[PIAS] UK

[PIAS] UK

While the nation as a whole has been confronted with riots breaking across several cities, the music industry was dealt a big blow when a warehouse owned by Sony was burnt down.

The Enfield warehouse was also used by [PIAS] Entertainment Group, who are the main distributor for independent record labels.

A huge number of labels will be affected by this, as PIAS distributes stock for over 150 record companies.

An official statement from Kenny Gates, founder and CEO of the company, said: "These times are difficult for us, our artists, our labels and the whole indie sector which we vastly represent but we are determined to come out of this setback in the best way possible."

Acts as big as Arctic Monkeys and Adele release music on independent labels, but it is lesser-known acts and companies that will be most affected by this.

Former Busted and Fightstar member Charlie Simpson is signed to independent label Nusic Sounds, and all copies of his yet-to-be-released debut solo album Young Pilgrim were destroyed in the blaze.

His team have been able to reprint enough copies to meet their 15th August release date, but other smaller labels don't have the money or resources to do this.

Unfortunately, this may start a vicious cycle, where artists can't sell records that phsyically aren't there, which may in turn put some labels out of business.

Singer-songwriter Frank Turner (signed to Xtra Mile) is another act who may be affected.

In June his fourth album England Keep My Bones was in the UK Album Chart Top 10.

Now, just two months later, almost all the label's stock was destroyed.

Frank told us his fears for the industry: "It's gutting. I'm really not optimistic about prospects for the indies right now. A lot of them will go under."

He described the situation as "very depressing".

His label-mate Chris T-T is also concerned: "I think the cultural impact is potentially scarily big."

He added: "These are small companies, developing important artists' careers who have - and will - define music for decades."

Chris also made the point that profits aren't high for many of these companies, and their employees' livelihoods rely on music sales.

Although he hasn't released an album in over a year, Chris T-T fears for other artists at the label.

"It gives me shivers to think what Frank Turner, Xcerts, Beans On Toast, Crazy Arm, Ben Marwood stock may have been destroyed," he said.

Meanwhile, musician Jo Hamilton (signed to Poseidon) has lost copies of her album Gown.

She admitted to having "grave concerns for the future".

Jon Cotton, who runs Poseidon, explained that despite this being just one distribution company, the impact could be huge.

"We are running out of distributors - for indies there are fewer and fewer choices since Pinnacle went bust a couple of years back. I just hope PIAS make it through this."

For Jo, the label are mid cycle with her current album Gown, so Jon admits the incident won't affect them immediately.

So, what can music fans do to support the artists and labels through this difficult time?

Chris T-T said: "I'd ask people, if they were ever going to stock up on Xtra Mile music, or any music by artists on labels affected, that now is the time."

He added: "We always need fans to be supporters. It's the same as always just intensified: if a band you love comes to your town, get off the sofa, don't think 'next time'."

This is clearly a huge blow to the independent music scene in the UK, which was really finding its feet with the success of Top 10 albums from Adele, Frank Turner, Seasick Steve and Arctic Monkeys.

It has since been announced that some stock should be reprinted and available to ship from next week, which should soften a heavy blow on the industry.

Female First - Alistair McGeorge

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