Simon Dunmore, the boss at Defected, gets some stick on this blog. His hypocrisy when condemning others for remixing their archive when his own labels engage in the same practice is but one example where he falls short.

And yet, I also have a certain degree of respect for him. He left the security blanket of the majors to set up the independent Defected at a time when the majors were busily trying to crush Ministry of Sound, which was eating away at their share in the dance market. He’s also taken considerable risks over the years and completely transformed Defected.

So much so that describing Defected as a record label now does them a disservice. They’re more of an events company with a record label attached. Over the years, the company has also selectively invested in different back catalogues – for example, they bought much of MK’s some years ago when the price was low.

Nonetheless, there’s something I find very curious about this building up of back catalogues. It seems like a bit of a lottery to me – pay money and buy lots of things, then hope some of it soon starts making money for you.

Not that Dunmore is worrying. Because he tweeted this last weekend…

Congratulations to @DefectedMusicUK who have a 20% publishing share of the current UK no.1 by @eltonofficial & @DUALIPA. The bass line is inspired by the Chicken Lips classic – He Not In, which we signed a few years back. A perfect example showing the importance catalogue. https://t.co/8nWJLM632s

— Simon Dunmore (@SimonDunmore) October 16, 2021

Yes, Defected has a 20% publishing stake in Elton John and Dua Lipa’s current release. And all because of a tiny section of the bassline of a Chicken Lips song being in it.

Underground house music and all that…