Pickwick Group Ltd

Pickwick Group Ltd

For almost thirty years, Pickwick was the largest and most important name in the budget and mid-price music market in the UK. Originally launched in 1962 in London, it quickly established itself as the market leader, thanks to its innovative business practices. It was the first company to put in place exclusive licensing deals with the major record companies (for many years it was the official budget outlet for labels such as RCA and CBS), specifically targeting the children’s market with its Mr Pickwick character and issued a series of highly regarded classical releases.

In 1967 it launched the Hallmark label, a super budget label that made its mark with the release of the Top of the Pops series. Beginning in 1968 this series of sound alike cover versions of the hits of the day (and future hits, for each of the Top of the Pops albums was recorded on such a short time scale that the producers had to try and predict which forthcoming releases would become major hits – their hits ratio put them in the category of pop pundits without equal!) ran for nearly one hundred albums over the course of the next thirteen years. Two of the series, issues 18 and 20 actually topped the UK album charts, while a further two, issues 17 and 19, made the Top 20. So successful was the series, with total sales in excess of 3 million units, the album chart rules were changed to exclude budget albums from the main chart.

Pickwick was quick to embrace new innovations in the home entertainment market. Thus it was one of the first companies to issue budget videos and CD’s when these formats first came onto the market. Indeed, so successful was Pickwick that at the height of its success it held a 40% share of the low-price market.

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