Instant Karma is an independent record label

Independent record label

An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

 created by former Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...

 chairman and head of the BPI

British Phonographic Industry

The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...

, Rob Dickins, in 1999.
The label was founded by Dickins after his resignation from Warner Music, where he gained fame for his track record of signing female vocalists such as Enya

Enya

Enya is an Irish singer, instrumentalist and songwriter. Enya is an approximate transliteration of how Eithne is pronounced in the Donegal dialect of the Irish language, her native tongue.She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad before leaving to...

 and The Corrs

The Corrs

The Corrs are an Irish band which combine pop rock with traditional Celtic folk music. The brother and sisters are from Dundalk, Ireland. The group consists of the Corr siblings: Andrea ; Sharon ; Caroline ; and Jim .The Corrs came to international prominence with their performance at the...

. Instant Karma's first release was Helicopter Girl's

Helicopter Girl

Helicopter Girl is the stage name of Jackie Joyce, a musician from Perth, Scotland. Her first album was 2000's How to Steal the World, which was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize...

 How to Steal the World album in June 2000; the label received attention for the fact that its very first release was short-listed for the Mercury Prize

Mercury Prize

The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize and currently known as the Barclaycard Mercury Prize for sponsorship reasons, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album from the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was established by the British Phonographic Industry and British...

. Helicopter Girl signed with Instant Karma on the condition that she be permitted not to tour.

Dickins noted that he was pleased to have How to Steal the World as the label's "calling card", but that he planned other releases to have more immediate commercial appeal.

The label was funded by Sony Music UK

Sony Music Entertainment

Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation....

. British DJ K-Gee

K-Gee

K-Gee is the alias for Karl Gordon, a British DJ, producer and songwriter and former member of the Outlaw Posse.Gordon was brought up listening to reggae by his father and was inspired to become a DJ after listening to Grandmaster Flash's "The Message" and other early hip-hop tracks.K-Gee and his...

's first solo single was released on Instant Karma in October 2000.