Rough trade began 30 years ago, on the 20th of february 1976. It was set up by Geoff Travis and the new shop was situated at 202 Kensington Park Road. They sold obscure and abstract records, and the first band they dealt with was the Clash. They also sold Punk music magazines.
They had an ethos different from most; they weren't trying to be an upmarket shop, they just wanted to make music. They also printed production costs on the record sleeves, so that people could do it themselves. They were different to large corporations as their contract seemed fairer; the contract would only last as long as one of the party, either rough trade or the artist, felt it was failing and not worth continuing. Also, the profits were shared 50/50 which was much more beneficial to artists than other record deals.
Rough trade ended up expanding, as many bands desired to work with rough trade, as the deal was fairer. Meant new bands and varieties joined. In the 1970s, rough trade put principle before project and weren't interested in building an empire. As one of their first acts, Stiff Little Fingers released their first album and sold 100,000 copies. Their success meant Rough Trade could fund smaller bands like 'the Raincoats.'
It seemed there were problems between the record label and distributors as people began to get competetive. This lead to some changes. One of Rough Trade's major artists, Scritti Politti announced a drastic change; they had turned to pop music. The song 'Sweetest Girl' made £60,000 which showed turning to POP wasn't a bad decision in terms of profit. Rough Trade were a company which were more about the music than the money, but with the changes, it caused competetion. 'We need to have hits, we need to sell out' was a quote I picked up. The band Aztech camera made it into the top 20 charts, causing them to leave and sign to a major record label.
In 1982 the conflict between the record label and distribution couldnt be resolved, which resulted into the Rough Trade shop being sold to 3 members of staff. Not long after came the solution to their problems: The Smiths. They had huge commercial potential and brought about the Indie trend. With The Smiths, Rough trade abandoned the 50/50 deal and made a deal that secured them 4 albums. In 1984, Rough Trade were becoming mo/,re business orientated and moved to a warehouse in Birmingham. Following this, The Smiths signed to EMI, but they never gave them a record; Indie music was becoming mainstream.
In 1986 came the Dance music revolution!
At the beginning of the 90s, Rough Trade weren't in a good position. Their cash flow had stopped and in 1991 the staff had been dropped. Strangely, it was the most successful period for independants in which they went bust. Geoff and Jeanette took it upon themselves to set up shop just half a mile from the original Rough Trade store. In 1993, Pulp came about. They went into the charts at number 2 and by 1995 they had had a string of 5 top 10 singles.
In 2001, Geoff and Jeanette started to attempt to get the name back, as it had been sold with the rest of the assets. Rough Trade hoped that The Strokes would kickstart their new future. They were an American band, and Rough Trade flew to NY where they met them to see what they were about. Rough Trade marketed them like nobody else (eg through magazines), without signing a record deal. The Strokes were the biggest signing since the Smiths. Rough Trade signed the Liberteens some time after.
More recently, they signed Duffy and made a development deal. The way she was treated was different to that of an X-Factor contestant, for example. Nobody held her hand and took her to a writing session. She was given time to develop. Duffy got Rough Trade their first number 1 single in 2004.
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