Music Business Worldwide
January 25, 2021
It started, as so many of these stories do, on pint three, in the pub. Two decades ago, Mark Lewis and Martin Toher were growing tired of their day jobs as major record company A&Rs.
Adding to the ever-present precariousness of their careers was the industry consolidation swirling around them: Lewis’s home of London Records had been recently acquired by Warner Music Group, while Toher’s employer, A&M, had been rolled up into Mercury Records.
“A lot of drink was going down between the two of us at that time, accompanied by a lot of pub talk,” says Lewis today. “It was like: so-and-so’s going to buy so-and-so, we can see where everything’s headed, and we’re powerless. This is not what we want for ourselves. What about starting our own label?”