Azuli Records was a British independent record label, focusing mainly on house music and other forms of electronic dance music. The label was founded by DJ Dave Piccioni in London, England in 1991 but went into liquidation in April 2009. Some of its back catalogue was sold to Phoenix Music International Ltd. The label was re-launched by Piccioni and administered by Defected Records. In 2012, the label was sold to Defected Records.[citation needed]
The Azuli Records label was the UK's longest-running house label,[citation needed] releasing a total of 278 singles on Azuli Label and over 60 albums.Dave Piccioni, a DJ who had lived in New York's formative house community, began by selling 12" singles from the back of a van.
In 1990, Piccioni took over Black Market Records shop in London, and in 1991 he started Azuli Records.
At the time there was a lot of house coming out in London from the acid scene but also a lot of stuff that was more American sounding which we wanted to put out.
—David Piccioni
Azuli's debut release was Chocolate Fudge's "In A Fantasy". By the mid-1990s, the label began to have UK chart crossover hits.
After about seven or eight releases we had already gained a lot of credibility, but we weren't actually selling that many records. We were on a honeymoon period where all the magazines were talking about us but it didn't really reflect on sales.
The label also releases annual compilation CD entitled Miami, Space: Ibiza and Made in Italy.
Finally, the Club Azuli project was a compilation series featuring current dancefloor hits, in both mixed and unmixed versions. Club Azuli is also the title of Azuli's event program which, for the past two years, has been visiting the finest clubs across the globe.