another distribution broke

[Ritzi Lee]

EFA Medien - probably the largest distributor of electronic music in Germany, if not all of Europe - has filed for bankruptcy.

Their in-house labels (Clearspot, E:motion, ESC, Here2Hear, Secret Life) will presumably disappear along with EFA. And this will undoubtedly lead to the demise of quite a few small and medium sized labels who use EFA as their primary distributor, since they are all most likely owed a lot of money that they will never see.

Here is a list of some of the labels that EFA distibutes, many of them exclusively:

Accession, Alfa Matrix, Amöbenklang, Andromeda, Anticon, Apocalyptic Vision, Apollyon, Apricot, Atatak, Audiosphere, Ausfahrt, B Series, Barraka, Beau Monde, Between The Lines, Blaou Sounds, Blickpunkt Pop, BluNoise, Buback, Buckyball, Capriola, Century, Ceraton, Chicks On Speed, Classic Hits, CMP, Cold Meat Industry, Constellation, Costbar, Crammed, Crippled Dick Hot Wax, Daft, Danse Macabre, DC Recordings, Deaf Shepherd, Dessous, Different Drummer, Dischord, Disko B, Disorient, Doxa, Dröönland, Dune Records, EA80, Easy Star, Eighteenth Street Lounge Music, Empty, Etage, Exile On Mainstream, Fanboy, Fatal, Fidel Bastro, Flittchen, Force Inc., Force Tracks, Frenchkiss, Freude-am-Tanzen, Frontline, Fuzelicious Morsels, Gigolo, Globe, Gramavision, Guidance, Heartbeat, Hot Wire, hrMedia, Impact, In Extremo, Inkanish, Insolation, Intim Recordings, Ipecac, italic, ITN, Jazzsick Records, Jungle, Junk Food, K2O, Kanzleramt, Kein & Aber, Keys Of Life, Kinderzimmer Productions, Klang, Klangbad, Kodex, Konkurrel, Kudos, Kurbel, Lieblingslied, Lion & Roots, (Lion & Roots), Lolo, Make Up, Make Up Your World, Manifesto, Mantis, Marina, Mercurochrome, Metalimbo, Metropolis, Mighty Sound, Mille Plateaux, Minifunk, Minor 7 Flat 5, Moll, Moll-Selekta, Moonstorm, Mosquito, Moving Shadow, Mr. Bongo, Musical Tragedies, MZEE, NMC, Nonplace, nrk, Ongaku, On-U Sound, Pandaimonium, Payola, Perlon, Pica, Piranha, Plastic Bomb, Playhouse, Plug Research, Plus, Poker Flat, Popup, Pork, Pork Pie, Position Chrome, Pro-Jex, Provocateur, PUU, Quatermass, RAS, Rekord Rekords, Rephlex, Rent A Dog, ReR, Rewika, Rise Robots Rise, Ritornell, Saddle Creek, Sähkö, Scape, Select Cuts, Sense, Shifty Disco, Shitkatapult, Shockwave, Sino, Six Degrees, So Dens, Some, Source, Southern, Southern Lord, Spiritual Life, Spirit Zone, SSR, Stars In The Dark, Stir 15, Sturmhöhe, SubRosa, Sub Static, Sub Up, Subvoice, Superstition, Supremat, Svek, TDI, Technasia, Tehnika, Tension, Thirsty Ear, Thrill Jockey, Tolotta, Tomato, Touch, Touch &Go, Transient, Tresor, Trisol, Tritt, Turbulent, Twisted, Übersee, Universal Egg, Version, Viamas, Vielklang, Voiceprint, Ware, Weisser Herbst, Wellington & Sons, Wichita, Wonder, WordSound, World's Best, Zenit, Ziriguiboom, Zoë and Zoomshot.

It's already been mentioned that Force Inc./Mille Plateaux & associated labels have been in financial difficulty for the past while, so they will probably be amongst the first labels to fall. Expect many more to follow.

This is a very sad day for independent electronic music

[death on a stick]

this happened last week.

[Buttman]

What style of music? I never really heard of any of those labels except Cold Meat Industries (which is some light version of noise).

[The Overfiend]

this happened last week.

I was thinking the same.

[Buttman]

I should have continued reading after C hehe

[slavestudios]

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:


is it the end of the world ?

[detfella]

is poker flat, steve bugs label?

[Bughead]

Oh Sh1t, On U Sound, no more African Headcharge...
aarrgghh!!!

[DJZeMig_L]

Sino, Technoasia, Disko B, Kanz, Tresor.... just 2 name a few DAMN' that is a MAJOR BUMMER 2 SAY THE LEAST!!!!! :(


Z

[davethedrummer]

lot's of good labels there
very sorry to hear about it
just another example that anything can happen these days

[Ritzi Lee]

Wans't Tresor exclusively with Intergroove???

[Sunil]

Wans't Tresor exclusively with Intergroove???

No it wasn't. EFA is Germany, SRD in UK.

Btw. I think it's ridiculous that everyone is getting so "Oh this terrible, it's the end of the world" about it (Not talking just about this board btw.). It's not the end of the world, many of the labels on that list have their own exclusive distribution with other companies and it won't affect them too badly.. if there's a demand the excess units that EFA did do will get taken by other perspective companies.

EFA and much of what it carried were old skool, the establishment, nothing wrong with this and we do certainly need some of these labels but let's be frank.. Prime and Integrale went bust, were there many 'good' labels that haven't resurfaced since? Not many I can think of. Sure it's been slower for some and other people have just started new labels but this whole EFA doesn't mark any type of historic time or sad occasion for electronic music... this kind of thing is inevitable and it's happened, it's the end of a cycle that started with other big distributors going down. Any label here that hasn't lost its shirt will find its way back again and in a techno/electronic world where many labels don't have a *real* identity anyway I can't see this as being a bad thing to ruffle feathers and get people trying to do something decent again..

Anyway, that's all.

[Antinoise]

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

[DJZeMig_L]

It's all tru but a lot of labels won't C they're money and sometimes they're masters, so they'll b in dark waters 2 pay they're artist, the that's how the snowball starts so even if they have the strenght and the money 2 get back on they're feet a lot of people get hurt in the process, it is that I have in mind when I say what a terrible thing. I lost all my master and any possible earnings when Integrale went bust, luckily I didn't really need that money 'cause I started with half a mind of re-investing in better mastering, better covers, etc... lucky aswell that I can find other labels 2 release me noises, but i gotta say that it will get much more (except 4 the astablish artists) dificult 2 get released 'cause labels will want 2 make less chances, ...

Z

[StoQ]

do so big companies like EFA cooperate with small labels that have been already born?
:roll:

[tioneb]

hmm hey i am very sorry of this, but i dont think labels such as zenit or technasia were going through efa ...

i mean for ewample the zenti guys have setup their owen distribution( elp) and they're doing it pretty well. technasia is going through cyber production if they havent changed... i geuess we can find more to remove from the list

kanzeramt and tresor have gone through neuton

[Ritzi Lee]

i just spoke some guys about this.
at the end we all thought EFA was a publisher.

[CULeX]

hmm hey i am very sorry of this, but i dont think labels such as zenit or technasia were going through efa ...

i mean for ewample the zenti guys have setup their owen distribution( elp) and they're doing it pretty well. technasia is going through cyber production if they havent changed... i geuess we can find more to remove from the list

kanzeramt and tresor have gone through neuton

[gustavo]

whats the prob. indeed!!

i prefer to see these events like new oportunities
like a renovation that always occurs in life

if phont or drumcode said we r going to start selling records to the shops directly and eliminate the intermediary(distributor)

i think those labels will probably survive they have lots of buyers.

in the end its harder for whos starting but that should only encourage people to work harder make better tracks and in that way make techno move forward.if its harder that only means the best will stay alive .
(in most of the cases)
and thats fine ...

[DJZeMig_L]

Unfortunatly shops have been one of the major barriers 2 new ideias... they wanna sell more... especially if it sounds like "something u've heard b4"...

Z