Elbows Music Blog Community

apocketfullofseeds

My friend interning at One Little Indian records told me today that they (and all the other labels using PIAS distribution) lost literally thousands of records yesterday.

The whole London riot thing is pretty disgusting. That being said I'm starting to wonder if it is being sensationalised by the media. This morning I was getting worried messages from old friends across the world but having spent the day in Camden Town there was nothing out of the ordinary to report. Obviously i'm not trying to defend any of the horrors that have gone on in the last few days, but I do think that things are starting to be distorted and misrepresented by journalists and politicians.

Anyway the really shitty thing is that the people most hardest hit are the small business owners (including labels) and communities.

squashed

I was waiting for somebody in town to report and tell what's going on, cause all the news I read on the net are either too scary (in term of how it spread) or next to pure nonsense.

I for one am taking extreme paranoia-conspiracy stance, economy is going down and the ruling government has every reason creating riot in the city. (murdoch/inner sanctum investigation, police corruption/phone spying, incompetence) What I see right now it's very classic. (down urban mass/lumpenproletariat finally explode. Anybody can ignite it. )

But whatever it is, little people are going to get hurt the most. ... And London has the most indie/lifeliest music scene at the moment. ...

anyway, wonder what to do next.

compiling list of record store? (snap shot what the damage is)
then see what people on the net can do in term of pointing out the public ...

stay safe.

-----------
ps. people in london definitely need to post news... so we know what BS and what's real.

squashed

If this were some other part of the planet, that lady interviewer would be dead the next day and her house torched.

apocketfullofseeds

Well I was struck by how Camden seemed very much "business as usual", which reminded me of reports of an unshaken London in the days after 7/7 .

That being said it was the middle of the day and Camden is not supposed to be the hardest hit area of London. And seeing as I don't live in london and am not a hugely political commentator I cant have too much to say.

My best mate does live in Peckham which has been hit badly by fires etc. He doesn't walk anywhere at the moment (uses the bike) and he can't believe just how casually crime riddled the place became in a matter of hours.

I think there is a lot of grotesque fascination across the country and the world. I also feel like people who label the activities as mindless and ignorant need to ask what has in fact caused all this if the individuals are so undirected.

squashed

This is about to turn into a race riot. If so, the fight will simmer for years ...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/08/09/501364/main20090351.shtml

LONDON - The leader of a British far-right group says its members
are taking to the streets of British cities in an attempt to quell riots
that have spread across the country for four nights.

Stephen
Lennon, leader of the English Defense League, told The Associated Press
that up to 1,000 members planned to turn out in Luton, where the group
is based, and others areas that have suffered unrest, including the
northwestern city of Manchester.

Lennon said some
members had were already carrying out patrols trying to deter rioters,
and that hundreds more would join them Wednesday.

"We're going to stop the riots — police obviously can't handle it," Lennon told the AP.

stagedivemalta

The worst case scenario of the PIAS episode is very ugly.

According to some industry friends in London: some labels have lost their entire stock. In tangible terms: artists like Adele might not be in the record stores next week. In the coming weeks cash flow will dry up and we might see redundancies, maybe even labels folding up. Its going to be a long and painful process recouping with insurances. Hopefully stock levels were updated recently and backed up remotely, but even so, its a heartache.

On the plus side there are already initatives to fight back, for example special digital store promo campaigns. For the sake of good music lets hope they'll pull through.

squashed

http://londonist.com/2011/08/london-riots-warehouse-fire-hits-indie-record-labels.php

London Riots: Warehouse Fire Hits Indie Record Labels

Around 150 independent record labels have been hit with a serious
problem since their CD stocks became a casualty of the London riots,
burning up with the Sony warehouse in Enfield that was the PIAS
distribution centre.

Sony has implemented its emergency plans.
Although it’s too soon to assess the extent of the damage, the stock is
insured at cost price. So eventually, that should pay out. But the fire
leaves lots of small record labels with no stock to sell in the shops
and no cash to pay for more CDs to be pressed. Release schedules for the
coming months are buggered. The NME thinks it’s inevitable that some
labels just won’t make it through this rough patch.

London
labels affected include the Arctic Monkey’s label Domino, XL Recordings
whose artists include Radiohead, Vampire Weekend and Adele, Wall of
Sound who have relaunched Grace Jones’ career, Sunday Best who champion
Scroobius Pip and, for those of us who’ve been inexplicably been singing
Travis today, Independiente. But with big names on the roster, fingers
crossed.

squashed

Among all the sorry carnage and sad tales left by London’s moronic
looting fraternity over the last humiliating three days, perhaps the
most devastating for music lovers was the huge fire that destroyed a
Sony warehouse primarily used by distribution company PIAS.

A three-storey, 20,000 square metre storage home for music from XL
Recordings, Beggars, Domino, Wall Of Sound, Warp Defected, Sunday Best
and Big Brother among others, the warehouse was a temporary home for
releases from all manner of indie labels and offshoots, and the extent
of its destruction is starting to become tragically apparent.

http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=10&title=london_riots&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

anybody has PIAS distribution list?

squashed

9 August 2011

Official Statement from [PIAS]:

There was a fire last night at the SonyDADC warehouse which
services the physical distribution for [PIAS] in the UK and Ireland.
[PIAS] is working closely with SonyDADC who are implementing their
emergency plans. [PIAS]‘s UK offices in London and all other areas of
our business are unaffected.

More information will be communicated shortly to all our labels and partners.

http://www.pias.com/pias/

squashed

Guardian has a list.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/aug/09/independent-record-labels-stock-london-riots

------------

some label I notice...

FatCat
Domino
Drag City
Kompakt
Kitsune
Thrill Jockey
Touch And Go
Warp

Tim

The riots have been pretty horrific, but the #riotcleanup efforts have been heart-warming.

The analysis thus far has been pretty pointless apart from a couple of pieces like these two:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/camila-batmanghelidjh-caring-costs-ndash-but-so-do-riots-2333991.html

http://pennyred.blogspot.com/2011/08/panic-on-streets-of-london.html

I was talking to some youth charity workers and others who have daily interaction with the kids on these riots and they have all said the same thing - that this has been coming for a long time.

These kids are brought up with little parental/governmental/school authority, in estates where you get to the top by taking what you want and damning the consequences. And with the current economy and Tory cuts they now don't have a future of employment or heading to university or college. There is nothing for them within current society and this is their pent up rage. This is no excuse, but just a bit of background.

It's relatively apolitical right now because these kids don't see anyone as representing them or with their best interests at heart. They don't feel they have anything to politically strive towards - so they turn to destruction. And destruction is fun. The role of looting has been over-reported by some in the media because it looks like they are just there to thieve - some are - but others broke in, thieved, and then smashed that plasma tv into pieces on the ground 30 seconds later. They are there to trash it all, the neighbourhoods, the businesses, and what they see as objects of wealth - tvs, iphones, and expensive trainers. The majority of the looting for keeps was opportunistic, the original aim, if you can call it that, was to wreak havoc and prove to those in power that they are not apathetic, they are just disenfranchised.

stagedivemalta

The labels effected:

1234
2020 Vision
Accidental
Ad Altiora
Adventures Close to home
Alberts
All City
Alt Delete
Ambush Reality
Angular
Ark
ATC
Atic
Atlantic Jaxx
Azuli
B Unique
Backyard
Bad Sneakers
Bandstock
Banquet
Basick
Beggars
Big Chill
Big Dada
Big Life / Nul / Sindy Stroker
Boombox
Border Community
Boysnoize
Brille
Bronzerat
Brownswood
Buzzin Fly
Can You Feel It
Catskills
ChannelFly
Chemikal Underground
City Rockers
Counter
D Cypher
Dance To The Radio
Deceptive
Def Jux
Dirtee Stank
Divine Comedy
Domino
Drag City
Drive Thru
Drowned in Sound
Dummy
Duophonic
Eat Sleep / Sorepoint
Electric Toaster
Emfire
F. Comm
Fabric
Faith And Hope
Fantastic Plastic
Fargo
FatCat
Feraltone
Finders Keepers / Twisted Nerve
Fingerlickin'
Flock
Free Range
From The Basement
Full Time Hobby
Goldsoul
Gronland
Groove Attack
Halftime
Hassle
Heron
Hum&Haw
Independiente
Info UK
Join Us
Kartel
Kensaltown
Kitsune
Kompakt
Laughing Stock
Leftroom
Lex
Lo Max
Loose
Love Box
Lowlife
Lucky Number
Marquis Cha Cha
Memphis Industry
Merok
Metroline
Mute
Naïve
Nation
Navigator
New World
Ninja Tune
Nuclear Blast
One Little Indian
Output / People in the Sky / Process
Pale Blue
Palm
Peacefrog
PIAS Recordings
PIP 555 Productions
Play To Work
Powerhouse (T2)
Propaganda / Ho Hum
Raw Canvas
Red Grape
Red Telephone Box
Rekids
Renaissance
Respect Productions (PES digital)
Reveal Records
RMG
Rock Action
Roots
Rough Trade
Rough Trade Comps
Rubyworks
Ruffa Lane
Search And Destroy
Secret Sundaze
Secretly Canadian / Jagjaguwar / Dead Oceans
Sell Yourself
Setanta
Shatterproof
Sideone Dummy
Slam Dunk
Smalltown
Soma
Something In Construction
Sonic Cathedral
Sonar Kollectiv
Soul Jazz
Southern Fried
Stranded Soldier
Subliminal
Sunday Best
TARGO
Taste
Ten Worlds
Thrill Jockey
Total Fitness
Touch And Go
Track And Field
TriTone
Trouble
Try Harder
Turk
Turnstile
Twenty 20
Underworld
Union Square
Urban Torque
Vagrant
Vice
Victory
Wagram
Wall Of Sound
Warp
Wi45
Wonky Atlas
Word And Sound
Xtra Mile
You Are Here

apocketfullofseeds

http://www.musicindie.com/news/1131

squashed

Sony's warehouse in London, the UK, which stores blank optical discs, was recently struck by fire and is expected to cause the optical disc market, which is already suffering from tight supply, to see an even worse shortage, according to sources from optical drive players.

Since the related losses and supply chain status of Sony are currently still unclear, Taiwan-based optical disc players, which already planned to increase their disc prices for the second half, will continue to proceed with their original plans.

The sources pointed out that as second-tier players are gradually phasing out of the optical disc market, the supply status of optical discs has been turning worse, and as demand for optical discs in the second half is expected to rise because of the peak season, the players are expected to benefit significantly in revenues after the price rise.

Taiwan-based optical disc maker CMC Magnetics pointed out that the price of DVD and CD-R discs already rose close to 40% from early January to August and the rise is expected to reach 50% by the end of 2011, as originally planned. If demand in the future continues to grow, the company will also make appropriate adjustments based on its orders and inventory.

As for Blu-ray discs, although CMC Magnetics and Ritek are the second- and third-largest global suppliers, because demand for Blu-ray discs is already weak because of high prices, the fire at Sony's warehouse is unlikely to cause the two players' clients to significantly shift Blu-ray orders from Sony to them.

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20110810PD225.html

squashed

UK To Shut Down Social Networks?

"In a move worthy of China's communist regime, UK PM David Cameron wants to shut down social networks whenever civil unrest rears its head
in Britain's towns and cities. Speaking in the House of Commons,
Cameron said, 'Everyone watching these horrific actions will be struck
by how they were, organized via social media. Free flow of information
can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill. So we are working
with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at
whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these
websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder
and criminality.'" So far I haven't heard anyone blame the Rock 'n
Roll music, but if social networks aren't a good enough culprit, you
could also try blaming video games.

----------------------

Watch out. They are spying on every single thing. This is "everybody is a terrorist move", the kind that pisses off the planet. Before long it's off with their heads public riot.

Move your money and valuable discretely from these incompetent leaders. Nevermind the riot. Shit like that always happen in down economy, but you have to watch the slippery slide of BS. It's the same everywhere.

They have CCTV, spying everything electronic and still people gets pissed off and riot in bad economy. And naturally the idiot in charge will demand more surveillance and police state instead of fixing what everybody knows (stop looting the economy, fix the corrupt banking, no more war, etc. etc). but...they will do more of the same.

Sadly, when this hit US in short time, everybody already knows what a "brave freedom loving" country will do. Just another despotic banana republic.

squashed

Britain considers mask ban; may use army if unrest continues

The Guardian has full details on Prime Minister David Cameron's report today in Parliament:

• Instant messaging services will be reviewed. "We are working with the
Police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it
would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and
services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and
criminality," he said.

• The police will have new powers to order people to remove facemasks.
"On facemasks, currently [the police] can only remove these in a
specific geographical location and for a limited time," Cameron said.
"So I can announce today that we are going to give the police the
discretion to remove face coverings under any circumstances where there
is reasonable suspicion that they are related to criminal activity."

• Curfew powers will be reviewed. "On dealing with crowds, we are also
looking at the use of existing dispersal powers and whether any wider
power of curfew is necessary," he said.

squashed

U.K. officials call for BlackBerry network shutdown; RIM hacked after offering help to authorities

http://boingboing.net/2011/08/09/uk.html

squashed

Everybody should move their valuable information from all open network. I think it's about to turn into gigantic internet war.

If france economy start looking really shaky, the people in charge in UK will panic and make everything worst. So the usual stupidity will ensue.

squashed

They have now established a separate page on the official LSE blog with related posts; below are the titles of those to date:

Polling indicates support for curfews, water cannons, plastic bullets, and bringing in the army to deal with rioters (Anthony Wells)
What further options might work in boosting the police
capacity to handle urban disorders and riot emergencies? The pros and
cons of a bigger police reserve, curfews, and army deployments (Danielle Moran, Amy Mollett and Chris Gilson)
Rather than simply reading the rioters the Riot Act, we
must ensure that lessons are learned from this week’s violence. A
credible enquiry is essential (Barnie Choudhury)
The crude moralism that characterises looters and rioters
as ‘scum’ is evidence that space for political debate about the causes
of things is becoming dangerously limited (Mary Evans)
David Cameron may finally have found community spirit
amongst the riot clean up, but recent events spell the end for his Big
Society fantasy (Amy Mollett)
The vulnerability of the British state – deeper lessons from the urban riots (Patrick Dunleavy)
The violence on London’s streets is less political and less
structured than has been the case in Northern Ireland. It is the result
of decades of social and economic deprivation and inequality (Bill Kissane)
Separating out whether individual or community factors
drive rioting is difficult. We should be very wary about believing
anyone who claims to know otherwise (Henry Overman)

http://ipezone.blogspot.com/2011/08/londons-burning-lse-brain-trust-on.html

squashed

*chuckle*

It's classic land expropriation. I wouldn't be surprised if people start blowing up stuff next.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/12/1006283/-Collective-punishment-begins-in-London?via=siderecent

The first eviction notice has been served in Wandsworth council against a father and son (http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/...). The son has appeared in court charged with participation in riots in Clapham Junction which is a part of Wandsworth (http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/).

The notice is the first stage in the legal process of
eviction. The notice gives warning that the council will be seeking
possession of the property and that an application will be made to the
courts seeking the tenant's eviction. The final decision will rest with a
judge sitting at the county court (http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/...).

Unsurprisingly, this is an area in which large amounts of
gentrification has occurred and which are continuing and confirms the
speculation in yesterday's diary by myself and an affirming flame that
these riots will be used as part of an attempt to clear the poor and
working class out of areas to enable them to be claimed by wealthy white
people.

Hopefully a large movement both legal and with demonstrations to put
pressure on the council are organised as this is the beginning of
attempts to deny the poor their human rights and are part of a larger
attempt to punish the victims of the economic policies since Margaret
Thatcher. This is an all-out declaration of war against the poor in the
UK that are already facing extreme hardship due to the housing benefit
cuts passed by the ConDem government. Given that the purpose of the
housing benefit limits placed by the government was to clear the poor
out of the inner boroughs has begun to face legal challenges and there
is dissent in the coalition on the policies, it seems that a more
effective way of removing the poor from these areas has been started.

squashed

Tsuru

This thread got confusing quick, but isn't the warehouse insured? Lard knows Sony can afford to pay the labels for their loss & replenishment, no?

squashed

Probably it's a criminal way to liquidate asset and get out of money losing business. Who knows. It's a gigantic facility. 20,000 square. Seems fairly modern. (I doubt it is not designed with compartments and good fire protection. Afterall, the content is fairly flammable) But whatever it is, they are not going to rebuild facility that size dedicated to obsolete media. Have you seen walmart CD/DVD stock lately? It's seriously tiny compare to only last year.

http://www.cmj.com/news/sony-distribution-center-torched-in-london-riots/

The warehouse housed Sony’s DADC (Digital Audio Disc Corporation)
facility. Moreover, the building also acted as the headquarters for PIAS,
a U.K. distributor that managed stock for more than 150 different
independent record labels including XL and Domino. The facility was more
than 20,000 square meters and contained not only CDs but movies, video
games and more.

adam_beggars

Tsuru said:
This thread got confusing quick, but isn't the warehouse insured? Lard knows Sony can afford to pay the labels for their loss & replenishment, no?

i'm not sure what's in this thread, but i can kinda explain why this is a huge bummer.

indies like "us" are gonna be fine for the most part. we can source stock worldwide, we can get to the front of the cue because we do large runs. we have insurance to cover shipping, customs fees, etc.

the rub with us is losing stuff that we might not have all the parts to re-manufacture. warp alluded to a lot of stuff that they just simply don't see the financial upside of re-doing.

it's the little guys that this might kill. insurance (which Sony has) might take a while to process. so if you either have to front the money to manufacture or ship stock to the UK. it just sucks. i'd imagine some small guys will go out of business.

and then there are the records that came out last week or this week or next... that are gonna just suffer.

plus, the already insane backlogs at vinyl presses just got more backlogged.

each day, i'm sure there are more dark realizations.

there are several efforts afoot to raise awareness (AIM is working with Topspin on something or http://cognitivedissonancerecords.com/labellove/labellove/)

help out by just creating awareness for all the efforts afoot or buying some music yourself. it's a big deal and greatly affects the labels that in many ways are putting out the most interesting music and doing the best at developing new artist.

squashed

I don't know how vinyl pressing economy & process work in detail. But what the independent labels have to do is reorganize the process/pressing chain, so that one doesn't need to store "10,000" crap in the warehouse. (Tho, in my opinion, anybody who still support vinyl technology not only deserve bankruptcy, but should be brought to justice for crime against environment and general menace to society luddite.)

If you look at current plastic technology. It is possible to split the bisque plate and pressing very conveniently. It is not necessary to store huge number of finish product. have few bisque suppliers feed dozens if not hundred "presser" front end. The bisque supplier deal with quality control and price fluctuation of buying plastics in bulk. The back end can run 24/7 using few guys, truly modern plastic plant. The front end presser only knows how to put the master in a machine and hit "print the sucker" button.

So a small "record store" can actually have its own small presser. Combined this with "Digital mastering", all of a sudden you don't need big"storage" are anymore. All it requires is standardization of the plastic bisque/transporter plus rearranging process. (trivial engineering problem) The rest is finance and business sense. If one can bring down the "pressing machine" under 10K, probably less for smaller capacity, then the entire vinyl industry may become economically sustainable again. (distribution and marketing is now the biggest/non scalable problem.) Some big authority have to back it with money and technical enforcement. There need to be market guarantor (we will buy this many hundred pressing machine, and we know we will sell this many million albums) Cost will go down ! Price of vinyl albums will probably hit pennies soon afterward.

Of course, then the usual problem of "cheating" emerge. How many albums do those bastards actually stamp and sell? ....and smartphone will eat the entire market soon enough. (sub $200 smartphone/tablet will finally kill most analog media.)

But europe is now double dipping. US will soon enter double dipping recession. half ass and band aid strategy aren't going to cut it.

stagedivemalta

For all its worth - Sonic Cathederal are going ahead with the Sarabeth Tucek release. SC were amongst the hardest hit labels, so this is encouraging news ...