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Defected

Profile:

British dance music label founded by Simon Dunmore.
Former Cooltempo and AM:PM A&R Dunmore incorporated parent company Defected Records Ltd. in September 1998 and launched Defected, with funding from Ministry Of Sound, on 1 January 1999, when A&M's owner PolyGram formally merged with Universal Music Group.
Janet Bell, Dunmore's promotions partner at AM:PM, with whom he launched the label, departed in December 2001 to run Big Love.
A&R manager from 2004 to 2019: Andy Daniell.
Former MD Wez Saunders acquired the label and its subsidiaries via a management buyout in July 2022 and became the company's CEO.
Head of A&R from 2023: Allan Nicoll aka Kid Fonque.
Director of Music from 2024: Andy Daniell.
The label marked its 25th anniversary in 2024 with a special logo designed by Trevor Jackson.
Defected has various sublabels with separate A&Rs and musical identities and owns the catalogues of a number of heritage house labels from the 1990s.

Current sublabels
Glitterbox Recordings (label: Glitterbox) (A&R: Seamus Haji / Director of music: Melvo Baptiste)
Classic Music Company (2010-) (label: Classic) (A&R: Luke Solomon)
DFTD
D4 D4NCE
Faith (18) (A&R: Terry Farley, Stuart Patterson and Dave Jarvis)
Bad Decisions (A&R: Wez Saunders)
Big Love Music (label: Big Love) (A&R: Seamus Haji)
D-Vine Sounds (A&R: Sam Divine)
The Remedy Project (A&R: Melvo Baptiste)
Mahaba (A&R: Kitty Amor)
Stay True Sounds (A&R: Allan Nicoll)
One People (2) (A&R: Allan Nicoll)
4 To The Floor Records (label: 4 To The Floor (2))
Faya Combo
Nu Groove Records
Soulfuric Recordings (A&R: Seamus Haji)
Slip'N'Slide Records (label: Slip 'n' Slide)
Yoruba Records
Fourth Floor Records aka 4th Floor Records
K4B Records
Movin' Records
Sub-Urban

Former sublabels
ITH Records
Soul Heaven Records
Bargrooves
Cyphon
Fluential Records (label: Fluential)
M (4)
Spectrum Records
The Sound Of Defected
Code Red Recordings
Strictly Rhythm
Sondela Recordings

Series
House Masters
Most Rated
In The House
For The Love Of House
Isolation Nation
Sampler EP
Sessions (5) (with Ministry Of Sound)
Together (3)
Connected (4)
Deep Down & Defected
Defected Accapellas
Defected Clubland Adventures
Defected D-fused
Defected D-fused & Digital
Defected In The House
Defected Presents

Parent Label:

Defected Records Ltd.

Sublabels:

4 To The Floor Records, 4th Floor Records, Bargrooves, Big Love Music, Classic Music Company, Connected (4), Cyphon, D-Vine Sounds, D4 D4NCE, Deep Down & Defected, ...

Contact Info:

23 Curtain Road
London
EC2A 3LT

3a The Quadrant Courtyard
Weybridge
KT13 8DR

Unit 4
Canbury Business Park
Elm Crescent
Kingston upon Thames
KT2 6HJ

Tel: +44 (0)20 7426 5470

Previous addresses:
8 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, London, EC1M 7AN.
12 D'Arblay Street, Soho, London, W1F 8DU (first office).

Manufacturer Contact

Defected Defected Records Limited 23 Curtain Road London EC2A 3LT UNITED KINGDOM https://defected.com/ [email protected]

Manufacturer EU Contact

http://defected.com [email protected]

Links:

defected.com , Bandcamp , Bandcamp , Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn , Linktree , Mixcloud , Soundcloud , Wikipedia , Wikipedia , x.com , YouTube

Label

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16,340 copies

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Reviews

  • dquay623's avatar
    dquay623
    Edited 3 months ago
    It seems that a bunch of older tracks that were previously copyright blocked are finally available on streaming here in the US. So far, I've found Rise, Strings Of Life, the KOT Classic Mix of Young Hearts, the Warren Clarke mixes of Soul Theory's Drama, Do It To Me Again, and The Energy. I can't find any announcements on this but each release was seemingly reuploaded to the respective artists' YouTube topic pages a month ago.
    • Jazzybell's avatar
      Jazzybell
      I miss the old branding from 1999 to the digital D/colorful D days. New logos are too simple. What a shame. The colorful D is the ultimate branding. I like the sound wave too and the 2005 and to before the colorful D art branding. I applaud them for having great logos and design in the past. There should be a video on the evolutions
      • Garyinsydney's avatar
        Garyinsydney
        Some great albums but I refuse to buy Digipacks - great pity that Defected switched to these in 2018 or so. They don't seem to be releasing any CDs at all currently.
        • Jazzybell's avatar
          Jazzybell
          Edited 2 years ago
          this release is the debut of my favorite Defected logo era that I call colorful D logo https://www.discogs.com/release/17141785-Various-Defected-Essentials-01 and this is the 1st single with it https://www.discogs.com/release/1711453-G-Club-Presents-Banda-Sonora-Soulsearcher-Guitarra-G-Cant-Get-Enough this is the final release with this specific style https://www.discogs.com/release/15611528-4th-Measure-Men-4-You before they did 3d D and more neutral colors and of course the now very simplified logos that aren't great imo
          • Neo_Chayanne's avatar
            Neo_Chayanne
            This was one of those label that was on point during late 90's till around 2005..after that the vibe that this label has been delivering isn't what we used to love about the hype Defected label was doing back in those days! I know house heads can dig what I'm saying. Nonetheless, this remains among one of my fav house music label of the 90's!
            • PrimaryDisguise's avatar
              Let's face it: Tech House and Techno are the new "cool", every major label that was once making EDM, Progressive House, Big Room House, Electro House, Techno House, Soul/Disco/Funk House, and even Deep House and Future House, is now making Tech House and Techno: Defected, Toolroom, CR2, Anjunadeep, etc. Although many will say (and I'd agree to a certain extent) that EDM is dead and gone and there is none of what there was back then today, I encourage all those who say that to try and appreciate and be grateful for what you can hear today. Although it's crappy compared to the "good old days", try giving these new artists and labels credit, find what interests/fascinates you the most, even if it isn't an entire label or even one artist, find a track, or two or many that although made in the modern day, have some way of inspiring you. And even if you don't, you can learn to tolerate the new EDM sound just like you learned to tolerate EDM at the very beginning (or at least most of you who grew up with acoustic music before electronic music), and like I learned to listen, appreciate, and tolerate almost every EDM genre out there today (although I'm still having a trouble with a few- Drum N Bass for example). Find what's out there, or don't listen to anything anymore, although I highly recommend NOT doing that because there are gems today, you just have to search out and find them, they don't just appear in front of your face in the commercialized way as they did back then. And to me- that's what a true gem is- something that is unique in its time, not just in its composition- something that one has to look out and search and find. In the "good old days" it was harder to find these gems because everything was awesome, but now it is easier to find these gems because everything is crap. Don't know if this made any sense or not, but I hope it does.
              • wakeyladhere's avatar
                wakeyladhere
                Im in to underground labels like the next man, but what Defected have done with their 12"s and comps over the years is nothing short of admirable. And still going stronger. Ignore the idiots rubbishing the label. They've moved with the times and largely turned their back on pop-house.
                • jamesbreeze's avatar
                  jamesbreeze
                  Used to be very good but really seem to have lost their way. The Ibiza in the house annual compilation in particular was a pretty decent round of top tunes until a couple of years ago. Now the tracks are all a snore-fest, tapping away in the background. Soulful? Eh, no.
                  • mcp666's avatar
                    mcp666
                    Edited 19 years ago
                    Any label that releases work by Awa Band, Olav Basoski, Banda Sonora, K.O.T., Una Mas, Il Padrinos, Chus & Penn, DJ Gregory & Dubitribe Sound System in the UK gets my respect. The quality of their releases is exceptional from the cut to the packaging. One of the few labels to acknoledge the CDJ, they release CD singles with all the full length mixes on which means no chart inclusion. Obviously, the bills need to be paid and overheads met, hence the Cheese & the mix cd's. That's reality people!
                    • Edited 19 years ago
                      Great label, bringing a wide range of US house styles to the UK. Defected have found thier place in the industry and they are working it - good luck to them. A great example of how well the Defected label can work can be found in the 2002 2x12" re-releases. Re-releasing classics from Eddie Amador, Soulsearcher, Masters at Work and others is an easy enough task and nothing new. But Defected went that extra mile and presented such re-releases in fabulous double vinyl packs with all the best remixes of said tracks in one place. If you're a house lover, these '02 2x12's and numerous other Defected releases are essential purchases.