This isn’t going to win me any friends at Traxsource, but am I the only one truly questioning their independence nowadays? The business was originally set up in 2004 by Marc Pomeroy and Brian Tappert. Back in the 1990s, less so in the 2000s, they were a production and remix duo called Jazz N Groove. Bloody good they were, as well.

They also ran a label called Soulfuric Records. Its back catalogue was purchased by Defected back in 2017. Since then, Simon Dunmore and Defected have effectively owned Soulfuric – how much further does this relationship truly extend?

Let us not forget that they have previous. Back in 1998, Dunmore ran a label called AM:PM, which was owned by Polygram. That year, Polygram was purchased by Universal, who initiated a reorganisation of their newly acquired labels. Dunmore used this opportunity to set up a brand new label, which was to be called Defected.

The first release from Defected was “Can’t Get Enough” by Soulsearcher. Who were Soulsearcher? Marc Pomeroy and Brian Tappert. The song was licensed by Soulfuric Records, and it’s also worth mentioning that Pomeroy and Tappert were asked to do remixes for AM:PM during Dunmore’s time in charge – going back to at least 1995.

Defected releases are promoted incredibly heavily on Traxsource and have been for many years. One has to ask how close the relationship between the two really is, and whether such a close relationship is healthy for our scene.

Or are they, to use George Galloway’s phrase, two cheeks of the same arse?