Rough Trade Records Deutschland GmbH and Rough Trade Distribution are established 1982 in the city of Herne by Rough Trade (UK) as joint venture with local manufacturer/distributor DPR.
In 1991, after the bankruptcy of the distributor Cartel, Rough Trade UK is also forced to file for bankruptcy. But Rough Trade Deutschland survives, is taken over by Pinnacle and remains to carry on thanks to lucrative ongoing and new distribution deals in the dance and electronic music genres, notably with Warp, Domino, 4AD and other labels in the UK and elsewhere.
In 1996 they were bought by the Zomba Music Group together with the purchase of Pinnacle Publishing. Zomba ditched the brand name in 1999 to pursue distribution business under their own name. See the Zomba label entry for releases under the changed name.
The Zomba catalog number scheme is still the same as and running continuous from the Rough Trade numbers, starting with RTD, followed by 8 Numbers with two dots. All additional numbers at regular releases should be ignored, because it's the pricecode.
The original Rough Trade catalogue numbering system is as follows:
7" singles have RTD followed by a number starting with 0 (e.g. RTD 07),
12"s have RTD and a number starting with 0 and a T as suffix (e.g. RTD 06 T),
LPs have RTD plus number but no leading 0 (e.g. RTD 60),
CDs start with RTDCD or RTD CD, followed by a number (e.g. RTDCD 100 or RTD CD 90). The European CD editions, however, have RTD Number CD (e.g. RTD 72 CD).
In 2008 sold to Groove Attack Productions to join forces in global music market struggle, with an ongoing cooperation with BMG-owned arvato AG, being responsible for logistics and Sonopress being the duplication facility.
Label Code: LC 5661