Matador Records

Matador has also served as the North American licensee for a number of exceptional international acts, including Belle & Sebastian, Mogwai, Boards of Canada, Red Snapper, Arab Strap and others. Since 1996, Matador has maintained separate offices and staff in London. In addition to supervising the promotion, sales and marketing of Matador titles on the continent, Matador Europe has also licensed recordings from some of North America's most acclaimed new artists, M. Ward, Sleater-Kinney, Modest Mouse, and Superchunk to name a few. Matador Europe is currently signing artists for the world, with several new projects in the works. While Matador has often been characterized (not by the label itself) as an underground or "indie" rock label, over the years, the label's musical direction has grown, to the point where many hip hop, electronic and experimental acts play as prominent a role in the label's sound & future as any number of singer/songwriters and rock bands. Sometimes all of the above converge. Major projects for the new millennium include Matmos, the decade-in-the-making debut album from the Large Professor, solo debuts from Stephen Malkmus and Spiral Stairs (the latter with Preston School Of Industry) and the long-awaited debut from NYC's Interpol. In 2002, Matador joined forces with the UK's Beggars Group. Beggars purchased 50% of Matador, and took over Matador's worldwide marketing. The Matador marketing staffmembers moved over to the Beggars umbrella, and Beggars US moved into Matador's larger New York offices. In the UK, Matador Europe continues to have its own separate office in Kensal Rise. Matador continues to do its own wholly independent A&R, art, production and direct-store distribution (which will also handle releases from other labels in Beggars Group).