Hed Kandi

Hed Kandi is a UK-based record label and a music brand, established 1999, specialising in house music. Founded by DJ and A&R man, Mark Doyle, Hed Kandi's catalogue includes both artist albums and various genres of club compilations.

The brand has grown in strength through the years, culminating in the purchase of the record label at the end of January 2006 by the Ministry Of Sound, one of the largest dance music brands. Hed Kandi, along with the Enterprise Records division of Smooth FM was purchased for an undisclosed sum from Guardian Media Group Radio Holdings.

Hed Kandi also hold nightclub events around the United Kingdom and worldwide, most notably summer residencies in Ibiza. There is also a monthly residency in London nightclub Pacha and New York's Crobar.

The Ministry Of Sound plans on maintaining the current style of Hed Kandi, whilst Mark Doyle has now established a new house music label called Fierce Angels.

Hed Kandi's unique choice of artwork through the years have succeeded in distinguishing the brand from other house music labels and creates an instant association with the brand. The trend of the current "Kandi Girl" style of artwork started with the release of Nu Cool 3 in 1999 (the first two volumes of Nu Cool were re-released with new artwork) with designs by British illustrator Jason brooks (and art direction by Zip Design) who continued to create over 50 artwork designs for the brand until 2005 when New York design company Vault49 took over the task of creating cover artwork whilst maintaining the trend and format set originally by Brooks. The cover artwork usually relates to the genre of the album released, for example Back To Love features music from late 80s/early 90s therefore the artwork will normally depict a female dressed in club attire from those times, sometimes on roller-skates or on chopper bicycles, Beach House releases usually feature females listening to music on portable audio devices on a beach backdrop, Disco Heaven releases always feature winged females on a disco-styled backdrop, etc. From September 2006 onwards the album artwork has yet again been redesigned with the release of Back To Love 07.06 along with a new style format for future Hed Kandi releases.

Hed Kandi had its own radio show which was broadcast late night/early morning on radio station JazzFM. Since the takeover by Ministry of Sound in early 2006, Hed Kandi now has more radio presence, notably a Saturday evening show on Galaxy FM, as well as several other slots on Ministry of Sound radio.