For the Love of Indies

Today, we announce the launch of For the Love of Indies, an initiative which aims to give something back to indie record shops across the UK.

Inspired by a worldwide community-driven response to the pandemic, Gearbox seeks to do the same and in turn inspire other labels and industry partners to extend mutual aid across the indie community.

So in this crazy year we’re putting our money where our mouth is, offering a 20/20 double gesture we hope will play a small part in recognising the difficulties our partners in music retail face, by:

• Donating 20% of the proceeds from our online sales to UK indie record stores

Gearbox Records’ Commercial Director Justin James, leading the initiative, explains:

“Bricks and mortar Indie stores, always vulnerable to multiple challenges, must survive. They’re the lifeblood of the music industry. That’s a well worn cliché but it’s so true! This is one way of showing solidarity. I’ve worked in some of these shops. They’re populated with brilliant, passionate people who are often overlooked and yet they’re overflowing with knowledge and enthusiasm for the music they sell. It feels counter-productive to be taking trade away from them online while it’s their only sales channel, so we racked our brains and came up with an idea that could maybe give them something back. My dream would be for other labels to come on board with this too. I’m in discussions with AIM to see whether this might be achievable. If labels want to get in touch directly all the better. Or just do something similar, separately. We’ll only be able to raise so much as a solitary label, but as a community, Independent music has always been greater than sum of its parts.”

Please spread the word about this initiative through the hashtag “FortheLoveofIndies” and feel free to use the images in THIS LINK.

The initiative, live from today, will initially run through to Friday 5th June.

For Media enquiries Gail Tasker gail@gearboxrecords.com
For Commercial enquiries Justin James justin@gearboxrecords.com