Vernon Yard Recordings was an independent label owned by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), Tom Newman. It ...

. Vernon Yard is a small

mews A mews is a row or courtyard of stables and carriage houses with living quarters above them, built behind large city houses before motor vehicles replaced horses in the early twentieth century. Mews are usually located in desirable residential ...

off the

Portobello Road Portobello Road is a street in the Notting Hill district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in west London. It runs almost the length of Notting Hill from south to north, roughly parallel with Ladbroke Grove. On Saturdays it is ...

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road Ma ...

. Although Virgin owned a

controlling interest A controlling interest is an ownership interest in a corporation with enough voting stock shares to prevail in any stockholders' motion. A majority of voting shares (over 50%) is always a controlling interest. When a party holds less than the major ...

in the label, they let Vernon Yard operate as a traditional indie (much like Virgin's relationship with

Caroline Records Caroline Records is a record label originally founded in 1973. Initially founded in the United Kingdom to showcase British progressive rock groups, the label ceased releasing titles in 1976, and then re-emerged in the United States in 1986. ...

), and therefore very few Vernon Yard releases were distributed by Virgin. In fact, Vernon Yard used many different distributors throughout its run, primarily the aforementioned Caroline, but also competing major label Capitol Records and other willing distributors. The label had a strong relationship with Virgin's British indie, Hut Records, importing Hut bands into the US, and sending Vernon Yard-signed acts over to the UK for release on Hut. The label was known for its emphasis on modern psychedelic rock and its many subgenres, including shoegaze (

The Verve The Verve were an English rock band formed in Wigan in 1990 by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bass guitarist Simon Jones and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboard player Simon Tong later became a member in ...

), slowcore (

Acetone Acetone (2-propanone or dimethyl ketone), is an organic compound with the formula . It is the simplest and smallest ketone (). It is a colorless, highly volatile and flammable liquid with a characteristic pungent odour. Acetone is miscib ...

and Low), and indie Britpop (

The Auteurs The Auteurs were a British alternative rock band of the 1990s, and a vehicle for songwriter Luke Haines (guitar, piano and vocals). Several bands influenced by the Auteurs have taken their names from the band's songs. The Polish band Lenny V ...

). Although the Vernon Yard label would still pop up occasionally up to the early 21st century, Virgin took greater control over the label in 1997, leading many key acts to leave the label. Virgin wanted to heavily promote

's 1997

Urban Hymns ''Urban Hymns'' is the third studio album by English alternative rock band the Verve, released on 29 September 1997 on Hut Records. It earned nearly unanimous critical praise upon its release, and went on to become the band's best-selling rel ...

and, as such, released the album on Virgin and not Vernon Yard. The label's other two most popular acts, Acetone and Low, left for Vapor Records and Kranky Records, respectively, around the same time. These moves effectively left Vernon Yard without its key artists, and only a handful of releases on Vernon Yard have appeared over the years. The most notable post-1997 release on Vernon Yard was the Low remix album OwL Remix.

References

{{Authority control British record labels Virgin Records