PIAS Distribution warehouse fire in London last night = potential huge blow to indie labels

Among all the sorry carnage and sad tales left by London’s moronic looting fraternity over the last humiliating three days, perhaps the most devastating for music lovers was the huge fire that destroyed a Sony warehouse primarily used by distribution company PIAS.

A three-storey, 20,000 square metre storage home for music from XL Recordings, Beggars, Domino, Wall Of Sound, Warp Defected, Sunday Best and Big Brother among others, the warehouse was a temporary home for releases from all manner of indie labels and offshoots, and the extent of its destruction is starting to become tragically apparent.

While the full impact of last night’s events is still emerging, numerous indies have confirmed massive losses, including Rough Trade, Angular Records, Chemikal Underground and Rock Action. Drownedinsound has a full list of labels that use the space. Beggars Chairman Martin Mills called it a “horrible” setback for the indie sector while support poured in from labels, musicians and music fans across Twitter. [NME]

Guardian also has an article about the unfortunate event.

In related news, M.I.A. managed to get her name back in the headlines after tweeting “im going down to the riots to hand out tea and mars bars #london”. She has since removed the offensive Tweet.