Outlet was until recently a prominent firm of record manufacturers and distributors. Based in Belfast, it was owned by Billy McBurney and it issued records on its own and a number of subsidiary labels from the mid 60s until c.2004. Latterly it appears to have concentrated on albums and CDs, though in the '60s and '70s it issued more than eighty singles, using an OUT-000 catalogue series. There were also at least three other numerical series: a short-lived RREP-0 one for Irish Dance EPs, from 1969; a CWO-100 series, for Country & Western singles, in or around 1970; and a SOP-100 one, for Sacred recordings - SOP-110 came out in 1972. The output seems to have been fairly evenly divided as far as Loyalist and Republican material is concerned, though there was some fallout from the 'Troubles': 'Record & Tape Retailer' of the 9th of October 1971 reports that McBurney had been interned on August the 9th consequent to a raid by the army in July when several props that were merely intended for use in record sleeve pictures were taken away.
Outlet's label design varied, but generally not by a great deal. The first labels were coloured pink and had no arrow through the logo (1); these appeared on at least the first four singles. It was followed by an orange label with the arrow logo (2, 9), though apparently not for long; the orange one was succeeded by a green and white one (3) from OUT-007 onwards, though it made an occasional reappearance, for example on OUT-014. OUT-008 can be found with either type of label. The green label lasted into the early OUT-020s, but it turned light blue for OUT-020 and 022. The plain design made a comeback in 1969, from around OUT-028 onwards, but this time in yellow (4). The colour had reverted to orange by the time OUT-036 came out. From c.1973 Outlet began to have their records pressed in Ireland as well as on the mainland. Irish products generally have 'Made in the Republic of Ireland' on them, and have plainer-looking labels which come in various colours, such as black, light blue and white; the logo is more restrained, and the typefaces vary. The records without 'Made in the Republic' on them are presumably of British manufacture. The orange colour and the arrow logo turned up every so often (5) until at last a white label with a large blue logo on it became the norm (8); thanks to Robert Bowes for that scan. Unsurprisingly, Outlet's records appear to be all either Irish Traditional material, 'Rebel' songs, or Irish Pop. Pressing of the few pre-1975 British-made examples that I have seen in the vinyl has been by Orlake. The 'discography' below lists such of the company's singles as I have managed to track down - there are almost as many records missing as there are listed, but it's arguably better than nothing. See also 'Zip' and 'Homespun'.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.