Watch video of the
blaze, below.

By Fred Mills

Venerable British indie Rough Trade put out the following
tweet early this morning:

@RoughTradeShop Our
largest INDEPENDENT supplier Pias got burnt 2 the ground last night, best to
all staff,labels that lost stock. no injuries @ least

Indeed, as Pitchfork and other media outlets are reporting,
the riots in England – now three nights and counting – have claimed a
significant commercial victim in the way of a 200,000-square foot North London
SonyDADC distribution warehouse which included “the entire inventory of PIAS UK,
the primary distribution hub for more than 150 independent labels,” among them
Sub Pop, Drag City, Thrill Jockey, Warp, 4AD, Domino, Mute and the Secretly
Canadian family. See the full list, below.

In years past we’ve grown accustomed to distributors going bankrupt,
leaving labels unpaid and in some cases sans inventory, but no other incident like this one comes to mind. A report in Britain’s Guardian quoted industry analyst Paul Scaife as saying, “Physical retail is still absolutely
crucial to many in the independent sector and if – as seems quite likely
– several smaller labels aren’t covered by insurers, this could be the
difference between survival and going out of business.”

A short while ago PIAS issued the following statement:

“There was a fire last night at the SonyDADC warehouse which services
the physical distribution for PIAS in the UK and Ireland. PIAS is
working closely with SonyDADC who are implementing their emergency
plans. PIAS’s UK offices in London and all other areas of our business
are unaffected. More information will be communicated shortly to all our
labels and partners”

Labels potentially affected by the fire:

1234

2020 Vision

Accidental

Ad Altiora

Adventures Close to home

Alberts

All City

Alt Delete

Ambush Reality

Angular

Ark

ATC

Atic

Atlantic Jaxx

Azuli

B Unique

Backyard

Bad Sneakers

Bandstock

Banquet

Beggars

Big Chill

Big Dada

Big Life / Nul / Sindy Stroker

Boombox

Border Community

Boysnoize

Brille

Bronzerat

Brownswood

Buzzin Fly

Can You Feel It

Catskills

ChannelFly

Chemikal Underground

City Rockers

Counter

D Cypher

Dance To The Radio

Deceptive

Def Jux

Dirtee Stank

Divine Comedy

Domino

Drag City

Drive Thru

Drowned in Sound

Duophonic

Eat Sleep / Sorepoint

Electric Toaster

Emfire

F. Comm

Fabric

Faith And Hope

Fantastic Plastic

Fargo

FatCat

Feraltone

Finders Keepers / Twisted Nerve

Fingerlickin’

Flock

Free Range

From The Basement

Full Time Hobby

Goldsoul

Gronland

Groove Attack

Halftime

Hassle

Heron

Hum&Haw

Independiente

Info UK

Join Us

Kartel

Kensaltown

Kitsune

Kompakt

Laughing Stock

Leftroom

Lex

Lo Max

Loose

Love Box

Lowlife

Lucky Number

Marquis Cha Cha

Memphis Industry

Merok

Metroline

Mute

Naïve

Nation

Navigator

New World

Ninja Tune

Nuclear Blast

One Little Indian

Output / People in the Sky / Process

Pale Blue

Palm

Peacefrog

PIAS Recordings

PIP 555 Productions

Play To Work

Powerhouse (T2)

Propaganda / Ho Hum

Raw Canvas

Red Grape

Red Telephone Box

Rekids

Renaissance

Respect Productions (PES digital)

Reveal Records

RMG

Rock Action

Roots

Rough Trade

Rough Trade Comps

Rubyworks

Ruffa Lane

Search And Destroy

Secret Sundaze

Secretly Canadian / Jagjaguwar / Dead Oceans

Sell Yourself

Setanta

Shatterproof

Sideone Dummy

Slam Dunk

Smalltown

Soma

Something In Construction

Sonar Kollectiv

Soul Jazz

Southern Fried

Stranded Soldier

Subliminal

Sunday Best

TARGO

Taste

Ten Worlds

Thrill Jockey

Total Fitness

Touch And Go

Track And Field

TriTone

Trouble

Try Harder

Turk

Turnstile

Twenty 20

Underworld

Union Square

Urban Torque

Vagrant

Vice

Victory

Wagram

Wall Of Sound

Warp

Wi45

Wonky Atlas

Word And Sound

Xtra Mile

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