Beggars

As has been widely reported, the warehouse in Enfield that housed all our UK stock – alongside stock from numerous other record labels, film companies and computer game manufacturers – was sadly lost to an arson attack early on Tuesday morning.

We estimate that we lost 750,000 units in the incident but fortunately nobody was hurt; records can be remade where lives can’t. Our thoughts go out to the staff who worked tirelessly there and everyone else that has been affected by this needless act. We also want to applaud the emergency services whose work in recent days has been greatly appreciated.

We are now working on our contingency plan. Both the warehouse itself, Sony DADC, and our distribution partner, PIAS, have also wasted no time in actioning theirs too. We are fortunate to have stock warehoused across the world that we can call upon and hope to get CDs...

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We are pleased to announce that our West Coast US office is now fully functional. It comes after Matador founder Chris Lombardi and several key Beggars staff relocated from New York to Los Angeles last July. Having completed a long search, they finally found a permanent home for the new office in the Silver Lake area to compliment our other office in New York.

The Los Angeles office is being headed up by Miwa Okumura, Beggars’ Sr. VP West Coast Operations and Licensing. “With XL’s London office as the model,” says Okumura, “I have found the right space where our artists, staff, and visitors will feel comfortable and inspired. It took some time but the search has paid off.”

Beggars Group Chairman Martin Mills stated: “It’s a natural step in the continuing growth of our business in the USA to open a west coast office – whereas the heart of our...

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As those of you who buy our music from eMusic will know by now, our music is now no longer be available from that site.

We wish this hadn’t happened, but as eMusic has brought major labels on board, they have changed the terms on which they deal with labels in certain ways, some of which we have found impossible to accept, in our own interests, those of our artists, and ultimately those of their fans.

We have loved eMusic, and the support it has given to our music, but it was the dedicated home for independent music and is, in our view, not that any more.

You will continue to find our music on many other great sites and stores, we encourage you to visit them, or ask us where.

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