Hed Kandi: 2001-2006
It was announced late last week that my favourite record label Hed Kandi had been taken over by the commercial dance monster known as Ministry of Sound. I was only informed of this awful news this morning so I am, in fact, in mourning.
This can only be a bad thing!
I remember the days when MoS only did a couple of albums a year with good quality tracks on them. Now it seems there are in excess of 20 albums released a year… and full of cheesy remixes. HK have moved slightly towards this path as they went a bit crazy last year releasing more albums than necessary. It got to a point where there would be repeat tracks on follow up albums and this just wasn’t good for the HK fans - fans of good quality house music, not repeats of chart-based tracks.
Last month, I grabbed a copy of the first Tokyo Project album. When I heard Mark Doyle had setup this new brand, I was slightly confused as to why he would start a new project when he already had such a successful brand with loyal fans and customers. Now it all makes sense! He knew MoS were buying and decided to up and leave, knowing what would happen when they took over.
I’ll reserve judgement for now but I can’t see many more HK albums turning up on my CD shelf. The commercial-led MoS are probably going to wreck a perfectly stylish and quality brand with the likes of cheesy remixes of Akon and Mariah Carey and I will not be in the record store queue to buy if this happens.
Rest in Peace Hed Kandi. It’s the end of an era. Let’s hope Doyle can keep the quality house market alive with Tokyo Project.
February 8th, 2006 at 6:40 pm
Just read this too - in Tokyo Project we trust!
February 24th, 2006 at 4:01 am
I needed to look at my life and make a decision on what made me happy. Hed Kandi became a massive
commercial success and I was extremely happy with that, unfortunately the downside was a lack of control
on the ever growing snowball and I decided it was time to take responsibility for my own life and use
the experience I gained at Hed Kandi to start my own company. Ministry are a big powerful machine and
will take hed kandi far further than the Guardian Media Group ever could. Whether it is a good or bad thing will
be up to the public to decide. I’ve made my peace with Hed Kandi… I decided to leave after enjoying all the success
we had. I felt it was time for me to “go it” alone and on my shoulders that decision will always rest.
Don’t dismiss what Ministry do with Hed Kandi and look for what we are doing with Tokyo… Ultimately it’s about the
music and giving everyone a good time …
Mark Doyle
February 27th, 2006 at 12:28 am
Good to hear your side of the story Mark.
Ideally, both brands should continue to dominate the market of house music but, like you say, it’s entirely up to the public whether this is the case and only time will tell in this example. I must admit that I have been a sucker for both brands when it comes to mixed albums but I’ve always preferred the less commercial aspect of Hed Kandi over MoS and it looks like you’re continuing the less-commercial personality in the Tokyo brand. With the likes of Eric Kupper and Mike Van Loon on the case, I can’t see why this can’t happen.
As it is, I’ll probably continue to listen to both brands for the forseeable future. At the end of the day, it’s all about house music (sorry!). I just want to kick back (or jump up) and listen to some decent tunes.
Keep up the good work Mark as we look forward to a great year in house music.
May 26th, 2006 at 11:36 am
[…] Earlier this year, Hed Kandi was bought out from the Guardian Media Group by fellow dance music brand Ministry of Sound for an undisclosed fee. Initially, I wasn’t too happy with this takeover but since the changeover, Ministry have managed to maintain the same quality you expect from Hed Kandi and hopefully it will stay this way for a long time to come while I continue purchasing the album releases. […]
August 25th, 2006 at 11:39 am
There’s bound to be concern over the takeover, but let’s hope ministry are more intelligent than to ruin a new asset that already has a strong personality and as peel’s entry shows, a loyal following.