Independent labels breathe the life and soul into the music industry. As home of the hottest new bands and artists, Criminal Records seeks out new upcoming talent from gigs, showcases and demos to bring you the best new music.

Our bands represent the grass roots of UK talent. The era of manufactured pop and talentless icons has finally faded in favour of real bands and musicians.

Formed in 2004, Criminal Records has achieved a great deal in a relatively short space of time. Just weeks into the release of their first album, 19 band compilation 'The Criminal Sessions', Criminal Records had already earned a lot of kudos and as early as 2005, media sources had already dubbed Criminal Records as the UK 's most exciting and visionary new record label [Source: God is in The TV www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk].

By early 2006, Criminal Records had already signed a massive 19 alternative bands to its roster and had 20 releases in selected stores throughout the UK including HMV, Rough Trade, Action Records and Sister Ray. In September 2006, Criminal Records signed a deal with worldwide distributors 'Active Media' / 'THE' / 'Universal'; making the label a real contender in the UK scene.



Joyzine (UK) Review: 'The Criminal Sessions'. Ian Viggars
Other bands who deserve to be filed under "you heard it here first" include electro-punkers Crayon, the jazzy Morviscous, and The Mystery Artist. On this evidence, Criminal Records are found guilty of possession of class-A tunes, with intent to supply"

TrakMARX (UK) Review: 'The Criminal Sessions' by Evan Halshaw
"Criminal Records, according to their website, is the UK's fastest growing independent record label. They've certainly got enough bands to back this claim up as nineteen of them appear on their new compilation the Criminal Sessions, and happily more than half of these tracks are worthy of your attention.