Factory Review

Overall Rating

Some fantastic bands
Put the artists' creativity first, not profits

Went bankrupt - TWICE

Factory Records was one of the first independent record labels in Britain and to this day its output remains one of the most legendary. The story is roughly told in the movie 24 Hour Party People, but for anyone who doesn't know about the label:

It was founded by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus in Manchester because they wanted to help a young Joy Division put out an album. Wilson wrote out a contract in blood basically saying that the artists owned the rights to everything they did and the label owned nothing as they wanted to exist merely to make sure brilliant music got out into the world. Over the course of their existence they were responsible for bringing us the brilliance of Joy Division, New Order, (early) OMD, James' first 2 singles, The Happy Mondays, Durutti Column, A Certain Ratio, The Railway Children, etc. and are part of the musical heritage of Manchester.

Wilson, along with Rob Gretton and New Order, was also responsible for building the Hacienda nightclub which not only saw gigs by some amazing bands, but also launched the acid house clubbing revolution in the late 1980's.

Factory is legendary for being exactly what a record label should be, and was responsible for funding some of the classic indie albums of all time and their back catalogue is well-worth checking out.