It's been a bad week for distributors, with news that both
Neuton and
Pinnacle are to fold.
In an e-mail sent out today by
The Association of Independent Music, it was reported that Pinnacle has now gone into administration and labels should "take the necessary steps to protect your stock and your credit position." Whilst Pinnacle are more commonly associated with major labels and rock acts,
This Is Not An Exit,
R&S and
Smalltown Supersound are amongst the imprints that utilize the distributor.
This follows news reported by
FOEM earlier this week that Neuton have also announced to their distributed labels that they are insolvent. The German-based company serves a large amount of independent dance labels such as
Perlon and
Vakant.
You might think that the bad news ends there, but it also happens that Canadian distributor Fusion 3 has also let go of all of their label managers and sales reps. Electronic disco producer Andrew Allsgood wrote on
DJHistory.com that "lagging retail sales combined with EMI's failure to handle the large catalogue are sited [sic] as reasons for the demise. I'm not sure where they stand with the distributed labels but I'm sure there are many small labels out there that'll not see any $$$ owed."
Those looking for a little bit of light, unfortunately, may be on a long search. It seems like the problems with the distribution network may not end here, Tiny Sticks' Duncan Stump (AKA
Mock) in the same thread on DJHistory.com wrote, "I've only just recovered from when Amato went under, and although I'm not with Pinnacle, it'll have a serious knock on effect," presumably as labels scramble to locate another distributor to help find outlets for their releases going forward.
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