Rough Trade!

Rough Trade started as a small shop in London that was in a rough area in the middle of a west indian community. It was ran by Geoff Travis who sold 2nd hand and different types of music records that you wouldn't have normally seen in the shops. They helped artists that were different and had a different type of music sell their music. 

Rough Trade made the Buzzcocks and well recognized band and sold 15,000 records, this inspired many artists to start doing things themselves and starting posting how to make a record and how much it would cost to distribute them records. 

Eventually Rough Trade started mail orders and were beginning to sell records across the world, this is when Rough Trade decided to go into becoming a record label, but with kinder contract rules such as they would share the profit equally. 

The Stiff Little Fingers were one band who made Rough Trade big and sold 100,000 records 

When the song Sweetest girl was released by Scritti Politti Rough Trade had decided that they could make money and great hits but they had no business experience and was getting further and further into finical difficulty and their move of premiss didn't help either , they eventually hired an accountant who came back showing that Rough Trade we close to going bust. This meant that Rough Trade had to sell the shop in London to 3 of the members of staff that had worked there. 

Then came along The Smiths they were a boy band that almost changed the face of Rough Trade, but as the band progressed it started to fall apart, The Smiths original ideas were being changed because of the demands from Rough Trade and London Records and disagreements were starting to form and the band split in 1987. 

Rough Trade decided to move building again and this finished them off. Cash flow stopped and 2/3rd of the staff were gone by 1991.

Geoff was still trying to keep Rough Trade alive and when they signed Pulp with the song common people. 


But finally Duffy with Mercy gave Rough Trade the number one they had been waiting for and Rough Trade have carried on with their laid back and let the artist find them selves.