Stiff Records

British company

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Last updated

July 23, 2026

Quick Summary

Stiff Records was a British independent record label founded in 1976 by Jake Riviera and Dave Robinson. Initially intended to record pub rock, it found success with the punk movement, releasing the first punk record by the Damned. However, Stiff's house style was more influenced by marketing and graphic design than by anarchic punk philosophies. The label pioneered the do-it-yourself independent label boom in Britain, but its marketing strategies were eventually adopted by major labels, contributing to Stiff's decline in the late 1980s.1

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Stiff Records
Do-It-Yourself Daring
Independent labels have given voice to music otherwise ignored or rebuffed by the major labels. Stiff was set up to record pub rock, yet it prospered because of punk, the style that displaced the pub rock movement. This is but one of several paradoxes associated…
Read More
Independent labels have given voice to music otherwise ignored or rebuffed by the major labels. Stiff was set up to record pub rock, yet it prospered because of punk, the style that displaced the pub rock movement. This is but one of several paradoxes associated…
Read More