Young (formerly known as Young Turks) is a British

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

that sits in the

Beggars Group Beggars Group is a British record company, founded by Martin Mills, that owns or holds stakes in various record labels, including 4AD, Rough Trade Records, Matador Records, XL Recordings, and Young (record label), Young. History The company had i ...

of labels launched by Caius Pawson in 2006. It has grown from an imprint of

XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been run and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. It releases an average of six albums a year. T ...

into a successful and influential label now partnered with XL and operates across a range of genres. The label's current roster includes

the xx The xx are an English indie rock band from Wandsworth, London, formed in 2005. The band consists of Romy Madley Croft (guitar, vocals), Oliver Sim (bass guitar, vocals), Jamie Smith, also known as Jamie xx (beats, MPC, record production), ...

FKA twigs Tahliah Debrett Barnett (born 16 January 1988), known professionally as FKA Twigs (stylized as FKA twigs), is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and dancer. She was a backup dancer for numerous musicians, and made her musica ...

, Sampha,

Jamie xx James Thomas Smith (born 28 October 1988), known professionally as Jamie xx, is an English musician, DJ, record producer, and remixer. He is known for both his solo work and as a member of the indie pop band the xx. He has been described as a " ...

, Koreless and Kamasi Washington.

History

In 2004, Caius Pawson supplied DJs and sound equipment for a series of all-night dance parties he called Young Turks. He enjoyed growing celebrity, until the police raided one of his parties and seized his gear. Pawson, then nineteen, took a job in A&R at

, and quickly established his own small label within the company in 2006, also called Young Turks with Katie O'Neill and Tic. Eventually, Young became a 50/50 venture with XL Recordings. Young has now expanded to include an artist management company (Young Artists) and a publishing company (Young Songs). In 2009, Young Turks released the xx's debut album, '' xx'', which was awarded the

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual Music award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...

in 2010.

Name change

Pawson changed the name of the label from Young Turks to simply Young in April 2021. Pawson said he had named the label after the 1981

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...

song "

Young Turks The Young Turks (, also ''Genç Türkler'') formed as a constitutionalist broad opposition-movement in the late Ottoman Empire against the absolutist régime of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (). The most powerful organization of the movement, ...

" and a British slang term for rebellious youth, but had been unaware of the early 20th century

political movement A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some t ...

that had originated the term and which had been involved with the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...

. Pawson wrote on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

"Through ongoing conversations and messages that have developed our own knowledge around the subject, it's become apparent that the name is a source of hurt and confusion for people. We loved the name for what it meant to us, but in retrospect should have listened more carefully to other voices and acted more quickly. We have always tried to affect positive change and knowing what we do now, it's only right that we change our name." Young announced they had made a donation of an undisclosed sum to the Armenian Institute in London in conjunction with the name change.

Alumni

Current

Young Recordings

Young Artists

Young Songs

Former

AD 93

AD 93 is a record label affiliated with Young, headed by DJ Nic Tasker. Originally formed as a

white label White label may refer to: * White-label product, a permitted replication and rebranding of a product * White label record, records with plain white labels attached. * White Label Music, an independent record label based in the United Kingdom * ''Wh ...

imprint for Young artists (formerly Young Turks, YT) under the name 'Whities', this imprint grown into a label in itself. The label focuses on club music, techno and experimental electronic music and is distributed by Rush Hour. in June 2020, this label's name changed to 'AD 93' in light of the 2020 Black Lives Matter uprisings. The label also launched a sub-label in 2021 named Lith Dolina.

Notable artists

* TSVI aka Annunaku * Avalon Emerson *

Biosphere The biosphere (), also called the ecosphere (), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also be termed the zone of life on the Earth. The biosphere (which is technically a spherical shell) is virtually a closed system with regard to mat ...

* Christoph De Babalon * Coby Sey * IVVVO *

james K James may refer to: People * James (given name) * James (surname) * James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician * James, brother of Jesus * King James (disambiguation), various kings named James * Prince Ja ...

* Lanark Artefax * Loraine James * Minor Science * Olof Dreijer * Overmono * Moin ( Raime & Valentina Magaletti) * Reckonwrong * Venux Ex Machina * YHWH Nailgun

Discography

Selected releases

References

External links

Young official website
*
AD 93 official website
{{Authority control Record labels established in 2006 Electronic music record labels British independent record labels Indie rock record labels 2005 establishments in the United Kingdom XL Recordings