After eight long days and nights of graft following the destruction of the Sony DADC Warehouse, [PIAS] have finalised a watertight logistics plan to ensure the broad depth of independent new and catalogue releases will continue to be distributed across the retail spectrum – from HMV to Honest Jon’s, Amazon to Asda.
Sony has established a new distribution centre based in Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire, which will be fully functional as of Monday 22nd August. In order to ease the burden on this new facility, [PIAS] has arranged for a new partner, Proper Music Distribution, to fulfil certain important areas of the business.
The following areas will provisionally be fulfilled by each respective partner:
Sony DADC
– All supermarket business
– HMV bulk orders (new releases, charts and in-store campaigns)
– International shipments
– Wholesalers
Proper
– All Independent retailers
– All Amazon and Play business
– HMV catalogue orders
There are a few other retailers that will be allocated to one of the two distribution partners in the coming days, which [PIAS] will finalise once they get a feel for the capabilities of the new Sony DADC logistics centre.
At the appropriate point in the future the majority of retailers will revert back to being serviced by Sony DADC, however [PIAS] envisages the independent retailers will remain with Proper for the foreseeable future.
The blaze at the Enfield warehouse last week destroyed 3.25 million CDs, vinyl releases and rare boxed sets from thousands of artists and had the potential to cripple many of the 150-plus labels (list below) whose stock was distributed by [PIAS] and stored at the facility.
The [PIAS] team worked diligently and rigorously towards a swift resolution of the situation, with many senior staff cutting short or cancelling their summer holidays.
Despite all stock being destroyed, [PIAS] were able to ensure Charlie Simpson’s debut solo album Young Pilgrim was in stores on the planned release date of Monday August 15, to land a likely top ten in this Sunday’s forthcoming chart.
Said Peter Thompson, MD [PIAS] UK “I am overjoyed to have this solution in place so soon after the fire at the Sony DADC warehouse which destroyed the stock of all our labels. Sony DADC have been amazing in getting things up and running so fast, and have excelled in their actions and flexibility in supporting our teams in looking after the needs of our labels.
“Proper have been extremely accommodating and with their help we now also have the best possible solution for supplying a depth of catalogue to the spectrum of independent retailers.”
Commented Kenny Gates Founder & CEO, [PIAS] “’I am happy we have found a solution to resume selling physical stock from our recording artists and our labels. The way this has been dealt with by all involved, the support from everyone around us and the shared determination to come out of this stronger is exceptional and truly inspiring.
I want to thank everyone who has been showing genuine support in the last few days and the [PIAS] UK staff who have been admirable in their swift actions. We can now fully focus on supporting our labels beyond resolving the immediate logistical issues and ensure we all come out of this stronger and more resilient than ever before.”
Added Steve Kersley MD, Proper Music Distribution “All of us in distribution looked on in horror at the destruction of Sony DADC and everyone would have considered the consequences on their own business. In these circumstances it’s easy to offer to help in any way we can and we are fortunate that we can lend a hand. We wish Sony DADC the best with their new setup and in the meantime are happy to do what we can. [PIAS] is a great company that is the standard bearer for independent music in the UK and beyond and we’re privileged to be helping them.”
[PIAS] set up an emergency fund last week in association with AIM and the BPI to assist labels with cashflow problems in the wake of the fire, with an initial available fund of £350,000.
[PIAS] AIM BPI EMERGENCY FUND BANK DETAILS
Account Number: 07699611
Sort Code – 18 00 02 – Add any special references
Swift code – coutgb22
Iban – GB91COUT 18000207699611
There’s also a site and organisation been set up by freelance media to arrange like minded fund raisers Accross the UK. Plus awareness raising excercises for indies affected by the [PIAS] fire:
www.cognitivedissonancerecords.com/labellove
[PIAS] Distributed Labels
[PIAS] Recordings, 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
