Everyone says the good times are coming back to the music industry, but for Absolute, they never left.

Established 20 years ago, just as the buoyancy of the ‘80s and ‘90s gave way to a Napster-fuelled slump, Absolute never fell under the despondency that gripped much of the biz during that period.

It helped, of course, that their core business involves label and artist services, one of the few sectors that boomed during the bust. Labels cut staff and signed ...