Earthworks was started by Jumbo Vanrenen started in 1983 and was an independant label distributed by Rough Trade / The Cartel. A number of Earthworks releases were in conjunction with Rough Trade. In 1987 Earthworks became part of Virgin and when that deal ran it's course,part of Stern's. Shortly after Virgin was sold to EMI in 1992, Earthworks was sold to Stern's Africa because of that label's specialty.

Earthworks product that was released in the UK prior to the purchase was not repressed to reflect its new parent. Earthworks product in the US was discontinued and imported from the UK instead.