Independent music labels left 'devastated' by riot fire

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Page last updated at 11:13 GMT, Tuesday, 9 August 2011 12:13 UK

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By Greg Cochrane
Newsbeat music reporter

Firefighters battled the blaze at Sony DADC's warehouse in Enfield

Independent record labels have been left "devastated" by a fire started by rioters which destroyed a stock warehouse in Enfield on Monday night.

The building, owned by Sony DADC, was the main HQ for the UK's biggest distributor of independent music Pias.

The company looks after the stock of more than 150 record labels.

One of them, Memphis Industries, tweeted: "All the stock we got left is sitting in our office. Devastated is the word."

Industry reaction

Darren Hemmings, PIAS' head of digital marketing, confirmed the fire had affected the building on Twitter.

He wrote: "We know DADC was destroyed and are waiting to confirm exactly how badly this has affected Pias."

Radio 1 DJ Rob da Bank says his label's stock has been destroyed

An official statement from the company said: "Pias is working closely with Sony DADC who are implementing their emergency plans.

"Pias's UK offices in London and all other areas of our business are unaffected."

Labels who may have had stock stored in the unit include Domino, Warp and XL, who between them look after artists such as Adele and Arctic Monkeys.

Speaking to BBC 6music news, Spencer Hickman from the Rough Trade East record store said: "For us it's devastating. It's a lot of labels that are distributed by Pias.

"It's complete chaos, we don't know how long it's going to take them to get back on their feet. It looks like people have lost everything that was in the warehouse.

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"I'm sure there are labels which aren't insured. I'm sure there will be labels that will go bust."

Radio 1 DJ Rob da Bank, who also runs Bestival and an independent label, tweeted: "Looks like all our Sunday Best stock went up in flames last night in the Pias blaze."

London-based indie label One Little Indian added: "We've lost thousands of records! So sad."

Artist Charlie Simpson said: "The distribution warehouse where my album #youngpilgrim was supposed to be shipped from has been badly affected by the #londonriots."

Alex Kapranos from Franz Ferdinand wrote: "Thoughts go out to all the labels who have lost their stock in Pias fire."