There isn't much that Mike Chadwick doesn't know about music distribution.

He began his professional life in the music industry - a career which hits its 35th anniversary this year - as a sales assistant at retailer Revolver Records in Bristol, before becoming a joint owner of Revolver Distribution in 1981. Eight years later, Chadwick outright bought the company - at that point a key branch of Rough Trade's distribution initiative, The Cartel.

In 1990 he co-founded Heavenly Records with ...