Cooking Vinyl

Cooking Vinyl is a UK based independent record company, founded in 1986 by former manager and booking agent Martin Goldschmidt, who remains the current owner and managing director, and distribution manager Pete Lawrence. The company is based in Acton, London.

Cooking Vinyl Records operates as part of the Cooking Vinyl Group, which also comprises Essential Music & Marketing, CV America, Cooking Vinyl Australia, and Cooking Vinyl Publishing. Cooking Vinyl is home to artists such as The Prodigy, Billy Bragg, The View, Frank Black, Marilyn Manson, Reverend and the Makers, Amanda Palmer and Röyksopp.

History

Formation

Cooking Vinyl was set up in 1986 by former manager and booking agent Martin Goldschmidt and distribution manager Pete Lawrence, who initially ran the business as a part-time venture out of a spare room in Goldschmidt's council house in Stockwell, South London.

1986-1993

In 1986 Cooking Vinyl famously recorded an impromptu live performance around a campfire at a folk festival by the singer Michelle Shocked, on a Sony Walkman with fading batteries. One of its first releases, Cooking Vinyl released the recording as The Campfire Tapes, and it sold 250,000 copies worldwide.