Cargo Records (Canada)

Cargo Records was a Canadian independent record label and distributor, active in the 1980s and 1990s.^[1] Based in Montreal, the company both released albums directly as a label, and distributed albums on behalf of many other small independent labels, making it one of the largest and most influential Canadian record companies of the alternative rock era.^[1]

By the mid-1990s, the company was so powerful that its decline toward bankruptcy between 1995 and 1997 initially appeared destined to set off a cascading failure of the entire Canadian music industry;^[1] however, these early predictions of disaster were averted as affected labels sought out new distribution arrangements.^[2] This period of retrenchment, in turn, has been credited with stabilizing the industry and in turn paving the way for the Canadian indie rock boom of the early 2000s.^[1]