History Creator / FactoryRecords

Tony Wilson died of cancer in 2007; his coffin received the last Factory catalog number assigned to date, FAC 501 (the highest Factory number is FAC 511, which Wilson gave to a 2004 memorial event for Rob Gretton, who would have been 51 that year).

A sightly inaccurate and somewhat flippiant history of Factory Records was depicted in the 2002 film ''Film/TwentyFourHourPartyPeople'' (FAC 401). Another Factory-centric film is ''Film/{{Control}}'', the 2007 Ian Curtis {{Biopic}}.

** ''Music/Technique'' (1989)

Factory Records was a Manchester-based independent record label that was home to many prominent acts in the area such as Music/JoyDivision and Music/NewOrder, Music/HappyMondays, The Durutti Column, and A Certain Ratio.

Factory was formed in 1978 originally as a club by TV presenter Tony Wilson and band manager Alan Erasmus which held performances from bands who would later be signees on the label; Factory began releasing singles and albums in 1979. Similar to Creator/FourADRecords, another British PostPunk label with a cult following, Factory used a ProductionPosse (including RecordProducer Martin Hannett and graphic designer Peter Saville) to give the label and the artists recording for it a particular sound and image, one that ended up extending to the artists' genres as well, with Joy Division in particular becoming ''the'' defining band of the post-punk movement. Factory also used a unique (in all senses of the word) cataloging system that provided numbers not just to recordings, but also artwork, projects, and whatever the hell Tony Wilson felt like assigning a number to. This included The Haçienda, a Manchester club Factory owned (FAC 51); a lawsuit filed against the label by Hannett (FAC 61); a nameless stray cat who lived in The Haçienda's basement (FAC 191); a short-lived hairdressing salon in that same basement (FAC 98); a table (FAC 331); a bet between Wilson and Joy Division manager Rob Gretton (FAC 253); a dental surgery procedure Gretton underwent (FAC 99); and a Happy Mondays album issued in 2007 on a completely different label (FAC 500).

Factory was well-known for only having a handful of acts releasing material for them at any one time. Aside from New Order, Happy Mondays and Joy Division, the label's other stalwarts included A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column, Section 25, Northside, The Railway Children, Cath Carroll and Kalima. They also released one-off singles from Music/CabaretVoltaire, James, Music/OrchestralManoeuvresInTheDark and Crispy Ambulance.

In the early '80s, Factory opened branches in America and Australia. It also created a European division, Factory Benelux, which got many exclusive releases (some of which had been passed over by the British label).

By the mid '80s, the success of New Order and Happy Mondays allowed Factory to open to a variety of acts, particularly in the techno and acid house genres. It also expanded into ClassicalMusic with the Factory Classical label, which was launched in 1989.

However, the success would not last forever; in 1992, due to the costly failure of Happy Mondays' ''Yes Please'' album (itself having already burned through most of the record label's money) and the lengthy delay in New Order following up their acclaimed 1989 album ''Technique'', Factory began to have serious financial problems. While London Records was interested in buying Factory, the deal went south when they found that Factory's earlier practice of not using contracts meant that the bands (particularly New Order, who at this point was the FaceOfTheBand for Factory) held the rights to their own backlogs, not the label. Thus the label was forced to declare bankruptcy in November 1992. Many of the Factory artists, including New Order, would go on to sign with London Records anyways; it would be through them that New Order would finally release ''Republic'', the ''Technique'' follow-up that could've kept Factory going. In 1994, Tony Wilson revived the label (in partnership with London Records) as Factory Two, with The Durutti Column and some new acts on the roster, but this incarnation ended later in TheNineties.

A sightly inaccurate history of Factory Records was depicted in the 2002 film ''Film/TwentyFourHourPartyPeople'' (FAC 401). Another Factory-centric film is ''Film/{{Control}}'', the 2007 Ian Curtis {{Biopic}}.

* Music/OrchestralManoeuvresInTheDark

Factory Records was a Manchester-based independent record label that was home to many prominent acts in the area such as Music/JoyDivision, Music/NewOrder, Music/HappyMondays, The Durutti Column and A Certain Ratio.

Factory was formed in 1978 originally as a club by TV presenter Tony Wilson and band manager Alan Erasmus which held performances from bands who would later be signees on the label. Factory began releasing singles and albums in 1979. Similar to Creator/FourADRecords, another British PostPunk label with a cult following, Factory used a ProductionPosse (including RecordProducer Martin Hannett and graphic designer Peter Saville) to give the label, and the artists recording for it, a particular sound and image. Factory also used a unique (in all senses of the word) cataloging system that provided numbers to artwork and projects in addition to recordings. Said projects included The Haçienda, a Manchester club Factory owned (FAC 51); a lawsuit filed against the label by Hannett (FAC 61); a nameless stray cat who lived in The Haçienda's basement (FAC 191); a shortlived hairdressing salon in that same basement (FAC 98); a table (FAC 331); a bet between Wilson and Joy Division manager Rob Gretton (FAC 253); a dental surgery procedure Gretton underwent (FAC 99); and a Happy Mondays album issued in 2007 on a completely different label (FAC 500).

However, the success would not last forever; in 1992, due to the costly failure of Happy Mondays' ''Yes Please'' album, Factory began to have serious financial problems. While London Records was interested in buying Factory, the deal went south when they found that Factory's earlier practice of not using contracts meant that the back catalog to New Order's recordings belonged with the bands and not the label. Thus the label was forced to declare bankruptcy in November 1992. Many of the Factory artists, including New Order, would go on to sign with London Records. In 1994, Tony Wilson revived the label (in partnership with London Records) as Factory Two, with The Durutti Column and some new acts on the roster, but this incarnation ended later in TheNineties.

Tony Wilson died of cancer in 2007. His coffin received the last Factory catalog number assigned to date, FAC 501. (The highest Factory number is FAC 511, which Wilson gave to a 2004 memorial event for Rob Gretton, who would have been 51 that year.)

The label was also well known for only having a small handful of acts releasing material for them at any one time. Aside from New Order, Happy Mondays and Joy Division, the label's other stalwarts included A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column, Section 25, Northside, The Railway Children, Cath Carroll and Kalima. They also released one-off singles from Music/CabaretVoltaire, James, Music/OrchestralManoeuvresInTheDark and Crispy Ambulance.

Factory was formed in 1978 originally as a club by TV presenter Tony Wilson and band manager Alan Erasmus which held performances from bands who would later be signees on the label. Factory began releasing singles and albums in 1979. Similar to Creator/FourADRecords, another British PostPunk label with a cult following, Factory used a ProductionPosse (including RecordProducer Martin Hannett and graphic designer Peter Saville) to give the label, and the artists recording for it, a particular sound and image. Factory also used a cataloging system that provided numbers to artwork and projects in addition to recordings. Said projects included The Haçienda, a Manchester club Factory owned (FAC 51); a lawsuit filed against the label by Hannett (FAC 61); a nameless stray cat who lived in The Haçienda's basement (FAC 191); a shortlived hairdressing salon in that same basement (FAC 98); a table (FAC 331); a bet between Wilson and Joy Division manager Rob Gretton (FAC 253); and a dental surgery procedure Gretton underwent(FAC 99).

Factory was formed in 1978 originally as a club by TV presenter Tony Wilson and band manager Alan Erasmus which held performances from bands who would later be signees on the label. Factory began releasing singles and albums in 1979. Similar to Creator/FourADRecords, another British PostPunk label with a cult following, Factory used a ProductionPosse (including RecordProducer Martin Hannett and graphic designer Peter Saville) to give the label, and the artists recording for it, a particular sound and image. Factory also used a cataloging system that provided numbers to artwork and projects in addition to recordings. Said projects included The Haçienda, a Manchester club Factory owned (FAC 51); a lawsuit filed against the label by Hannett (FAC 61); a nameless stray cat who lived in The Haçienda's basement (FAC 191); and a bet between Wilson and Joy Division manager Rob Gretton (FAC 253).

By the mid '80s, the success of New Order and Happy Mondays allowed Factory to open to a variety of acts, particularly in the techno and acid house genres. It also expanded into ClassicalMusic with the Factory Classical label, which was launched in 1989. However, the success would not last forever; in 1992, due to the costly failure of Happy Mondays' ''Yes Please'' album, Factory began to have serious financial problems. While London Records was interested in buying Factory, the deal went south when they found that Factory's earlier practice of not using contracts meant that the back catalog to New Order's recordings belonged with the bands and not the label. Thus the label was forced to declare bankruptcy in November 1992. Many of the Factory artists, including New Order, would go on to sign with London Records. In 1994, Tony Wilson revived the label (in partnership with London Records) as Factory Two, with The Durutti Column and some new acts on the roster, but this incarnation ended later in TheNineties.

By the mid '80s, the success of New Order and Happy Mondays allowed Factory to open to a variety of acts, particularly in the techno and acid house genres. It also expanded into ClassicalMusic with the Factory Classical label, which was launched in 1989. However, the success would not last forever; in 1992, due to the costly failure of Happy Monday's ''Yes Please'' album, Factory began to have serious financial problems. While London Records was interested in buying Factory, the deal went south when they found that Factory's earlier practice of not using contracts meant that the back catalog to New Order's recordings belonged with the bands and not the label. Thus the label was forced to declare bankruptcy in November 1992. Many of the Factory artists, including New Order, would go on to sign with London Records. In 1994, Tony Wilson revived the label (in partnership with London Records) as Factory Two, with The Durutti Column and some new acts on the roster, but this incarnation ended later in TheNineties.

By the mid '80s, the success of New Order and Happy Mondays allowed Factory to open to variety of acts, particularly with techno and acid house acts. It also expanded into ClassicalMusic with the Factory Classical label, which was launched in 1989. However, the success would not last forever; in 1992, due to the costly failure of Happy Monday's ''Yes Please'' album, Factory began to have serious financial problems. While London Records was interested in buying Factory, the deal went south when they found that Factory's earlier practice of not using contracts meant that the back catalog to New Order's recordings belonged with the bands and not the label. Thus the label was forced to declare bankruptcy in November 1992. Many of the Factory artists, including New Order, would go on to sign with London Records. In 1994, Tony Wilson revived the label (in partnership with London Records) as Factory Two, with The Durutti Column and some new acts on the roster, but this incarnation ended later in TheNineties.

By the mid '80s, the success of New Order and Happy Mondays allowed Factory to open to variety of acts, particularly with techno and acid house acts. It also expanded into ClassicalMusic with the Factory Classical label, which was launched in 1989. However, the success would not last forever; in 1992, due to the costly failure of Happy Monday's ''Yes Please'' album, Factory began to have serious financial problems. While London Records was interested in buying Factory, the deal went south when they found that Factory's earlier practice of not using contracts meant that the back catalog to New Order's recordings belong with the band and not the label. Thus the label was forced to declare bankruptcy in November 1992. Many of the Factory artists, including New Order, would go on to sign with London Records. In 1994, Tony Wilson revived the label (in partnership with London Records) as Factory Two, with The Durutti Column and some new acts on the roster, but this incarnation ended later in TheNineties.

Factory was formed in 1978 originally as a club by TV presenter Tony Wilson and band manager Alan Erasmus which held performances from bands who would later be signees on the label. Factory began releasing singles and albums in 1979. Similar to Creator/FourADRecords, another British PostPunk label with a cult following, Factory used a ProductionPosse (including RecordProducer Martin Hannett and graphic designer Peter Saville) to give the label, and the artists recording for it, a particular sound and image. Factory also used a cataloging system that provided numbers to artwork and projects in addition to recordings. Said projects included The Haçienda, a Manchester club Factory owned (FAC 51), a lawsuit filed against the label by Hannett (FAC 61), a nameless stray cat who lived in The Haçienda's basement (FAC 191), and a bet between Wilson and Joy Division manager Rob Gretton (FAC 253).

In the early '80s, Factory opened branches in America and Australia. It also opened a European division, Factory Benelux, which got many exclusive releases (some of which had been passed over by the British label).

By the mid '80s, the success of New Order and Happy Mondays allowed Factory to open to variety of acts, particularly with techno and acid house acts. It also expanded into ClassicalMusic with the Factory Classical label, which was launched in 1989. However, the success would not last forever; in 1992, due to the costly failure of Happy Monday's ''Yes Please'' album, Factory began to have serious financial problems. While London Records was interested in buying Factory, the deal went south when they found that Factory's earlier practice of not using contracts meant that the back catalog to New Order's recordings belong with the band and not the label. Thus the label was forced to declare bankruptcy in November 1992. Many of the Factory artists, including New Order, would go on to sign with London Records. In 1994, Tony Wilson revived the label (in partnership with London Records) as Factory Too, with The Durutti Column and some new acts on the roster, but this incarnation ended later in TheNineties.

In 2006, British author/music executive James Nice released ''Shadowplayers'', a {{documentary}} film about Factory's history; he turned it into a book in 2010. In 2012, Nice revived [[http://factorybenelux.com Factory Benelux]], which releases both reissues and new recordings by Factory artists.

Factory was formed in 1978 originally as a club by TV presenter Tony Wilson and band manager Alan Erasmus which held performances from bands who would later be signees on the label. Factory began releasing singles and albums in 1979. Similar to Creator/FourADRecords, another British PostPunk label with a cult following, Factory Records used a creative team (like record producer Martin Hannett and graphic designer Peter Saville) which gave the label, and the artists recording for it, a particular sound and image. The label also used a cataloging system that provided numbers to artwork and projects in addition to recordings. Said projects included The Haçienda, a Manchester club Factory owned (FAC 51), a lawsuit filed against the label by Hannett (FAC 61), a nameless stray cat who lived in The Haçienda's basement (FAC 191), and a bet between Wilson and Joy Division manager Rob Gretton (FAC 253).

A sightly inaccurate history of Factory Records was depicted in the 2002 film ''Film/TwentyFourHourPartyPeople'' (FAC 401). ANother Factory-centric film is ''Film/{{Control}}'', the 2007 Ian Curtis {{Biopic}}.

By the mid '80s, the success of New Order and Happy Mondays allowed Factory to open to variety of acts, particularly with techno and acid house acts. The success would not last forever and in 1992, due to the costly failure of Happy Monday's ''Yes Please'' album, Factory began to have serious financial problems. While London Records was interested in buying Factory, the deal went south when they found that Factory's earlier practice of not using contracts meant that the back catalog to New Order's recordings belong with the band and not the label. Thus the label was forced to declare bankruptcy in November 1992. Many of the Factory artists, including New Order, would go on to sign with London Records. In 1994, Tony Wilson revived the label (in partnership with London Records) as Factory Too, with The Durutti Column and some new acts on the roster, but this incarnation ended later in TheNineties.

Tony Wilson died of cancer in 2007. His coffin received the last Factory catalog number assigned to date, FAC 501. (The highest Factory number is FAC 511, which wWilson gave to a memorial for Rob Gretton.)

A sightly inaccurate history of Factory Records was depicted in the film ''Film/TwentyFourHourPartyPeople'' (FAC 401).

Factory Records was a Manchester based Independent Record Label that was home to many prominent acts in the area such as Music/JoyDivision, Music/NewOrder, Music/HappyMondays, The Durutti Column and A Certain Ratio.

Factory was formed in 1978 originally as a club by TV presenter Tony Wilson and band manager Alan Erasmus which held performances from bands who would later be signees on the label. Factory began releasing singles and albums in 1979. Similar to Creator/FourADRecords, Factory Records used a creative team (like record producer Martin Hannett and graphic designer Peter Saville) which gave the label, and the artists recording for it, a particular sound and image. The label also used a cataloging system that provided numbers to artwork and projects in addition to recordings.

By the mid '80s, the success of New Order and Happy Mondays allowed the label to open to variety of acts, particularly with techno and acid house acts. The success would not last forever and in 1992, due to the costly failure of Happy Monday's ''Yes Please'' album, Factory began to have serious financial problems. While London Records was interested in buying Factory, the deal went south when they found that Factory's earlier practice of not using contracts meant that the back catalog to New Order's recordings belong with the band and not the label. Thus the label was forced to declare bankruptcy in November 1992. Many of the Factory artists, including New Order, would go on to sign with London Records.

A sightly inaccurate history of Factory Records was depicted in the film ''Film/TwentyFourHourPartyPeople''.

Factory Records was a Manchester based Independent Record Label that was home to many prominent acts in the area such as Music/JoyDivision, Music/NewOrder, Music/HappyMondays, The Durutti Column and A Certain Radio.

By the mid '80s, the success of New Order and Happy Mondays allowed the label to open to variety of acts, particularly with techno and acid house acts. The success would not last forever and in 1992, due to the costly failure of Happy Monday's ''Yes Please'' album, Factory began to have serious financial problems. While London Records was interested in buying Factory, the deal went south when they found that Factory's earlier practice of not using contracts meant that the back catalog to New Order's recordings belong with the band and not the label. Thus the label was forced to declare bankruptcy in the November of 1992. Many of the Factory artists, including New Order, would go on to sign with London Records.

Factory was formed in 1978 originally as a club by TV Presenter Tony Wilson and Band Manager Alan Erasmus which held performances from bands who would later be signees on the label. Factory began releasing singles and albums in 1979. Similar to Creator/FourADRecords, Factory Records used a creative team (like record producer Martin Hannett and graphic designer Peter Saville) which gave the label, and the artists recording for it, a particular sound and image. The Label also used a cataloging system that provided numbers to artwork and projects in addition to recordings.

By the mid '80s, the success of New Order and Happy Mondays allowed the label to open to variety of acts, particularly with techno and acid house acts. The success would not last forever and in 1992 due to the costly failure of Happy Monday's Yes Please album. While London Records was interested in buying factory, the deal went south when they found that factory's earlier practice of not using contracts meant that the back catalog to New Order's recordings belong with the band and not the label. Thus the label was forced to declare bankruptcy in the November of 1992. Many of the Factory Artists, including New Order, would go on to sign with London Records.

A sightly inaccurate history of Factory Records was depicted in the film 24 hour Party People.

Factory Records was a Manchester based Independent Record Label that was home to many prominent acts in the area such as Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays, The Durutti Column and A Certain Radio.

Factory was formed in 1978 originally as a club by TV Presenter Tony Wilson and Band Manager Alan Erasmus which held performances from bands who would later be signees on the label. Factory began releasing singles and albums in 1979. Similar to 4AD Records, Factory Records used a creative team (like record producer Martin Hannett and graphic designer Peter Saville) which gave the label, and the artists recording for it, a particular sound and image. The Label also used a cataloguing system that provided numbers to artwork and projects in addition to recordings.

By the mid 80s, the success of New Order and Happy Mondays allowed the label to open to variety of acts, particularly with techno and acid house acts. The success would not last forever and in 1992 due to the costly failure of Happy Monday's Yes Please album. While London Records was interested in buying factory, the deal went south when they found that factory's earlier practice of not using contracts meant that the back catalogue to New Order's recordings belong with the band and not the label. Thus the label was forced to declare bankruptcy in the November of 1992. Many of the Factory Artists, including New Order, would go on to sign with London Records.

A sightly inaccurate history of Factory Records was depicted in the film 24 hour Party People

Factory was formed in 1978 originally as a club by TV Presenter Tony Wilson and Band Manager Alan Erasmus which held performances from bands who would later be signees on the label. Factory began releasing singles and EPs in 1979. Similar to 4AD Records, Factory Records used a creative team (like record producer Martin Hannett and graphic designer Peter Saville) which gave the label, and the artists recording for it, a particular sound and image. The Label also used a cataloguing system that provided numbers to artwork and projects in addition to recordings.

Factory Records was a Manchester based Record Label formed in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus. Prior to it bankruptcy in 1992, the label was home to many prominent acts such as Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays, The Durutti Column and A Certain Radio.

The film 24 hour Party People is based on the history of the record label, with some minor liberties