Rough Trade- 1990's

Three: The 1990's

What problems did Rough Trade incur at the start of the 1990's?
In the start of the 90's their were disastrous decisions made, senior sales executives had left as they saw no end to the arguments. Due to this the management structure seized to exist at Rough Trade, a lot of this had to do with Geoff not turning up to board meetings. They had a cash flow mis-management yet it failed and in December 1990 Rough Trades cash flow seized. Finally in March 1991 people were being fired from the label and they had to sell the company name to help with the debt.

What effect did this have on the record label and distribution?
For fifteen years Rough Trade had written the rules for production and distribution and now it was nothing. By running out management their was no one to work well with the distribution so relations were bitter. The loss of money meant cuts which would mean that they wouldn't be able to afford the distribution costs.

How did the major record labels branch out in to the independent music scene?
Indie artists were now signing with major record labels, as the indie music scene was becoming main stream. The larger labels were also able to make their own Independent record labels to sign indie artists to. This technique they were using is called vertical integration, all of the record labels working in a supply chain for one big company.

What actions were taken to revive Rough Trade?
In 1991 Jeannette Lee was brought in to grow a new formula to bring back the company. They got new offices and were looking for new artists to work with. Instead of being a record label the new revival meant being a management team, throughout working with indie bands they knew lack of management led to collapses in artists.

What new music industry areas did Rough Trade begin to work in and with which artists?
They began to managed bands Geoff and Jeanette worked really well at managing bands and they achieved 5 consecutive hits with bands such as "The Pulp".