Support the UK’s independent record labels – buy digital!

@whatslater

You may well have heard about the riots in the UK this week and the looting, violence and vandalism that accompanied these riots. At it’s most extreme whole buildings were burnt to the ground. One of these was the Sony DADC distribution centre, otherwise known as the home of PIAS UK who distribute music from over 150 of the UK’s independent record labels, all of whom have now lost valuable stock in the process, and now need your help!

Record labels ranging from large independents such as Rough Trade, Warp and Domino to smaller labels including Buzzin’ Fly, independiente and Turnstile have lost a lot of stock in this fire. While insurance means that the labels will get back the cost value of their catalogues, they will not get the income from selling those records, meaning that these labels will suffer greatly from loss of income over the coming months. In a climate where the music industry is having to work to smaller profit margins this could prove fatal for a number of the smallest labels.

In fact, it’s the smallest labels with large catalogues that will be affected most. Those that rely on a small but steady sale of reissues and minor releases may really struggle to recover from this. Which is where we come in.

By buying digital releases by the independent record labels affected we can help replenish their income stream and allow them to re-manufacture the stock that was destroyed in the fire.

Here’s a statement from Bella Union, one of the labels affected which stresses this point:

“It WILL help enormously if this week, any records you were planning on buying, from the independent labels affected by the fire and destruction of their stock, you go online and make your purchases there. It will bring in some desperately needed funds to help those companies re-manufacture the destroyed stock. Thank you.”

The record labels affected by this include Soul Jazz, Kartel (who release Soundway Records and Mais Um Discos catalogue), Warp, Brownswood (Gilles Peterson’s label), Drag City, independiente, Domino, Ninja Tune, Fat Cat, Turnstile, Mute, Rough Trade and so many other quality labels (you can see the full list here.

So, we have put together a list of some of our favourite Latin American and Global releases that have had physical copies lost in the fire. Help our independent labels by going digital and enjoying some truly great music!

This is part of the Label Love campaign. If you want to find out more about the campaign visit cognitivedissonancerecords.com/labellove or get involved by tweeting #labellove.

Music

Aqui Los Bravos! The Best of Michi Sarmiento Soundway Records
Arriba La Cumbia! Crammed Discs
Axel Krygier – Pesebre Crammed Discs
Battles – Gloss Drop (feat. Matias Aguayo on “Ice Cream”) Warp Records
Brazil Bossa Beat! Soul Jazz
Buraka Som Sistema – Black Diamond Fabric
Cartagena! Curro Fuentes & The Big Band Cumbia and Descarga Sound of Colombia 1962 – 72 Soundway Records
Danay – The Havana Cultura Sessions Brownswood
El Guincho – Piratas de Sudamerica Young Turk
Gilles Peterson Presents Havana Cultura Brownswood
Gotan Project – Tango 3.0 XL Recordings
Gruff Rhys vs Tony Da Gatorra – The Terror of Cosmic Loneliness Turnstile
Juana Molina – Un Dia Domino
Nu Yorica Roots – The Rise of Latin Music in New York in the 1960s Soul Jazz
The Roots of Chicha Vol. 2 Crammed Discs
Tinariwen – Aman Iman: Water Is Life independiente

There were also a number of film distribution companies affected including Dogwoof Films, Pecadillo Pictures, BFI, Artificial Eye, Terracotta, and Guerilla. These companies have been bringing us great films over a number of years, including the following Latin American releases. Maybe you can help them too!

Films
Birdwatchers
Brasileirinho
La Niña Santa
Machuca
The Maid
The Milk of Sorrow
South of the Border
Whisky

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