When Was Stiff Records Founded?

It was in 1976 that entrepreneurs Dave Robinson and Andrew Jakeman (aka Jake Riviera) created Stiff Records.  It was the start of the punk music boom and both were well known in the music industry having worked previously with the likes of Jimmi Hendrix.

The first release was "So It Goes" by Nick Lowe and it made the label an immediate success.  

Elvis Costello and The Damned were two more successful signings and led to a distribution deal with Island Records and EMI.

Disagreements between Robinson and Riviera led to a split in 1978 with Riviera leaving and taking Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello with him.  

Madness were one of the many new signings over the following few months and the early 80s were a good time for the label.  But it was not to last and with spiralling debts, the company was sold to Island Records in 1984.  That deal didn't work out, but when Dave Robinson regained control, the resulting independent label didn't last much longer and closed down a few months later.