Major dance distributor Amato goes under

Major dance distributor Amato goes under

19 November, 2007 | 11.17AM

• Section: Music News Topics: Beatport Blog
• Written by: Terry Church

Amato Distribution, a major UK distributor in both the physical and digital realms, is said to have gone into liquidation.

Amato was a major music distributor of all audio and visual formats, including CD, vinyl, digital and DVD, for mainly top dance labels from the UK, Europe and the world.

The news will hit the dance industry hard as Amato was at the heart of the global physical distribution network for labels such as Bpitch Control, Poker Flat, Cr2, Toolroom, Playhouse, Kompakt, Kill the DJ and Crosstown Rebels.

UPDATE: After our story was published, Josh Gabriel from Gabriel & Dresden also got in touch to let us know what he thinks of Amato biting the dust (see below).

Beatportal caught Stuart Knight, Toolroom’s head honcho, on the phone as he was heading back from Amato’s headquarters in Bolton.

“We’ve been on the road for nearly 12 hours, because when we heard the news we drove straight to Amato’s warehouse to try and reclaim what is legally ours – Toolroom vinyl and CDs,” he said.

“But it was a waste of time as we weren’t allowed to get our stuff back – there’s a legal process we have to go through.

“The situation is very unfortunate as we’re owed money for outstanding music sales.

“It’s all about damage limitation.”

The loss of Amato, like Intergroove in the UK and Watts in the US, will particularly hit labels hard.

In the case of Intergroove, some labels lost up to three month’s worth of music sales revenue as the company filed for bankruptcy.

Stuart Knight is however being upbeat.

“Just because somebody can’t run their business properly it doesn’t mean we’ll close,” he commented.

“We’re a strong label and we’ve already had calls from six or seven distributors today looking to take us on so all is not lost.”

Some people have said that Amato going under is the final nail in the coffin for vinyl, but Stuart doesn’t think that’s the case.

“The lid is coming closer to shutting on vinyl, but there’s still a demand for it,” said Stuart.

“Vinyl is a niche product, and we don’t shift big numbers these days, but there’s still loads of DJs out there who appreciate a premium product.

“With digital downloads anyone can release music, but with vinyl you’re always guaranteed great sound production.”

Update: More feedback from the dance community

We caught up with US-based producer and DJ Josh Gabriel, one half of the award-winning duo Gabriel & Dresden, to find out how the end of Amato will affect his label Organized Nature.

Organized Nature was distributed by Amato, plus Gabriel & Dresden work closely with Toolroom, another Amato-distributed label.

How do you feel about Amato going under?

It came as a shock, it’s sad, but I guess I’m not surprised. The writing has been on the wall for some time now that people are no longer buying music in retail.

How will this affect your label Organized Nature?

We are not sure. Our label was distributed by them and so was Toolroom with whom we have just released a mix CD.

I hope that labels like ours will be able to find another distributor.

Since they distributed our vinyl as well as CDs.

Some people are saying this is the final nail in the coffin for vinyl, what do you think?

Vinyl is a format. Just like VHS.

Formats have advantages and disadvantages.

As new technologies replace the turntable, demand for vinyl will continue to decline.

We will keep making it as long as people keep buying it and we don’t loose money in the process.

I do think it is safe to say that CD has replaced the turntable as the worldwide standard.

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