(l to r) Cherry Red Records MD Adam Velasco; Korda Marshall (a consultant on today’s deal); Cherry Red founder and chairman Iain McNay; Dome Records founder Peter Robinson; Dome GM Santosh Robinson; and Cherry Red director Matt Bristow. Photo Credit: Cherry Red
47-year-old Cherry Red formally disclosed the buyout today. Founded in 1992 by Peter Robinson, Dome is said to have put out projects from talent including Lulu, Beverley Knight (whose “Mutual Feeling” was sampled by Playboi Carti earlier in 2025), Incognito, Hil St Soul, and the James Taylor Quartet, to name a few.
Additionally, the likes of Drizabone Soul Family, Jarrod Lawson, and Shaun Escoffery have dropped new works via Dome as of late. Cherry Red itself is “concentrating more on” catalog at present, but it’s still releasing fresh recordings and, as initially highlighted, plans to unveil “some new albums” from Dome acts moving forward.
“In recent years we have focused less on releasing new recordings (although we will still put out around 20 new albums this year) and concentrating more on catalogue,” Cherry Red founder and chairman Iain McNay elaborated in part.
“We are very excited to be acquiring Dome from Peter and Santosh and will look after their catalogue diligently as well as releasing some new albums by their artists. Dome will live on within Cherry Red!” the AFCW PLC director proceeded.
“After 55 years in the industry and more than three decades running Dome together with Santosh,” added Robinson, “it’s time to hand over the reins to a new custodian, and I’m very confident that Iain McNay, Adam Velasco, Matt Bristow and the team that have helped to build Cherry Red into one of the UK’s most respected independent label groups will maintain the Dome legacy in the years ahead.”
Regarding Dome’s price tag, the involved parties rather unsurprisingly opted against diving into specifics as part of their announcement message. And Dome Records and Dome Publishing financials, though covering the 12 months ended March 31st, don’t appear to provide too much pertinent info on this front.
In any event, today’s deal marks the latest in a line of 2025 indie sales – with the main attraction seemingly being IP holdings even at labels still releasing new works. Just in passing, these transactions include plays for Monstercat, !K7, Mack Avenue, New State, ARC Musicq, Symphony Recording, and Musicraft Entertainment.
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