| Sheer Sound | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founded | 1994 |
| Founder | Damon Forbes |
| Distributor(s) | IRIS (South Africa) |
| Genre | Jazz, rock, world, Afropop, house |
| Country of origin | South Africa |
| Official website | www |
Sheer Sound is a South African independent record label formed in 1994 by Damon Forbes.
Sheer Sound was formed in November 1994, shortly after South Africa's first democratic elections. The label was initially a home for jazz and world music and fast gained a reputation for its extensive South African and African jazz catalogue.
By the mid-1990s, a young music marketer, Damon Forbes, was getting restless with the limited vision of his industry.
"I sunk my teeth into jazz because it carried a world music message for me; it was truly culturally representative.... I just looked at the market and I saw the economics of the people of South Africa changing, due to better access to education.... [And]the workplace was going to change; a lot more black people getting into jobs that are of medium and higher income levels.... With all that, comes the aspiration to listen to better quality music. [So] the market, in the long term, is going to increase."
With what he calls "R5 000 (just over $500) and a dream", Forbes established his own label, Sheer Sound. (Ansell 1994:269)
In 2006 two imprint labels, Seed and 2Feet Music, were formed under the Sheer Sound umbrella and has since released some of the most prolific rock and singer-songwriter music, respectively, in South Africa.
Sheer grew over the years to represent Beggars Banquet group, Concord, Ninja Tune, Cooking Vinyl, World Circuit and numerous others They were also the South African distributor for labels such as Carrot Top Records, Lusafrica, Palm Pictures, Shanachie, Telarc, and Union Square Music, with their own CDs having seen a global market largely through its folk/rock imprint, 2 Feet.
In late 2014 Sheer Sound was acquired by Times Media LTD / the Gallo Record Company, and the two companies were merged.
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