony and the Johnsons.

History

Rough Trade began as a record shop, opened by Geoff Travis
Geoff Travis
Geoff Travis is the founder of both Rough Trade Records and the Rough Trade chain of record shops. A former drama teacher and owner of a punk record shop, Travis founded the Rough Trade label in 1978.-Biography:...

 on Kensington Park Road, West London, in February 1976. It was inspired by what Travis has described as the "community-based environment" of the City Lights Bookstore
City Lights Bookstore
City Lights is an independent bookstore-publisher combination that specializes in world literature, the arts, and progressive politics. It also houses the nonprofit City Lights Foundation, which publishes selected titles related to San Francisco culture. It was founded in 1953 by poet Lawrence...

 in San Francisco, and specialised in garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...

 and reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

. Steve Montgomery, initially a customer of the shop, was offered a job soon after it opened and became its effective co-manager. Travis and Montgomery were joined by a further employee, Richard Scott, in June 1977.

Rough Trade produced its own record for the first time after French punk band Métal Urbain
Métal Urbain
Métal Urbain was one of the first French punk groups, formed in 1976 in Paris.-Career:They were heavily influenced by The Clash and The Sex Pistols on one hand, and on the other by an electro approach related to "Metal Machine Music" by Lou Reed...

 came into the shop asking for assistance in publicising their music. In 1978, the shop began organising a record distribution network, dubbed "The Cartel
The Cartel (record distributor)
The Cartel, usually known as the Cartel without capitalisation but with the definite article, was a co-operative record distribution organisation in the United Kingdom, set up by a number of small independent record labels to handle their distribution to record shops...

", in collaboration with other independent record stores in the UK. This network enabled small record labels such as Factory Records
Factory Records
Factory Records was a Manchester based British independent record label, started in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus, which featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column, Happy Mondays, Northside and James and...

 and 2 Tone Records
2 Tone Records
2 Tone Records was an English record label that mostly released ska and reggae-influenced music with a punk rock and pop music overtone.-History:...

 to sell their releases nationally. It specialised primarily in European post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...

 and other alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The Rough Trade label subsequently issued a single by Jamaican reggae singer Augustus Pablo
Augustus Pablo
Horace Swaby , known as Augustus Pablo, was a Jamaican roots reggae and dub record producer, melodica player and keyboardist, active from the 1970s onwards. He popularized the use of the melodica in reggae music...

, the debut single
Extended Play (Cabaret Voltaire EP)
Extended Play is an extended play by Cabaret Voltaire, released in 1978.-Side A:#"Talkover" – 3:22#"Here She Comes Now" – 4:30-See also:*1978 in music...

 by Sheffield band Cabaret Voltaire
Cabaret Voltaire (band)
Cabaret Voltaire were a British music group from Sheffield, England.Initially composed of Stephen Mallinder, Richard H. Kirk and Chris Watson, the group was named after the Cabaret Voltaire, a nightclub in Zürich, Switzerland that was a centre for the early Dada movement.Their earliest performances...

 and the second Stiff Little Fingers
Stiff Little Fingers
Stiff Little Fingers are a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977, at the height of the Troubles. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star , doing rock covers, until they discovered punk. They split up after six years and four albums, although they...

 single, "Alternative Ulster". During 1978, the label released singles by The Monochrome Set
The Monochrome Set
The Monochrome Set are an English post-punk band originally formed in 1978 from the remnants of a college group called The B-Sides...

, Subway Sect
Subway Sect
Subway Sect were one of the original British punk bands. Their influence was limited by the very small amount of recorded material they released.-The early days:...

, Swell Maps
Swell Maps
Swell Maps were an experimental English rock group of the 1970s from Birmingham that foreshadowed the birth of post-punk.Influenced by the disparate likes of T.Rex and the German progressive outfit, Can, they created a new soundscape that would be heavily mined by others in the post-punk era...

, Electric Eels
Electric Eels (band)
The electric eels were a protopunk band active between 1972 and 1975. They formed in Cleveland, Ohio....

, Spizzoil and Kleenex
LiLiPUT
LiLiPUT were a Swiss female post-punk/new wave band active from 1978 to 1983.-History:The group formed in 1978 under the name Kleenex, and soon made a name for themselves, until the threat of legal action by Kimberly-Clark in 1979 prompted a change of name to LiLiPUT...

. In 1979, Rough Trade's first album, Inflammable Material
Inflammable Material
Inflammable Material is the 1979 debut album by the Northern Irish punk band Stiff Little Fingers.-Track listing:All tracks composed by Jake Burns and Gordon Ogilvie; except where indicated#"Suspect Device" – 2:36#"State of Emergency" – 2:29...

by Stiff Little Fingers, reached number 14 in the UK charts and became the first independently released album to sell over 100,000 copies in the UK. Rough Trade's signifcance by this time was such that it was made the subject of a South Bank Show documentary.

In 1982, the retail outlets broke with the A&R and distribution divisions, after a decision to allow the the shop staff buy out. The distribution wing found itself overtrading by 1991 and shortages of cash flow lead to a filing for bankruptcy, and the entire company ended up in receivership
Official Receiver
An officer of the Insolvency Service of the United Kingdom, the Official Receiver is an officer of the court to which he is attached. The OR is therefore answerable to the courts for carrying out the courts' orders and for fulfilling his duties under law...

.

Rough Trade Records was relaunched in 2000 as an independently owned entity, a partnership between Travis, Jeanette Lee
Jeanette Lee (musician)
Jeannette Lee is a British filmmaker, musician, and music businesswoman. A retail worker at the Acme Attractions store that, along with the SEX boutique run by Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, was instrumental in spawning punk in the UK,...

 (a former member of Public Image Ltd.
Public Image Ltd.
Public Image Ltd are an English post-punk band formed by vocalist John Lydon , guitarist Keith Levene and bassist Jah Wobble, with frequent subsequent personnel changes. Lydon is the sole constant member of the band....

), and minority partners Sanctuary Records
Sanctuary Records
Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest independent music management company in the world...

, as a part of the Zomba Group until June 11, 2002 when BMG
BMG
Bertelsmann Music Group, , was a division of Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Japan's Sony Corporation of America on October 1, 2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music label activities of Bertelsmann...

 bought out this business. In July 2007 Sanctuary Records then sold Rough Trade to the Beggars Group
Beggars Group
Beggars Group is a British record company that owns or distributes several other labels, including 4AD, Rough Trade Records, Matador Records, and XL Recordings...

 making Rough Trade independent once again

Since its re-birth, Rough Trade has released albums by artists such as The Strokes
The Strokes
The Strokes are an American indie rock band formed in 1999 in New York City. Consisting of Julian Casablancas , Nick Valensi , Albert Hammond, Jr. , Nikolai Fraiture and Fabrizio Moretti ....

, The Libertines
The Libertines
The Libertines were an English rock band, formed in London in 1997 by frontmen Carl Barât and Pete Doherty . The band, centred on the song-writing partnership of Barat and Doherty, also included John Hassall and Gary Powell for most of its recording career...

, Babyshambles
Babyshambles
Babyshambles are an English indie rock band established in London. The band was formed by Pete Doherty during a hiatus from his former band The Libertines, but Babyshambles has since become his main project . Babyshambles has released two albums, three EPs and a number of singles...

, and Belle & Sebastian
Belle & Sebastian
Belle and Sebastian are an indie pop band formed in Glasgow in January 1996. Belle and Sebastian are often compared with influential indie bands such as The Smiths, as well as classic acts such as Love, Bob Dylan and Nick Drake. The name Belle & Sebastian comes from Belle et Sébastien, a 1965...

.

Further reading

  • Cavanagh, David. The Creation Records Story: My Magpie Eyes Are Hungry for the Prize. London: Virgin Books, 2000. ISBN 0-7535-0645-9.
  • Savage, Jon
    Jon Savage
    Jon Savage , real name Jonathon Sage, is a Cambridge-educated writer, broadcaster and music journalist, best known for his award winning history of the Sex Pistols and punk music, England's Dreaming, published in 1991.-Career:...

    . England's Dreaming: The Sex Pistols and Punk Rock London: Faber and Faber, 1991. ISBN 0-312-28822-0
  • Young, Rob. Rough Trade. Black Dog Publishing, ISBN 1-9047-7247-1
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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