In Conversation With : Beggars Arkive
BEGGARS ARKIVE is the catalogue and archive department for Beggars Group labels and artists including 4AD, Matador, Rough Trade, XL Recordings and Young. Over the last ten years, they have reissued albums by Bauhaus, Gary Numan, The Cult, The Fall, Pixies, Cocteau Twins, The Mortal Coil, Freeez, Buffalo Tom, The Charlatans and many many more.
As well as the catalogue, the Arkive is also a physical archive space, which contains a wealth of musical and visual history. We caught up with Lesley and Flo who run Beggars Arkive to hear about more about what they do and how they fell into this line of work...
Firstly, for those who don’t know, what is BEGGARS ARKIVE?
Lesley: Beggars Arkive is the catalogue label for Beggars Banquet and all the other
orphan labels under the Beggars Group that no longer exist. We believe that any
band signed to any of the labels deserves their music and videos to be available
in the best possible format for future generations to enjoy. I run and market the
label like a new release label - because it is a catalogue item, it doesn’t mean it is
ignored or treated as a dusty treasure :)
And what are your roles?
Lesley: I’m the director so oversee everything.
Flo: I’m the Archivist & Product Manager of the catalogue.
What does your standard day-to-day work look like?
Lesley: Every day is different depending on the projects we have on the go and the
emails that come in. Daily tasks for me are Facebook comments notifications,
YT comments & TikTok. I do invoices most days.
Flo: My day involves coordinating with managers and artists about their upcoming
releases that we're handling, covering everything from audio to artwork. I also plan
announcements for our social media, which includes a variety of content such as
anniversaries, release announcements, digital drops, and archive photos. We
collaborate closely with various departments across Beggars to ensure smooth
execution of all our releases, so often we are in a lot of in-house meetings as well.
The other half of my job is like being a music librarian! I assist our other labels—4AD,
XL, and Rough Trade—in locating tapes and assets for their catalogue releases, while
also maintaining the overall organisation of our archive.
This seems like quite a niche job! How did your involvement in the arkive come
about - what previous music industry experience did you have and how did it lead
you here?
Lesley: I’ve been at Beggars all my working life LOL - started in 1988 as the office
junior moved into A & R and then publicity. I moved to NYC in 1995 to set up Beggars USA and stayed as CEO for 14 years. I adopted two children from Vietnam which meant I lived there for 4 years working part time for beggars in the anti piracy dept. I came back to London 11 years ago and have been doing catalogue ever since. We built a fantastic archive which houses all our master tapes and artifacts.
Flo: I was shamelessly part of a mix-tape society for a long time but I’m not sure if you’d
call that experience haha... I worked at Casbah Records in Greenwich for over five
years before I seriously considered a career in the music industry. I've always loved
being surrounded by records and talking about music. When I saw that Beggars had an
internship opportunity, I took a leap of faith and applied. Fortunately, I got the position,
and Lesley took a leap of faith in me too by hiring me to work in the archive after my
internship ended. I've been tucked away in the archive ever since.
What exciting projects are you working on at the moment?
Lesley: All the projects are exciting in their own way - I love releasing box sets just because there are so many components and they look so good ( a ton of work though) this year we
have released a gorgeous Mark Lanegan box which has already sold out, and are nearing completion of a very exciting Electric Six box set.
Flo: As Lesley mentioned, all our projects are exciting, and it's great to breathe new life
into a catalogue record. This year, we launched our first-ever subscription service for
the BBC Radio Sessions, which has been quite an experience! The box set features 10
different BBC Radio Sessions from 10 different catalogue artists.
What’s your favourite part of the job?
Lesley: Dealing with the artists,marketing and the videos.
Flo: Working with lots of interesting & lovely people & uncovering rare photographs from
the archive.
What knowledge, skills or experience do you need to work in this kind of role?
Lesley: An eye for detail is really important and a lot of patience :)
Flo: Being very organised with a deep understanding and appreciation of music history.
What’s the importance of The Arkive in the wider remit of Beggars Group? Does
the history of the label help attract new artists?
Lesley: Catalogue sales across all the labels account for a large percentage of our annual turnover, so it is really important. Catalogue is the life blood of a label we can invest in new artists from catalogue earnings. In my opinion a good label always looks after its past
artists, and I think new artists are attracted to that.
What’s the most challenging part of your work?
Lesley: Track names ... what is on the master tape isn’t always the same as what is
released.
Flo: Agreed, tracking down specific tapes in the archive can feel like a detective game at
times, especially when you're deciphering handwritten labels from 1984, complete with
tea stains—definitely a challenge!
Give us some career highlights...
Lesley: Nearly signing Nirvana.
Flo: Being called a “punk librarian”!
Finally, what are you listening to at the moment?
Lesley: Fontaines DC, Woodz & Woosung.
Flo: Belbury Poly, The Music from Bagpuss & Butthole Surfers.
archive.beggars.com
@beggars_arkive