Opening Shot: 100 Labels

A couple of months ago, one Electronic Sound staff member suggested we tally up every single label ever featured in the magazine. There were affirmative nods all around the table. 120 issues.

A few hours’ work. How hard could it be?

Pretty soon after we got started, though, the mood swiftly changed. Manually picking our way through so many issues of this 100-page magazine at times felt akin to climbing Everest on rollerskates made of soft cheese. On several occasions, we returned home to our families suffering RSI, boils on our faces and fingers, and even trench foot.

But, like all good music journos, on we ventured. Two months and several gallons of coffee later, our final numbers show that we have, er, featured a lot of music – 6,777 albums to be exact, released by a grand total of 2,472 labels.

As with all good adventures, somewhere along the road we asked ourselves why we had ever agreed to take on this slightly mad task in the first place. It would obviously provide us with an interesting label survey and some cool numbers to go with. It might also allow us to take stock, because doing this month in, month out doesn’t let you pause for breath for very long.

But, in truth, it wasn’t really for either of those reasons. More than anything, this gigantic list began to act as a reminder of the creative thrum that makes up these pages, because behind every label – and particularly every independent label – there’s someone with a slightly mad idea. Always follow that impulse and only question it if you absolutely have to.

Being the serious people we are, we decided to throw the 100 most featured UK indie labels into one big fuck-off wordsearch to see how many you can find. The longest is 25 letters long, the shortest is just three. You’ll come across old favourites who have sadly shut up shop, a few who’ve only just got started and loads who have been chugging merrily along like they always have (and hopefully always will). All power to them, we say, and to those who came before. Now – time for a nap.