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ENTITY · CONCEPT / TERM

Record label, imprint and shop distinction

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The three are constantly confused because in Jamaica they were usually the same people. A shop sold records, a label issued them and an imprint was often just a different name on the same label for a different kind of record — a way of keeping a producer's roots output separate from their dancehall output. Attributing a record correctly means knowing which of the three a name refers to.

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Story · Well supportedCounter to catalogue: how record shops became record labels

In Jamaica and the diaspora, the retail counter was the A&R department.

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Compiled and researched by The Jamaica Music Atlas music desk. The sources that informed it are credited above.

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