Daptone was born out of the closure of Desco Records, a label run by Roth with fellow musician Philip Lehman who both played in the band Soul Providers.

[4] In their first four years, Daptone would also put out Sharon Jones' sophomore album, Naturally, as well as original releases by the Sugarman 3 and Dap-Kings-adjacent The Budos Band.

He brought in Amy Winehouse to record parts of her album Back to Black there with The Dap-Kings and Antibalas members Nick Movshon and Victor Axelrod.

[3] In addition to Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Daptone has recorded and released the music of Antibalas, The Sugarman 3, The Budos Band, The Poets of Rhythm, The Mystery Lights, The Daktaris, The Mighty Imperials, Lee Fields, Charles Bradley, Binky Griptite, The Sha La Das, and Naomi Davis.

The label built the studio from scratch, and made the decision to not have computers, but to rely completely on the more old-fashioned analog recording methods to make music.

Their distinctive sound is a product of the studio acoustics, recording only on analog tape (no digital), and mixing done by Roth.