The Cartel, also known as "the Cartel" (without capitalisation but with the definite article), was a co-operative record distribution organisation in the United Kingdom, set up by a number of small independent record labels to handle their distribution to record shops.

The main Cartel members were Rough Trade (London), Red Rhino Records (York), Backs Records (Norwich), Fast Forward (7) (Edinburgh), Nine Mile (Leamington Spa), Probe Plus (Liverpool) and Revolver (3) (Bristol).