Fire Caused By UK Riots Destroys Stock Owned By Adele’s Label And Other Indies

A fire caused by rioters in the London, England, borough of Enfield has swept through a warehouse holding stock owned by many of the country’s independent labels and destroyed the goods. The BBC reports that the building is owned by Sony DADC and is the main headquarters for Pias, the UK’s biggest distributor of indie music — including, says NME, the labels XL Recordings (Adele, M.I.A.), Domino (Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys) and Wall Of Sound (Röyksopp, Penguin Prison). Pias issued the following statement: “Pias is working closely with Sony DADC who are implementing their emergency plans. Pias’s UK offices in London and all other areas of our business are unaffected.”

This morning, Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos tweeted, “Thoughts go out to all the labels who have lost their stock in Pias fire.”

Violent rioting broke out in London on Saturday following last Thursday’s police shooting of Mark Duggan, 27, in the ethnically diverse suburb of Tottenham, as Duggan was seated in a taxi cab.

CNN reports that officers from a metro police unit that deals with gun crime stopped the cab during an attempted arrest, and shots were fired soon after. London police have said the resulting rioting and looting in other parts of the city were “copycat” events carried out by opportunists and criminals.

“This is not about the black community and the police, it’s about young people and the police,” said a statement circulated by the office of London Mayor Boris Johnson. “And let’s not beat around the bush and pretend this is some type of social justice protest — it’s sheer criminality.”

About 525 people have been arrested so far since the violence started rolling out over the weekend.