Today We Did, Rough trade.

Today lesson was all about independent music, and we was looking at rough trade and what kind of company they was, Rough Trade started in a strange way, it grew from a shop the Geoff Travis opened in West london in february 1976 which he had opened with records from all over the world, that was because he decided to collect different music types from different countries when he was travelling. When opening the shop they had a lot of interest because the different type of music they had in there and there policy was if you wanted to here a song they would play it. As i said before there was all different types of music types in the shop but the main one was punk, i only think that was because thats all people knew of but however because were the shop was they wanted to bring in the locals and because it was in west london they thought about reggae music and that bout a total different side to the store and there was know two different types of people in there. By 1978 rough trade had a distribution system and that was them taking in records from band and then selling them and this was helping bands because it was making the DIY culture better and it was giving more people a shot of becoming a artist.

Rough trade was different from other corporations because they was using the DIY culture, because they was letting people come into there store show them there music and then let you try and make them big, but they wold have to come into the store rough trade wouldn't go out and look for them they would let them come to them and work it out from there. There were many techniques used by rough trade to expand the music scene, one of them was letting all different type of music promote there self like they had people over seas showing them there music and thats another reason rough trade become big, they also stamped the labels there in the store so they was like a record label but they wouldn't do anything else other then help out and thats when they started to get bigger and bigger. In 1977 Spiral Scratch was coming in to the shops and they was lucky because rough trade was there to help but everyone thought Spiral Scratch was mad because they was the first people to put there self out there with out a record company but it worked because rough trade was behind them all the way. In the 70's rough trade big expansion started, they had desperate bicycles, and Scrittie Pollitie they were both punk rock bands that went to rough trade to get there music listened to and then got distributed by them. Rough trade was also anti capitalist, Richard scott in 1977 'Third world" Daniel miller couldn't get out there with his music, even thou he didn't like punk rock he decided to write a punk rock song and produce it with rough trade this helped him get his name out there a known, that also helped because he would have done some different music but as he done punk first people know no him so he will be able to been better know. Then you no rough trade is getting bigger because, they found a french band and presses it, they produces 12 albums in one year and that was amazing for rough trade, the french band contract was written down on a pice of paper, that just shows how much it has changed from 1970 to 2010. Rough trade could of built a empire and become a big company but they wasn't interested because they didn't want to become like virgin media they wanted to be different to other companies. In 1979 rough trade had been producing stiff little fingers, there a band that would normally go to a empire but didn't and with rough trade they become 14th in the chart witch was the highest rough trade had been in a chart and they kept in the chart for a little while.

After explaining all that it is easy to say that there distortion has got better and that there company is getting bigger year after year.

In the 1980's because rough trade was getting bigger and bigger this is were a contract would come in handy for them, and because they haven't been this high before they didn't really no if they should have one or not, and the problem they kept on having was they were helping start of new bands and getting them into the charts and when they got there self well known they would go to a empire like virgin media and that would make them more money. The issues between the record label and the distribution was that people didn't like to promote new songs with out a company and they would find it hard to trust independent companies, and because of that the structure of the business changed a little and rough trade decided to do more there self and make there own contract and get everyone that wants to be signed or distributed to sign the contract and have to produce a certain amount of albums for them. There are not that many single artists that got there self in to the charts it was more like bands that work with rough trade but i think Duffy was one of there first artists on her own to make it to a number on in the charts. At the end of the 1980's the french tech no and they was big with rough trade. Rough trade was different to other independent companies because they were holding people for a certain amount of time and they distributed as well. In 1991 they had a un successful year for the label they made an ill fated move to Finsbury Park and after a series of unfortunate business decisions and issues with their distribution, the parent company, Rough Trade International, went into administration. Rough Trade’s time as an independent label and shop were over as the company’s assets were sold off to pay for its distribution debts. Ruining quite a few smaller record labels to which money was owed. Some have suggested that the label was a victim of its own success. Rob Young argued in Rough Trade, his history of the label, that “personality clashes rotted it away from the inside” and the successful business that had been growing and progressing for the past 15 years had crumbled to nothing, leaving over fifty of the UK’s most prominent independent bands out of pocket and with Rough Trade unable to lift their leftover stock or reimburse them.

Rough trade has now made a come back, Geoff Travis and Jeannette Lee had been talking for a little while and decided they wanted to get the rights of rough trade back and make them big again, after they thought there way back of getting rough trade there name back again, they decided they needed something good to get it back on track again, and after a few fauls starts in 2000 they had a cassette handed into them and it had 3 songs on there and they was called the strokes.The Strokes first release ‘The Modern Age’ but then they had the same problem as before rough trade made the strokes big but they left them even thou they signed a 3 year contract after them 3 years they left and they move to a empire company but however they didn't produce any albums for them. Then they thought it would be good to get into x factor and things like that so Duffy became there next big recording artist and there still going big now.