What is Rough Trade?

Rough Trade is a London based Vinyl music store. In this interview with the manager of one of their London based stores we look at how the emergence and growth of the digital music industry has affected the business of having a record store. Rough Trade was formed in 1978 in London’s Ladbroke Grove. It promoted and sold records from punk and indie pop bands. Some of London’s biggest bands like The Buzzcocks, The Smiths and Desperate Bicycles were launched through Rough Trade. Over time Rough Trade moved to become a label as well as a distributor and launched bands such as The Libertines and The Strokes. London is becoming a key part of the vinyl market with Jamie XX recently launching his own record store in the city. In 2012 Rough Trade announced a new push internationally and opened a store in New York.