4AD: Британдық жазба таспасының тарихы

British record label

4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name Axis Records by Ivo Watts Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD after the release of the label's first four singles. Later that year, Watts Russell and Kent purchased the label from Beggars Banquet to become an independent record label, and Kent sold his share to Watts Russell a year later. The label gained prominence in the 1980s for releasing albums from alternative rock, post punk, gothic rock, and dream pop artists, such as Bauhaus, Cocteau Twins, Modern English, Dead Can Dance, Clan of Xymox, Pixies, Throwing Muses, and Watts Russell's own musical project This Mortal Coil. In 1987, the label scored an international hit with the dance music single "Pump Up the Volume" by the one off project MARRS. 4AD continued to have success in the 1990s and 2000s, with releases from The Breeders, Lush, Belly, Red House Painters, Camera Obscura, TV on the Radio, St. Vincent, and Bon Iver. as of 2022, the label's current roster includes acts such as Dry Cleaning, The National, Daughter, Deerhunter, Big Thief, Aldous Harding, U. S. Girls, Erika de Casier, and Future Islands. In 1999, Watts Russell sold 4AD back to the Beggars Group. The label's history was detailed by Martin Aston in the book Facing The Other Way, released in 2013.

Ivo Watts Russell and Peter Kent, employees of the Beggars Banquet record store and label, founded Axis Records (named after the Jimi Hendrix album) in late 1979 as a property of Beggars Banquet, that was run by the two of them. After the first four Axis singles in early 1980, and the name was changed to 4AD, an abbreviation of the word forward. Other names which they had considered included 1980AD, 4WD and 1984. An initial idea for the label was that it would be a "testing ground" for Beggars Banquet; successful acts would graduate up to Beggars Banquet after a year at 4AD. The only band to follow this path would be Bauhaus, who were signed to Beggars Banquet in late 1980, before Watts Russell and Kent purchased the label outright. In 1999, Watts Russell sold his share in 4AD back to the Beggars Group (as it had by then become), but the label continued to release music and add new artists to its roster. Simon Halliday took control of the label at the end of 2007. Immediate successes were Bon Iver's critically lauded debut For Emma, Forever Ago (CAD 2809) and Dear Science by Brooklyn's TV on the Radio (CAD 2821). In 2008, the Beggars Group re aligned itself so that several labels, including Beggars Banquet itself, were folded up on to the 4AD label. Bands including The National were moved to 4AD as a part of this merger. In 2009, the label released, amongst others, St. Vincent's second record Actor (CAD 2919) and Camera Obscura's My Maudlin Career. The following year, 4AD saw the release of The National's High Violet and acclaimed albums from Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Blonde Redhead and Deerhunter. In the next three years, 4AD oversaw new releases from Scott Walker, Bon Iver, Iron & Wine, and Tune Yards, whilst also expanded its roster with a number of beats and electronic acts in the shape of acts including Purity Ring and Grimes, with the latter releasing one of the best received albums of 2012. Additional signings to the label include bEEdEEgEE, of Gang Gang Dance, Lo Fang, and British producer SOHN. At the start of 2014, the label also announced the additions of Future Islands and Merchandise, followed by D. D Dumbo. In 2015, the label released critically lauded albums by Deerhunter and Grimes, amongst others. The following year, the label and The National landed their first UK No. 1 record with Sleep Well Beast. Latest signings to the roster include Aldous Harding and British band Dry Cleaning. In April 2021, the label released Bills & Aches & Blues, a compilation album featuring bands from 4AD covering songs the label had released over its 40 years.

While 4AD did not handle any distribution outside the United Kingdom for many years, it had many willing distributors in many countries; Virgin Records for France, Nippon Columbia distributed much of the label in Japan, while PolyGram subsidiary Vertigo Records released many of the label's records in Canada. The USA had always been a tough market for 4AD, even though its records sold well there as imports. Only a few of the label's acts had deals to license their recordings in the US, among various labels. In 1992, Watts Russell signed a five year distribution deal with Warner Bros. Records so that nearly all 4AD releases would be released in the United States. When the deal ended, he offered to sell the label back to Beggars Banquet. Dead Can Dance's output, however, stayed with Warner Bros. until the sale back to Beggars Group. The deal with Beggars Banquet was completed by early 1999, and since then it has owned 4AD and its distribution worldwide. This led to many negotiations for the label's back catalogue, like getting back American distribution rights for Pixies, Dead Can Dance and Cocteau Twins.

The second part of the catalogue number is a number that represents the year of release (via the number of years since 1980, following the '1980 Forward' theme), and the order of release in the particular year. For example, This Mortal Coil's LP It'll End in Tears is CAD 411. The "CAD" represents that the release is an LP, the "4" in 411 represents 1984, and 11 marks the 11th release of that year. This is the vinyl LP release; cassette versions have "C" added to the prefix (CADC 411 in this example); CD versions have "CD" added at the end (CAD 411CD). A side effect of this scheme is that it made it seem like 4AD had hundreds of releases early on. In the 1990s, 4AD changed the first part of the number from "100s" to "1000s," temporarily making the number not correspond with the number of years since 1980. Releases in 1990 used "00" directly after the prefix (e. g., the Pixies' Bossanova, CAD0010, released in the fall of 1990); 1991 used "10" directly after the prefix (e. g., This Mortal Coil's Blood, DAD 1005, released early in 1991), 1992 used "20," and so on for the rest of the 1990s. Wanting to return to numbering with the years since 1980, 4AD had to provide a workaround for releases in the year 2000. Since the "20" numerical designation had been used in 1992, all releases in 2000 used "2K" (e. g., Mojave 3's Excuses for Travellers, CAD 2K05, released in early 2000). Between 2001 and 2009, the catalogue numbering scheme returned to the original format, with the first two digits of the number representing the years since 1980 (e. g., Blonde Redhead's 23, CAD 2717, released in 2007; the 27th year since 1980). Things have not been too consistent since, and there have been several gaps. 2010 releases feature the numerical designation 3X, as "30" had already been used in 1993. This process appears to have come to an end with the few xAD37nn releases of the early months of 2017. The catalogue numbers of all releases since April 2017 (beginning with The Far Field by Future Islands, 4AD0001CD/4AD0001LP) have begun with 4AD00nn and ended with letters indicating the release format. No indication of release year is given.

The 4AD Sessions are an ongoing series of video recordings with various acts from the label's roster. Following on from the Deerhunter session at the Studio Plateaux on Platts Eyott island in 2008, the recordings see 4AD artists performing back catalogue covers and alternative versions of their own material. They are housed on the label's website.