Martin Mills
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Martin Mills (born 12 May 1949) is the founder and chairman of the Beggars Group.
Beggars Group
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The company was started to sell off records that he and a friend, Nick Austin, had collected for a mobile disco. The disco, and then the company, was named after the Rolling Stones' album Beggars Banquet.[1]
His company is now one of the world's most successful independent groups of record labels.[citation needed] His ability to spot future trends in music has been celebrated by the BBC Radio 4 Zeitgeisters series, and has included New Romantic, Gary Numan electronica, Goth Rock of the 1980s and being ahead of the popular trend for digital downloads.[1] In the radio show he was quoted as saying that The whole point [of independent music publishing] is not giving people what they want but what they are going to want.[1]
In 2008, the labels that comprised the Beggars Group were 4AD, Matador Records, Rough Trade Records and XL Recordings.[2]
Commentary
In 2011 Martin Mills was voted number 22 in The Guardian's inaugural Music Power 100 list. In June 2013, Mills was described in a BBC Radio 4 portrait as looking "remarkably unremarkable" but being "like a wise old fisherman watching minnows waiting to catch a really big fish".[1]
