-Independent Record Label

Who are Rough Trade?

Rough Trade records first began in 1978. The label was started by Geoff Travis, who opened a record shop in West London in
1976. The shop was trailblazing, farsighted, welcoming, radical even revolutionary and it was brimming over with wonderful
things: seven-inch picture sleeves whose market was about to exponentially explode, reggae LPs, punk fanzines, badges. By
1978, it had a distribution system and was taking and selling records from bands benefiting from an emerging DIY culture. It was
then, that they start the official record label.

Geoff Travis
Born: February 2nd 1952
Geoff Travis is a British record producer and co-owner
of several major music labels such as Blanco Y Negro,
WEA, Trade 2 and Island Records. However Geoff
Travis is the creator of the independent record label
Rough Trade who started off the career of The
Smiths, The Strokes, The Libertines etc.
Writer Douglas Wolk credited Travis as virtually
defining "the British post-punk sound.

What do they do?

Rough Trade is an independent record label which specialises in giving small time bands the opportunity to become
world known. Rough Trade usually interested in artists who are talented in using their own musical instruments. They
distribute products and independent records to the public.
Rough Trade released over the next few years some of the finest
independent music ever committed to vinyl. New acts to the roster
included The Fall, Pere Ubu, Young Marble Giants, This Heat, Robert
Wyatt, Television Personalities, Aztec Camera and James Blood Ulmer.
Classic LP releases include The Falls Grotesque, This Heats Deceit,
Pere Ubus The Modern Dance, Young Marble Giants Colossal Youth,
Scritti Polittis Songs To Remember and James Blood Ulmers Are You
Glad To Be In America?.

Rough Trade also helped launch the career of The Smiths

in 1983. It was because of Rough Trade that the
independent music scene and genre started to be
recognised as indie The outcome was an unprecedented
run of sixteen chart singles beginning with This Charming
Man in 1984 and culminating in Last Night I Dreamt That
Somebody Loved Me in 1987. All four studio albums
reached the top two.

The Smiths
Probably one of the most recognised indie bands that Rough
Trade have launched the career of.

How successful was Rough Trade?

Rough Trade, over the years has had some ups and downs. Due to them being an independent label they had limited
funds, and even the success of The Smiths, Robert Wyatt and so on. It was not always enough for them to keep
going. This is why the institute has been bankrupt several times. However in 1984, Rough Trade was very successful
and on the move again from previous bankruptcy. They opened up a much larger premises in Kings Cross to try and
sign more and bigger artists to their institute to avoid bankruptcy again. However in 1991, due to some poor business
decisions Rough Trade lost all of its assets, including the record company, rights to their institute name etc. In order to
attempt to pay off Distribution Depts.

How do they use music videos?

Rough Trade use music videos as an extension of the artist creative focus. They use them in order to connect on a
different level with their artists fans as they are visual. In some of the music videos that I researched into that Rough
Trade had produced, I found that most of them are kept quite simple with the main focus on the artist with no story line
to it. This in some ways has been used successfully as it makes Rough Trade stand out from their competitors and
represents them as an institute who care more about the ways in which their artists are represented rather than the
glamour of a flash music video.