Rough Trade and the 1980's

How did contracts effect the development of Rough Trade?
By Rough Trade having contracts it was helping them to create a bigger name for themselves, through big acts. However, as these big acts were selling records and becoming even more successful in the music industry, they would then move tolarger corporations for better opportunity for their careers. This lead to Rough Trade loosing a significant amount of their artists.

What issues occurred between the record label and distribution?

There was a conflict between the record label and distribution, as one aspect was under the control of Geoff and the other in control of another member of staff.

What changes did this lead to within the business structure of Rough Trade?
In business terms Rough Trades inexperienced staff were out of their depth, which ended up in the company experiencing financial difficulties as the company owed money that they could not pay back. This lead to the shop coming to closing point and on December, 1982 Rough Trade's shop was sold to three of its staff. These staff carried on with the shop and also kept the name.

What has been Rough Trade's ideology and how was this effected by the change in structure?To begin with, Rough Trade's ideology was mainly about the music and they bought principles before profit. Whereas, now they wanted to make more money and since many of their artists were on contracts they did not want to loose them.

Which artists led to success for Rough Trade?

In April, 1973 John Marr from The Smiths) walked into Rough Trade with a demo.

New music emerged from The Smiths as they started off the Indie music scene. Rough Trade were seen as 'enemies-out to spoil the party'. Rough Trade also gave The Smiths independent credibility and they also hired London Records, an expensive marketing campaign for The Smiths-after this a string of hit singles followed.

What music trend emerged at the end of the 1980's?

The rave scene explosion, was the music trend that emerged at the end of the 1980's, this was evolutionary scene since punk.

What differences were there between Rough Trade and independent labels and this time?

Independent labels at this time wanted 4% share. Also, although in a larger corporation, they would sell artists as independent, whereas Rough Trade was.