Out of the Flames

As news of the last week’s brutal riots in London circulated the world, this enduring image of the gigantic fire at the Sony distribution warehouse in Enfield, North London, was used to head up many a TV and newspaper report. But what may not have been instantly obvious to the extended Border Community family around the world is that, as well as the Playstation booty that sits near the top of a looter’s wishlist, the Sony warehouse was also home to the vinyl and CD back catalogues of a host of the UK’s finest independent record labels via their distribution deals with PIAS UK, including the good ship Border Community. We first heard the news from the BBC’s rolling news coverage, where upon the announcement that the giant fire currently filling the screen was believed to be a “Sony distribution centre in Enfield”, our jaws simultaneously dropped. The next morning we awoke to confirmation that – as the fire was clearly still smouldering on – our entire stock of vinyl and CDs had indeed been destroyed.

That was ten days ago now, and our silence on the subject so far can be attributed to the fact that this happened just two days before we were due to leave for a Spanish mini-tour, but also to a degree of sensitivity to the losses of other PIAS-distributed labels, as this certainly hasn’t hit us as badly as some. Most of our recent releases had already pretty much sold out (just a hundred or so copies each of Luke Abbott‘s Trans Forest Alignment and Fairmont‘s Velora EP remained), and thankfully we weren’t in the truly gutting position of just having shipped a load of fresh stock into the warehouse ready for imminent release. Unfortunately, we feel like we have been here once before, when we faced the double bankruptcy of our then-distributor Amato and then-label-management-company 3Beat a few years ago, and that was definitely worse, eating up thousands of pounds that were owed to us as well as threatening to swallow up our back catalogue. Ever since then, we have consistently avoided any overheads which would also tip us over into bankruptcy in the event of any other unexpected disruptions to the money stream: we work from a small office in our own home, and the wages of myself and our assistant Rosana are all covered by Mr Holden‘s DJ activities. All of which means that once again this time we will weather the storm: we certainly aren’t folding, and nor or we about to “go digital”.

But it is nonetheless the end of an era: many of the vinyl releases which were destroyed are unlikely to ever be repressed, although we are already in the process of restocking our most recent CD album releases. To those looking to complete their vinyl collection, this list of webstores is the best pointer I can give you to tracking down any remaining stragglers that have escaped the flames. Otherwise, after a comprehensive stocktake the small number of copies that we have hoarded here will eventually make it onto our merchandise store, beyond which the opportunity to pre-order our most highly sought after releases via a Kickstarter-type funding pledge scheme may eventually enable represses of selected items. Your Border Community vinyl collection just got that extra bit more collectible.

As we wait for the insurance claims process to run its course, in the interim there is an overwhelming stream of goodwill flowing in the direction of PIAS-distributed labels from the wider music industry: an official label loan fund has already been established, whilst the blogger-run Label Love project seeks to make a bad thing good by organising live events and collecting up paypal donations and their nerdier counterpart Record Label Love enlists the help of hackers to guide people towards PIAS label purchases. Websites like The Quietus meanwhile have sought to drive their readers towards legitimate music purchases through a guide to their top 20 PIAS-distributed releases, including our own Mr Holden’s The Idiots Are Winning debut album, and the lovely Boomkat have collected together a list of all of the PIAS-distributed labels both big and small that are worthy of your support.

Personally, we aren’t looking for handouts or charity. But we do want you to buy our music, not just now, but all year round; and because you really love it, not because you feel sorry for us. So if you were in the habit of “looting” our music via the likes of Rapidshare, today is certainly the day to change your ways. Some have sought to drive purchases towards labels’ own personal websites, but, whilst our own mp3 shop remains ever at your service, we think that now more than ever it is important to oil the wheels of the music industry. Our manufacturing costs should eventually be covered by the insurance payout, but PIAS themselves and the network of independent record stores that rely on PIAS-distributed releases for a large proportion of their stock are also facing a serious reduction in turnover. These companies also have overheads – rent, staff – to cover, and without them we wouldn’t be able to do what we do. So the best way to help is by paying for the music that you love, whether by tracking down those elusive remaining physical copies or stuffing your hard drive with digital goodies care of sterling (and largely independent) music outlets like the ones in this list. And we, in return, pledge to keep bringing you plenty more cockle-warming music where that came from, and to keep on pressing the black stuff.