In a Press Release issued yesterday, Monday, March 2nd, 2009, Kingsway Communications announced its acquisition of Fierce! Distribution. This places the actual distribution process in the hands of STL. The announcement was accompanied by a note asking retailers for patience whilst the transition takes place, reiterated in the press release itself:
All sales placed on and after today (Friday 27th February) will be processed by STL. Please allow a period of grace for this transition.
The merger should secure the future for Fierce!, which was inevitably brought into question following last year’s announcement that Delirious? would be disbanding. It takes place with the full blessing of Martin Smith and the band, who commented:
Fierce! has been our UK/International distributor for the last 8 years and we are so pleased to be passing our ‘baby’ onto Kingsway to take forward the Delirious? catalogue and our future releases.

March 6, 2009 at 11:21 am
Fierce led the way with cheaper CDs at £12 rather than £14.99. It remains to be seen whether Kingsway will continue the trend.
March 17, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Looks like your fears are well founded, Geoff: new Delirious CD out now from Kingsway for £14.67 RRP… except customers who buy it direct from the Kingsway online shop get it for £11.63…
Can’t help thinking there’s something not quite right about companies setting an arbitrary RRP then underselling themselves to claim that they’re offering a discount…
March 18, 2009 at 8:17 am
£14.67? STL have invoiced it to us at £14.99!
March 18, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Someone playing fast & loose with the new VAT rate, methinks! Interesting report from BBC Watchdog on this recently…
March 19, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Yes, we’ve been invoiced at £14.99 as well.
Watch out for the discounts on the STL weekly offers. Veggie tales should have been 50% but came in at normal discounts.
March 19, 2009 at 4:50 pm
We are going through every STL invoice with a toothcomb at the moment. I have had three instances in the last few days of backorder lines coming in with zero discount.
March 20, 2009 at 9:48 am
Just a correction. On the Fierce order form for an order placed in January this item was repped in by Fierce at £15 (Delirious – My Soul Sings) so Kingsway have reduced the price by 1p.
March 20, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Hmmm… so why are Kingsway advertising an RRP of £14.67? Fascinating…
Have you listened to it yet, Geoff? Anything new on there or is it a recycling job?