Mordam

Mordam Records ("More Damn Records") was a California record distribution company for independent record labels. It was founded in San Francisco in 1983 as an independent punk distribution company by Ruth Schwartz (one of the original co-editors of Maximum RocknRoll). Mordam was the exclusive distributor for dozens of punk rock and independent record labels throughout the 1980s and 90s, gaining a reputation as one of the few "distros" that paid their labels on time.

Following the departure of Lookout! Records and Man's Ruin from its distribution network in 2000, Schwartz moved the company to Sacramento. She subsequently sold Mordam outright to Lumberjack Distribution in 2005. It continued as a part of the Lumberjack Mordam Music Group. With record sales in decline throughout the industry, the company went out of business in 2009.

Independent record companies are frequently started by music fans, for many of whom commerce is secondary and financial skills are minimal. Customarily such record labels send their finished products to intermediaries known as "distributors" on consignment, with these middlemen adding an additional markup and selling these goods in bulk to retail outlets. The label is thus placed in a position of making a loan of its products to its distributors, hoping that sales will be made and money returned in compensation.

Prior to 2005 the bulk of the recorded music purchased in the United States happened through major retail chains such as Borders, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Hastings, and the like. The only way for an independent record label to gain access to these channels was through well-connected distributors. With many retail chains and large, corporate distributors slow to pay and demand for new and fresh products driving the market, it was frequently only the fear of being denied the expeditious delivery of new releases that motivated payment — a coercive mechanism difficult for a small label to generate. Explains independent record industry veteran Todd Taylor:

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