Founded in 1979 as mainly a hard rock music distributor called Important Record Distributors, which originally distributed Metallica's first two LPs in the US, it became RED Distribution in the 1990s. On June 1, 2017, Sony Music announced that it would merge RED's British affiliate, Red Essential, into The Orchard. On June 5, Sony also included the American RED Distribution in its merger with The Orchard. The "RED" name will remain active as a new entity named RED MUSIC, which will provide marketing, label services, and joint ventures between Sony's labels and independent labels.