Five Questions with Beggars Group

Monday, June 28th, 2010

The Beggars Group, which includes XL Recordings, Rough Trade Records, Matador Records and 4AD, is one of the world’s largest and most respected label groups, and is completely independent. In 1976 Martin Mills founded Beggars Banquet, the original flagship label. The debut release was a single by a punk band called “The Lurkers,” and subsequent releases by Gary Numan helped put the label on the map. Over the years, many of the world’s finest labels have joined the fold, and the groups’ artists, such as the New Pornographers, MIA, The Big Pink, Jarvis Cocker, Vampire Weekend, Cat Power, the morning benders and Blonde Redhead, have achieved both commercial success and wide critical acclaim.  This year The Beggars Group US has enjoyed incredible success with Vampire Weekend’s recent album, Contra debuting at an unprecedented (for an indie label) #1 followed by the National’s latest, High Violet entering the charts it’s first week at #3.

Q:   How has the company evolved over the years?

A:  Located at 304 Hudson Street, we moved to Hudson Square in 2007.  We have gone from an office of eight people in Soho nine years ago to an office of 36 currently (plus we recently opened a Los Angeles office with three people).

Q: Where do you see Beggar’s Group in 10 years and how will Hudson Square play a part in this growth?

A: We see ourselves in the same space but with additional sq. footage, perhaps adding employees or expanding our warehouse capacity. Sky is the limit.

Q: How does Hudson Square contribute to your creative business and future plans?

A: Well, we do a ALOT of lunchtime and after work brainstorming sessions at the EAR INN. Seriously, we appreciate the location as it’s close enough to downtown and the clubs where our bands play and near other creative companies that we deal with daily. It is removed enough to not have to deal with the insanity that is Soho or the East Village. Also, the office is perfectly located for transportation options when we need to get ourselves uptown for a meeting or event. Our bands and managers love how accessible our office is to visit and how conveniently located it is for downtown hanging.

Q: With Hudson Square beginning to stand out as its own area, what are you most excited to see happen here?

A: We’d be excited to see even more creative companies move into the area. It would be great if more services opened up like more lunch options, maybe a parking lot of food trucks. How incredible would Calexico burrito or Mud Truck in Hudson Square be? It would be great to see more bike racks so more people can arrive to work in the neighborhood by bike.

Q: If you had to describe Hudson Square to someone unfamiliar with the area what would you say?

A: Ever-evolving, far-west neighborhood situated between West Village and Tribeca filled with great creative companies and growing cooler by the day.

Q: Describe some of the new and interesting projects that are coming out of your office

A: We are working with bands from all over the world but we are very excited about many of our New York bands that have released amazing album this year (The New Pornographers) or have one coming up this year (Vampire Weekend, St. Vincent, Blonde Redhead, The Morning Benders, The National, Interpol,  Ratatat).  We get to have them stop by the office regularly, go out for afterwork drinks in the hood, etc

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