Cooking Vinyl began in 1986, founded by Martin Goldschmidt and Pete Lawrence as a part-time operation in a spare room at Goldschmidt’s Stockwell home in South London. The independent British label is now based in North London, and its drum and bass links run through Goldie and DJ Fresh. Its early releases included Michelle Shocked’s live recording The Texas Campfire Tapes, made at a folk festival in 1986 and selling 250,000 copies worldwide. In 2017, Cooking Vinyl issued Goldie’s “Triangle” and “The Mirrored River,” along with “The Best You Had (DJ Fresh Remix)” by DJ Fresh and Nina Nesbitt.
The company’s activities span records, distribution and artist services. A 1993 agreement with Billy Bragg covered the reissue of his compilation Back to Basics. Cooking Vinyl partnered on The Prodigy’s 2009 album Invaders Must Die, which sold 760,200 copies. It became the first European label to strike a deal with eMusic and the first to enter negotiations with Kazaa, a file-sharing company. The wider group includes Cooking Vinyl Publishing, Motus Music and The Music Royalty Co. Exceleration Music acquired Cooking Vinyl in 2025.
