One of the most tragic victims of the past week's London riots, and one very close to our hearts here at Amoeba, was the devastating warehouse fire that resulted in the costly destruction of the PIAS distribution center warehouse, which housed the inventory of countless indie labels including WARP, Ninja Tune, XL Recordings, Beggars, Domino, Wall Of Sound, Sunday Best, Big Brother, and Finders Keepers (link to complete list of indie labels). The direct result of the arson of this sprawling 215,000 square feet warehouse, which was located in the Enfield district of outer London and was owned by SONY but occupied mainly by the indie collective PIAS, is that thousands upon thousands of independent label records, CDs, and DVDs (both brand new releases and classic titles still in print by these indie labels) have all been completely and senselessly destroyed, leaving the already-struggling labels and their artists high and dry.

What this fire means is that collectively all of these small, quality independent record labels have just taken a most incredible financial blow, resulting in the majority of their stock (source of income/cash flow) being wiped out overnight. What about insurance? Well it's likely that the individual small labels didn't have specific coverage for such an event. Meanwhile it looks like the PIAS warehouse is not covered either since, according to the British 1886 Riots (Damages) Act, if the damage is caused by a rioting mob (and it was; it was reported today by Billboard that three rioters were arrested for arson) then the insurers are not the ones liable but rather the police authorities. Hence the likelihood of getting compensated anytime soon, if at all, is slim. In other words these labels and the artists that they presented to the world are in serious trouble. Now most of these labels, especially the smaller ones, face being forced out of business forever and the artists on their rosters are equally screwed.
 
We at Amoeba ask you to consider any way that you might be able to help out these hard-hit, indie labels. You can either make donations to the labels or support the inevitable upcoming slew of benefit concerts and events. Formed over the past few days, the UK-based Label Love organization is both accepting donations on behalf of the victims of the fire, and listing many of these benefit events and other channels set up to directly help these labels. You can also reach this organization directly with any other ways you think you can help via ther email:  Labellovebenefit@gmail.com.

You could also could do something that you might already be about to do: support these labels by simply buying their CD, DVD, or vinyl releases that are in stock (while stocks last for the import only items) at one of the three Amoeba Music stores where you will find a special end-rack or bin dedicated exclusively to releases by these indie labels. Supporting these labels will aid them in the process of remanufacturing their CD, DVD, and vinyl supplies damaged by the arson and then, in turn, get these releases back into stores like Amoeba. Thank-you!