Product Update
Is RKA Records Still in Business? (2026 Update)
Is RKA Records from Dragons’ Den still around in 2026? The deal it made, the dragons who invested, and where to buy RKA Records today.
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RKA Records handed Duncan Bannatyne a striking 79 percent of the business for 50,000 pounds, one of the more lopsided equity splits in Dragons' Den history. The label has changed its name twice since, and today it is not really operating as a record label at all.
The Short Answer
The company still exists on paper but is not actively trading as a record label. It has been renamed twice since the pitch, first to Bannatyne Music and later to Savage Digital Ltd, and public reporting describes it as dormant.
Our records for this pitch currently show the business as still selling, but the available evidence points the other way. This page is being flagged for review so the status can be corrected, and the discrepancy is worth keeping in mind if you spot the company mentioned elsewhere as an active label.
The Dragons' Den Pitch
Founders Ryan Ashmore and Liam Webb appeared in series 9, episode 8, pitching RKA Records in the Other category. The business was a record label, established in October 2010, looking for the capital and connections to sign and promote artists.
They asked for 50,000 pounds in exchange for 79 percent of the company. Giving up nearly four fifths of the business for that sum is an extreme trade, and it tells you how badly the founders needed both the cash and a well-connected backer to get a label off the ground.
The Deal That Got Done
Duncan Bannatyne backed the pitch, investing the full 50,000 pounds asked for in exchange for the 79 percent equity on the table. With that stake, RKA Records was effectively Bannatyne's business from the moment the deal closed, with Ashmore and Webb running it day to day.
A deal structured that lopsided usually means the dragon is taking on most of the risk and, correspondingly, most of the control. It set RKA Records up as very much a Bannatyne-led venture from the start.
What Happened After the Deal
In 2012, the label was renamed Bannatyne Music, and management passed to Kevin Savage. In 2018 it changed names again, becoming Savage Digital Ltd, the name it still carries on the Companies House register.
Reporting on the company describes it as functioning, in practice, more as a personal entertainment interest for its owner than as an active commercial record label chasing new signings. The company remains on the register and technically active, but dormant in terms of trading.
Why Record Labels Are a Hard Sell
Independent record labels are notoriously difficult businesses to sustain, even with strong backing. Success depends on repeatedly finding and breaking new artists in an industry that has been reshaped by streaming economics, and a label built around a small handful of acts can struggle once those specific artists' careers plateau or move on.
Renaming a company twice in six years is itself a signal of a business searching for a working model rather than settling into a stable one. Whatever activity happens under the Savage Digital name today, it does not appear to be the artist-signing record label business that Ashmore and Webb pitched back in series 9.
A Reminder That Deals Do Not Guarantee Survival
RKA Records is a useful case study in how little the size of an on-air deal predicts a company's long-term survival. Bannatyne took an unusually large 79 percent stake, essentially near-total ownership, and the business still ended up quietly winding down its original purpose rather than growing into the label the founders envisioned.
Music is a particularly unforgiving industry for a small independent label without a hit act to build around, and the fact that a well-resourced backer with genuine industry connections could not keep RKA Records operating as intended says more about the difficulty of the category than about any single decision made along the way.
Where Things Stand Now
Here is the recap. RKA Records pitched in series 9 as a fledgling record label, asked for 50,000 pounds for 79 percent, and got it from Duncan Bannatyne.
Today the company exists under its third name, Savage Digital Ltd, and is not actively trading as a label. If you came here hoping to find RKA Records still signing artists, that chapter of the business appears to be over, even though the company itself has never formally closed.
Where to buy RKA Records
Still selling as of 26 February 2026. Check today's price and availability.
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See the full RKA Records deal breakdown and term sheet →
