Influential Labels Beggars Group, Domino, Saddle Creek Pact With Redeye Distribution
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The Beggars Group, Domino Recording Co. and Saddle Creek, three of the most influential indie record labels in the music industry, have signed a deal with North Carolina-based Redeye for U.S. distribution of physical products. The pact goes in effect January 1, 2020.
London-headquartered Beggars Group, founded by Martin Mills in 1977, is home to 4AD, Matador Records, Rough Trade, Young Turks and XL Recordings. Its artist roster has included such artists as Adele, FKA Twigs, Kurt Vile, The xx and The National, among others. Previously, Beggars releases were distributed through ADA.
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Domino has released albums by Arctic Monkeys, Blood Orange, Animal Collective, Franz Ferdinand, Dirty Projectors and Real Estate, among others.
Omaha, Nebraska’s Saddle Creek, founded in 1993, is best know as the home of Bright Eyes, but has also released music by artists including Cursive, Big Thief and Sam Evian.
Forthcoming releases via Redeye, which was founded in 1996, include new albums by Grimes (4AD), Pinegrove (Rough Trade), Dan Deacon (Domino) and Frances Quinlan (Saddle Creek).
Said Glenn Dicker, co-founder of Redeye: “Redeye prides itself on our relationships with our customers and label partners. Over the years, we have looked at the Beggars Group as the gold standard of what could be achieved by an independent company with hard work and dedication to artists and music. Additionally, Domino and Saddle Creek are among the many great labels we’ve stayed connected to over the years so we’re proud to now have them all as part of the family.”
“Historically, independent labels have always seen getting records into stores as the first business decision they need to make,“ added Beggars’ Mills. “But now that physical is such a small and decreasing part of the majors’ business, for indies, to whom physical, and especially vinyl, is so much more important, to partner with the majors for distribution has become arguably anachronistic. Beggars works with great, fully independent distributors everywhere else in the world, and believes in bringing the advantages of our scale to the sector; and much as we’re sorry to leave ADA, with whom we’ve had incredible success, we’re very happy to be fully independently distributed at last in the USA.”
“It’s been impressive to watch how Glenn Dicker, Tor Hansen, and the Redeye team have grown the company over the past decade,” said Kris Gillespie, Domino managing director.
“Redeye feels like the right place for us to be,” said Robb Nansel of Saddle Creek. “With a staff that is clearly made up of music fans and creators, we are excited to be a part of the independent community at Redeye and we look forward to growing together in the future.”
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