59. 38 Records

Founder: Mark Joseph
Website: www.38records.co.uk

Mark set up his independent record label to ‘prove there’s creative life outside the music industry’. Mark had several top 40 hits with Warner Bros label Fourteenth Floor but decided there had to be a better alternative than conglomerate record companies. He raised £2m from more than 100 fans and private investors to get his own record company off the ground.

The label has two artists – Mark, and signer/songwriter Katie Buckhaven, both of whom have been working on albums to be released in 2008. 38 Records is also hoping to have signed a band to the label by the end of the year.