Pinnacle's fall has cast huge shadow over Q4's album successes.

Editorial Paul Williams

SILVER LININGS CLEARLY DON'T LAST VERY LONG IN THIS most testing of fourth quarters.

In the wake of EUK and Woolworths going into administration, Take That's new album provided some much-needed optimism for the industry last week, taking just two days to sell more than 200,000 copies. But within hours the dark clouds had returned as news broke of Pinnacle's own fall into administration.

The decline of the long-established distributor is a devastating setback to the whole of the UK music industry, but most particularly the independent sector, which has had to endure the disappearance of a number of big players such as Gut in recent years.

Pinnacle's situation has already resulted in 94 members of staff losing their jobs, while around 300 labels face huge uncertainties about how their releases will be distributed, at a time when trading and the general economic environment could hardly be more difficult.

A blow like this to the industry at any time of year is bad enough, but it is made far worse in that it has happened in a fourth quarter when UK PLC is on the verge of officially moving into recession and just days after Woolworths and distributor EUK themselves went into administration.

However, it is very encouraging to see how the music industry has rallied around, with the majors offering to help indie labels previously distributed by Pinnacle to ensure their releases reach stores, while AIM, the BPI and PPL have all been providing help and support in a variety of ways.