Wolverhampton record label owner pulls releases from Russia and urges music business to do more
The owner of a long-standing record label in Wolverhampton has started pulling his company’s releases out of the Russian charts – and is urging leading music moguls to do the same.
Paul Birch, who founded Revolver Records in the city more than 40 years ago, said his label had thousands of releases internationally – including albums by The Scorpions, Leo Sayer, UFO, Lamont Dozier, Jane’s Addiction, Misfits and The Stone Roses.
Mr Birch, who is also a Labour councillor for Blakenhall, said he had already withdrawn a number of records from the Russian market, and was now deciding between two other appropriate courses of action to take.
“We have put our distributors on notice and we are deciding between two positions at the moment – either to stop all sales in Russia or donate all sales from Russia to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or the Red Cross,” he said.
“Music generally leads the way when it comes to ethics, but in the Ukrainian war it’s sports and not music leading the way. In fact, music seems to be lagging behind.
“I would be interested in hearing people’s views on which way to go. I have also written to Frances Moore, chief executive officer at the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI) asking them to take a lead on Music’s position.
“This week the Association for Independent Music (AIM) is holding a conference, and Revolver has offered to sponsor a debate on what position music should take,” he said.
“Here’s my question – with sanctions this week not only from governments like France and Italy seizing yachts and property belonging to oligarchs, but also firms like Visa and Mastercard pulling out of Russia, what – if anything – is music’s response?”
Revolver also releases records by MP4 – a parliamentary rock band made up of cross-party MPs Kevin Brennan, Pete Wishart, former MP Ian Cawsey and Sir Greg Knight.
“We just released Kevin Brennan’s solo album on digital, CD and vinyl,” said Mr Birch. “Kevin is a member of the parliamentary select committee on digital, which has been examining the role of the major players.
“He was selected by parliament to bring forward an independent bill on digital music at the start of the year.”
Mr Birch is a former member of the boards of the British Phonographic Industry council, Phonographic Performance Limited, IFPI, and a founding member of AIM.
He received the British Empire Medal for Services to Music in 2020.
Revolver, which is located on Goldthorn Hill, is an independent recorded music and publishing company, established in 1979. Warner Music is one of three major music companies after Universal and Sony.
This week saw concert giants Live Nation and music streaming platform Spotify cease operations in Russia, as the invasion of Ukraine continues.
