“Recommended Records (RēR) is a British independent record label and distribution network founded by Chris Cutler in March 1978. RēR features largely ‘Rock in Opposition’ and related music, but it also distributes selected music released on other independent labels. In 1982 Cutler established November Books, the publishing wing of Recommended Records, and between 1985 and 1997, Recommended Records and November Books published RēR Quarterly, a ‘quarterly’ sound-magazine edited by Cutler. When English avant-rock group Henry Cow toured Europe between 1975 and 1977 they encountered many bands in a similar situation to their own: they were forced to operate outside the music industry that refused to recognise their music. In 1978 these groups got together and formed Rock in Opposition (RIO). To provide a record label and distribution network for these artists, Chris Cutler of Henry Cow established Recommended Records (RēR) as a model for a non-profit music company. When RIO folded as an organisation in late 1979, RēR continued RIO’s work by representing and promoting marginalised musicians and groups. RēR became a ‘virtual RIO’, and ‘part of the continuing legacy of RIO’. … When Henry Cow split up in 1978, Chris Cutler created a record label called Ré for his own projects with a distribution arm called Recommended Distribution, so called because he personally ‘recommended’ the titles they distributed. The intention was to import and distribute new, interesting and experimental music from all over the world to the United Kingdom. In 1979, Cutler established the Recommended label for releases other than his own. In 1987, he combined the Ré and Recommended labels to form RēR, and at the same time Recommended Distribution became a worker’s cooperative enabling Cutler to concentrate on running the RéR label and writing RēR’s mail order catalogue. …”
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RēR