2. 1970s HOW DID ROUGH TRADE START? On the 20th February 1976, Geoff Travis opened ‘The Rough trade’ shop on Kensington Park, Ladbroke Grove. WHICH MUSIC TRENDS WERE POPULAR? The Rough Trade’ shop has began by selling Punk Tracks. WHAT WAS THE ETHOS OF ROUGH TRADE AT THIS TIME? The ethos of Rough Trade at this time was ‘Anyone could make a record’, meaning diverse music. HOW WAS ROUGH TRADE DIFFERENT TO LARGE CORPORATIONS? Rough Trade were different to large corporations due to not only selling records but magazines also. This has allowed people to come in and listen to music. Albums of bands which just sent in a recording were also sold at Rough Trade. WHAT TECHNIQUES WERE USED TO EXPAND THE INDEPENDENT MUSIC SCENE? Rough Trade created an alliance between punk and reggae music, which was seen as a unique spirit. HOW DID THIS LEAD TO ROUGH TRADE’S EXPANSION? This created a new type of music and showed independent artists that you do not have to be part of the mainstream music culture to become popular. WHAT TYPE OF BUSINESS STRUCTURE EXISTED IN THE 1970S? Their business structure was ‘Do it your self’ they only wanted to release music to the public that the mainstream were not releasing. EXPLAIN THE SUCCESSES OF THE DISTRIBUTION DEPARTMENT AND RECORD LABEL? In the 1970s record distribution was controlled mostly by big companies, so Rough Trade began mail orders to other companies to sell independent records. This has let the independent artists to get their music across. The profit was cut 50/50 between Rough Trade and the artists, this is when the independent labels have started to affect the big companies as the artists have abandoned the mainstream labels.

3. 1980s HOW DID CONTRACTS EFFECT THE DEVELOPMENT OF ROUGH TRADE? As rough Trade’s artist were becoming more popular within the music industry, they would sign up with larger corporations such as ‘ScrittiPolitti’ and ‘Aztec’, for better opportunities towards their careers. This meant a huge loss for rough Trade. WHAT ISSUES OCCURED BETWEEN THE RECORD LABEL AND DISTRIBUTION? Rough Trade had to hire an accountant which has led them to nearly going broke and to the edge of closing down the shop. WHAT CHANGES DID THIS LEAD TO WITHIN THE BUSINESS STRUCTURE OF ROUGH TRADE? In 1984, Rough Trades location was moved to Kings Cross. Towards the end of the 1980s there was a lot of bad management, as arguments between distribution and the record label were strong. WHAT HAS BEEN ROUGH TRADES IDEOLOGY AND HOW WAS THIS EFFECTED BY THE CHANGE IN STRUCTURE? As Rough Trade has started they were all about the music, however, now the artists were being put on contracts. Also, as they had to close down, everything was about money making. WHICH ARTISTS LED TO SUCCESS FOR ROUGH TRADE? ‘The smiths’ were the ones to introduce indie music. They have became very successful with rough Trade and Indie music has became mainstream. WHAT MUSIC TREND EMERGED AT THE END OF 1980S? Indie music has emerged at the end of 1980s. WHAT DIFFERENCES WERE THERE AT THIS TIME BETWEEN ROUGH TRADE AND OTHER INDEPENDENT MUSIC LABELS? Independent labels wanted 4% share at this time.

4. 1990s WHAT PROBLEMS DID ROUGH TRADE INCUR AT THE START OF THE 1990s? Geoff Travis has moved into an office with a new partner, Jeannette Lee as two thirds of the staff had been axed and it was all coming to an end. The company’s name had got sold off. WHAT EFFECT DID THIS HAVE ON THE RECORD LABEL AND DISTRIBUTION? The arguments between the distribution and the record label were bringing the company down. HOW DID MAJOR RECORD LABELS BRANCH OUT INTO THE INDEPENDENT MUSIC SCENE? Indie music has branched out with bands such as ‘Sonic Youth’, ‘The Smiths’ and ‘The Pixies’, which were successful. They were no longer signed to major record labels, they were opting for the independent music labels instead. Indie music has changed , due to large companies such as Sony and EMI were buying smaller independent firms. WHAT ACTIONS WERE TAKEN TO REVIVE ROUGH TRADE? Geoff and his new partner Jeanette moved into an office in 1991. There was a new artist management and hearing clip from the band ‘Pulp’ in 1993. This was something that they have not heard before and made them realise that Rough Trade has a chance of being successful. WHAT NEW MUSIC INDUSTRY AREAS DID ROUGH TRADE BEGIN TO WORK IN AND ITH WHICH ARTISTS? Rough trade had began to work with The Sundays whose album ‘Reading, Writing &Arithmetic’ was a top five hit. Rough Trade had also started to look at new guitar bands such as ‘Galaxie 500’ and ‘Mazzy Star’.

5. 21st CENTURY HOW HAS ROUGH TRADE EVOLVED IN THE 21STCENTURY? Rough Trade had made mistakes not having their artist on a contract. When the ‘Strokes’ and ‘The Libertines’ have came along, they have signed up. HOW ARE THEIR WORKING PRACTISES DIFFERENT TO THE MUSIC PRODUCED THROUGH PROGRAMMES SUCH AS X FACTOR? Rough Trade have always wanted what was right for the artists which was keeping them to their roots and the kind of music which they love to make and not stemming into mainstream, where a shows such as x-Factor create extremely mainstream music. WHAT SUCCESSES HAVE THEY HAD AT THIS TIME? Duffy was a very successful artist right at the beginning due to bringing Rough Trade’s first number one single. HOW HAS ROUGH TRADE’S IDEOLOGY DEVELOPED FOR THE COMPANY IN THE PRESENT DAY? Rough Trade still keep their original ideology as much as they can, they have had to adapt to take into account some of the mistakes they have made in the past, such as losing beneficial artists easily, as soon as they have became popular. And therefore things like contracts have had to become more important to the label.