November 20, 2001 17:52

POPTONES IS DEAD?

The future of acts such as Cosmic Rough Riders and The Hives is now in doubt...

The long-term future of ALAN McGEE's POPTONES label is in doubt this afternoon (November 20) after the company announced a wave of staff job cuts.

The majority of staff at the north London based label have been made redundant with just one or two being kept on on a consultancy basis.

There has been no statement made about the future of acts on the Poptones roster such as Cosmic Rough Riders, The Hives and January.

A spokesperson for College Hill, responsible for corporate PR for Poptones, said: "They had to do a bit of cost cutting. There are very few people who will lose their jobs as there were only maybe ten employed full-time and the label is still a viable business. Nothing has been said vis-a-vis the future of the bands."

She insisted that financial figures for the labels performance in the first six months of this year have not yet been made widely available and when asked if Poptones faced insolvency she said "I couldn't possibly comment."

Alan McGee, former Creation Records supremo and the man who discovered Primal Scream and more importantly Oasis, set up Poptones in late spring 2000. After dissolving Creation a few months before he vowed to release records by bands he liked, regardless of commercial viability of those acts. Since Poptones was established they have released albums by some 27 acts. Only Cosmic Rough Riders and more recently The Hives have gained or threatened any real chart success. The majority of acts on label were signed on one album deals.