Record Label PR File: Cooking Vinyl

Introduction: Cooking Vinyl offer an eclectic mix of alternative music. Starting off with a predominantly folk sound, the label now offers reggae, world music, indie, soft rock and even a bit of pop.

History: Cooking Vinyl took off when Martin Goldschmidt and experienced music industry player Pete Lawrence teamed up in 1986. Both into left wing politics and grassroots music, they discovered Michelle Shocked at a folk festival and released her album The Campfire Tapes recorded on a Sony Walkman. Billy Bragg signed to the label in the early Nineties and the current portfolio has grown to over 25 artists.

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What they say: "There isn't a clear vision as to what music we want. It's got to be something that we really like and where we feel we know what we're doing. In short, great music that will make us lots of money!" say Martin Goldschmidt, managing director.

Notable acts include: The Prodigy, Ryan Adams, The Buzzcocks, Billy Bragg, Frank Black.

Top tips for 2007: The Prodigy are back in the studio after signing a joint venture with Cooking Vinyl and their label Ragged Flag. The new album will be released around the end of the year.

Pub fact: Hanson, of "MMMBop" fame, signed to the label in 2005.

"Every year the quality of music that Cooking Vinyl has released has gone up, even though we're putting out more records," says Martin Goldschmidt, co-founder and managing director of the Cooking Vinyl label.

Hopes are pinned on the recent signing of The Prodigy, probably the most high profile artist on the label. The technique for snaring them was simple, Goldschmidt says. "I heard The Prodigy were looking for a deal and had a coffee with their manager in December. We hit it off and I just kept bugging him and bugging him.

"We were in a state of shock when they chose us. All the majors wanted them! But, they wanted to stay with an independent label and we've given them complete control artistically."

Does that mean we are likely to see a change of direction? According to Goldschmidt, the next album sees Keith and Max more involved than the last studio album. "It's still rough demos but there's an element of return to classic Prodigy. Liam has some amazing ideas that will shock people."

The Prodigy join a varied spectrum of artists who have signed to Cooking Vinyl since their birth just over 20 years ago.

At the time Goldschmidt was working as an events organiser with CND. "There were lots of benefit concerts and one of the bands, The Poison Girls, asked me to manage them. I made the mistake of saying yes! A mistake because independent music management is like nursing - you have to take care of people and it's terribly underpaid!"

Goldschmidt founded a proper label when a further band, Akimbo, approached him to get a deal. No one wanted to put out their record, so he did.

Along with Pete Lawrence, who had just left the music distribution company, Making Waves, Goldschmidt founded Cooking Vinyl. In 1986 the pair discovered Michelle Shocked at a folk festival. They were so bowled over by her raw talent that they recorded her material on a Walkman and released it as "The Campfire Tapes".

Signing Billy Bragg in the early Nineties was one of the key moments for the label. "At the time we were a tiny independent label and he trusted us to put out his back catalogue," says Goldschmidt. "We have him a good deal and he gave us a lot of credibility. And some money!"

Not that Cooking Vinyl hadn't seen success prior to that. In 1988, The Cowboy Junkies' first album The Trinity Sessions was released to universal praise, causing the industry to sit up and take note.

The path wasn't easy, however. In 1989, Cooking Vinyl's distributors went bankrupt, sending the label into turmoil. Goldschmidt's partner bailed and it took a long time for him to pay off all the debts and get the label back up and running again.

Despite having pulled through this period, Goldschmidt is humble about his abilities. "The problems were also caused by a combination of not having a clue about accountancy and luck running out in the A&R department," he says. "I still think we were signing great records but the rest of the world didn't buy them!"

They have subsequently. "Frank Black has sold millions of records for us," says Goldschmidt. Ryan Adams was a similar case with his album Heartbreaker. The same was to happen with Hayseed Dixie and Jackie Leven.

But these are "the bits of the iceberg everyone sees," says Goldschmidt. "We've put out about 25 albums a year by bands who are the bread and butter of the label, but not all of them have done as well as we would have liked. There are great records, such as As The Cry Flows by Seafood, that just don't manage to meet their or my expectations.

The label's only top 10 record to date came with Hanson. The American trio seem like an odd signing for Cooking Vinyl.

"They didn't totally fit my vision for the label!" Goldschmidt says. "But I had a lot of preconceptions. They started young and are now making different records. Their persistence swayed it for me."

Being approached is a frequent way that Cooking Vinyl finds its artists. It is a privileged position to hold and testimony to the label's reputation for its open door policy towards its artists.

With The Prodigy, Cooking Vinyl is predicting a rise in interest in the label. "With the internet, it's been a hard time for the independents as we just haven't worked out how to do anything but sell CDs," says Goldschmidt. "But Cooking Vinyl has come out of survival mode and is looking to one of its best years ever."