Rough Trade

Rough Trade and the 1970's:

- How did Rough Trade start?

Rough Trade started as a small record shop in 202 Kensington Park Road. Geoff Trans decided to open the record store.

- Which music trends were popular?

Punk was the most popular genre of music in which Rough Trade started their business selling, however Jamaican music is also sold.

- What was the ethos of Rough Trade at this time?

The ethos of Rough Trade at the time was, 'Anyone could make a record'. The idea of the trade being, 'a do it yourself attitude'.

- How was Rough Trade different to large corporations?

Rough Trade were different to large corporations as they sold magazines as well as records in their company, which allowed people to be in an environment where they could just listen to music. They also sold albums of bands that just sent in a recording and they got back to them with what they thought.

- What techniques were used to expand the Independent music scene?

Rough Trade expanded their Independent music scene is many ways, Richard Scott who joined in 1977 began by offereing mail order accounts, allowing the Independent music business to branch out and expand through ways in which a Mainstream couldn't. Different bands such as 'Scritti Politti', were told by Rough Trade they could perform in their store which effected the company expanding. They also allowed the people who sung to go 50/50 with shares, and allowing them to leave when they wanted to.

- How did this lead to Rough Trade's expansion?

This lead to Rough Trade's expansion due to the public appeal that they gained which Mainstream companies couldn't, as Rough Trade were more personal to people with that music taste. New bands and artists joined, allowing more variety.

- What type of business structure existed in the 1970's?

The Principle Project was the main business structure, they wasn't interested in building an Empire.

- Explain the successes of the distribution department and record label?

In 1978, Rough Trade signed up to a group of Belfast Punks and in february 1979 Rough Trade and 'Stiff little fingers' joined and was the first British Independent album to sell over 100,000 copies. The cash flow of this success allowed them to sell new records, Rough Trade began to sell and pop music; known as commerical music.

The 1980's:

- How did contracts effect the development of Rough Trade?

The contracts effecteds Rough Trade's development as because they wasn't stable contracts, Rough Trade due to this experienced financial difficulties. In 1982, the Rough Trade store was sold to three of it's staff as it was unable to fund it's business.

- What issues occured between the record label and distribution?

The Record label staff had a conflict between distribution and record label and seemed it wouldn't be resolved. Rough Trade wanted to stick to there morals of selling records by artists and bands.

- What changes did this lead to within the business structure of Rough Trade?
Firstly they left their original shop in which they started their business and moved to Kings Cross. There was also negative management towards the end of the 80's as the arguments between distribution and the record label started. 'The Smiths' relationship between Rough Trade was becoming antagonistic.

- What has been Rough Trade's ideology and how was this effected by the change in structure?

Rough Trade's ideology started as a company that ared more for principle than money, however doing the 1980's Rough Trade were finding it hard with money and 'The Smiths' were their only hope at the time to keep the business going.

- Which artists led to success for Rough Trade?

'The Smiths' led to Rough Trade being known at the time.

- What music trend emerged at the end of the 1980's?

Indie music began due to 'The Smiths' performance with Rough Trade.

- What differences were there at this time between Rough Trade and other independent music labels?

Although they was a larger corporation, Rough Trade would still sell their artists as independent.

The 1990s:
- What problems did Rough Trade incur at the start of the 1990's?

In July 1990, the company moved to yet any location and Rouh Trade began to crash as they lost money and in march 1991, the staff had been dropped.

- What effect did this have on the Record label and distrbution?

The company was falling apart and losing business, the disagreements between record label and distrubution had caused the company to break.

- How did major record labels branch out into the independent music scene?

They changed contracts due to the public performance and began with a new record label with a bigger name.

- What actions were taken to revive Rough Trade?

When Jeannette and Geoff moved into the office in 1991,they started different ways to change the company and in 1993 the signed up a new artist.

- What new music industry areas did Rough Trade begin to work in and with which artists?

Rough Trade signed up with 'Pulp', who was known as something different for the era, this change allowed Rough Trade to start up a successful business again.

21st Century:

- How was Rough Trade envolved in the 21st century?

In 2001, Rough Trade decided to come back into the industry and signed up a new band, 'The Strokes'. Rough Trade decided to do this due to their success at the end of the 90's with 'Pulp's' single, 'Common People', which reached number two in the charts. 'The Strokes kicked started Rough Trade's name back into the music industry. They also featured in the 'Timeout' magazine in London, advertising the new band and indie/guitar genre of music.

- How are their working practises different to the music produced through programmes such as X factor?

Rough Trade disagree with the way in which shows such as, 'X factor' produce music artists as they are brought into the music industry without knowing very little about the industry, explaining why many artists don't least for long periods of time after the program.

- What successes have they had at this time?

Rough Trade manage 'Duffy' as an artist and feel that when she is ready to release her singles, they help her do so.

- How was Rough Trade's ideology developed for the company in the present day?
Rough Trade's ideology has stayed the same through most of their 30 years of business, they are a laid back independent company that look after their artists.