The ongoing London riots have officially affected the music world through the destruction of large distribution center in Enfield that housed stock from a slew of independent record labels, including the likes of 4AD, Chemikal Underground and Matador Records.
The three-story, 200,000 square-foot warehouse, which was Sony’s only UK-based distribution warehouse and housed the stock of PIAS Distribution, burned to the ground around 4:00 am GMT today.
Reports are currently indicating that most of the warehouse’s stock was lost in the blaze. Record labels affected by the blaze are primarily of the independent variety and have been confirmed to include Sub Pop, Vice, Rough Trade, XL/Beggars, Jagjaguwar, Kompakt and Ninja Tune, among others.
The warehouse served as a distribution center to supply local record stores with albums and DVDs from some 150 different record companies. Individual artists affected by the fire include well-known acts like Arctic Monkeys and Prodigy.
The amount of damage done to the warehouse has yet to be fully determined, primarily because at the time of this report parts of the building were still ablaze. No injuries have been reported.
Sony has said that deliveries will likely be impacted by the fire, an aspect that was confirmed via Twitter by Sunday Best owner Rob Da Bank.
“So looks like all our Sunday Best stock went up in flames last night in the PIAS blaze,” he tweeted.
Others also took to Twitter to address the implications caused by the fire.
“PIAS distribution got burnt to the ground last night, they look after XL group, domino in fact most of the big indies. More small companies hit in what could well prove to be the death knell of huge amounts of (independent) mom and pop businesses,” wrote Rough Trade East manager Spencer Hickman. PIAS was the largest distributor to local Rough Trade shops.
Meanwhile, PIAS took to their website with the following statement:
“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.”
The riots that preceded the PIAS fire began this past Saturday after London police killed suspected drug dealer Mark Duggan in a planned arrest, resulting in a 200-person march in Tottenham that quickly spiraled out of control. According to Time, there have not been so many simultaneous fires in London since the city experienced the Nazi blitzkriegs of World War II.
The full list of record labels that kept stock at PIAS is as follows:
[PIAS] Recordings
[PIAS] Recordings Belgium
4AD
A Camp
Absynthe Minded
Accidental
AEI Music
Air Recordings
ALC Music
Alsation
Ambush Reality
Ancient & Modern
Angular Recording Corporation
Arcady Records
Ark Recordings
Asthmatic Kitty Records
Atlantic Jaxx Recordings
Bad Magic
Balling The Jack
Banquet Records
Battered Ornaments Records
Beggars Banquet
Best Before
Big Brother
Big Dada
Bird Records
blackmaps
Bloody Chamber
Blowout Music
Blue Chopsticks
Border Community
Borstal Beats
Boysnoize Records
BPM
Brainfeeder
Brassland
Bright Star Recordings
Brille
Broken Sound Music
Bronzerat
Brothers and Sisters
Brownswood Recordings
Buzzin’ Fly
Cache Cache
Cadenza Records
Celluloid Records
Chalkmark / IE
Chemikal Underground Records
Cocoon
Control Tower
Counter Records
Dance To The Radio
Dead Oceans
Deceptive
Defenders Ent UK
DESOLAT
Dessous
Different
Dirtee Stank
Divine Comedy Records
Domino Records
Double Six Records
Drag City
Dreambrother
Drive Thru Records
Drowned In Sound
Dummy Records
Duophonic
Eat Sleep Records
Fabric Worldwide
Fake Diamonds
FantasyTrashcan
Fatcat Records
Fence
Feraltone
Finders Keepers Records
Flock Music
Flying Circus
Freerange Records
Friends Vs Records
Full Pupp
Full Time Hobby
Gang Of Four Recordings
Geographic
Ghost Ship
Glaze Recordings
Groenland Records
G-Unit
Hardly Art
Hassle Records
Helpless
Hem Hem Records
HFN Music
Immune
Independiente
Infant
Infectious
Jagjaguwar
Kartel
Kitchenware
Kitsune
KMS Records / Fabric
Laughing Stock
Lex Records
Lipservice
Little Sister Recordings
LO-MAX Records
Loose Music
Lovepump United
Low Life Records
Lucky Number Music
Lucky Seven Records
Mantra
Matador
Memphis Industries
Merok
Metric Music International
Metroline Limited
Model Citizen
Moikai
Motion Audio
MyMajorLabel Ltd
Nation
Ninja Tune
No Quarter
NovaMute
Nusic Sounds
One Four Seven Records Ltd
One Little Indian
Organs
Outcaste
OVNI
P.I.L.
Peartree Records
PeMa
People In The Sky
People Tree
Pirates Blend Records Inc
Planet Function
Play It Again Sam
Playlouder
Poker Flat
Polyvinyl Records
Poseidon Records
Post Present
Pschent
Raw Canvas
Red Cord Records
REK’D
Rekids
Rekords Rekords
Renaissance
Reveal Records
Riverman Records
Rock Action Records
Roots Records
Rough Trade Records
Rubyworks
Sea Note
Search and Destroy
Secretly Canadian
Setanta
Shape
SideOneDummy Records
Silva Screen
Slam Dunk Records
Smekkleysa
Soma
Sonic Cathedral
Soul Jazz Records
South Paw
Southern Fried Records
Stereo Bang Media
Stolen Recordings
Stranger Records
Streamline
Sub Pop
Suicide Squeeze
Sunday Best
Thrill Jockey
Tirk
Too Pure
Torque Records
Touch & Go Records
Transmission Recordings
Tri Tone
Trouble Records
True Panther
Try Harder
Turnstile
Twisted Nerve Recordings
Universal Sound
Victory Records
Wagram
Wall of Sound
Warp
Watergate
We Love You
Wiiija
Willkommen Records Ltd
Wonderfulsound
XL
Xtra Mile Recordings
Yaala Yaala
Young Turks
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