Sony Warehouse in London goes up in flames

More bad news from London, this time with a particularly unfortunate music-bent.

News has come in that a Sony distribution centre in Enfield, North London has been engulfed in flames, which is bound to hit a host of indie labels very hard indeed.

Thankfully, and most importantly, no one was killed as a result of the fire but a huge amount of PIAS (Play It Again Sam) stock has been destroyed. PIAS distributes music from indie labels such as Domino (home of Villagers), Sub Pop, 4AD, Matador, Warp, XL and many more.

In an industry already struggling, this is a major blow not for the majors, but those struggling independents. As singer Frank Turner has so succinctly put it: "Oh well, there goes independent labels. Fuck".

To find out about moves to organise benefit gigs to raise money for labels hit by the fire, follow the Twitter hashtag #piasfundraiser.

An official Sony statement is due to be released later today, so be sure to stay with hotpress.com for further updates as they happen.

Elsewhere, Bressie has been tweeting about the unbelievable events in London.