[3] In 1986 Cooking Vinyl recorded an impromptu live performance around a campfire at a folk festival by the singer Michelle Shocked, on a Sony Walkman with fading batteries.

[5] Besides traditional royalty agreements, Cooking Vinyl developed 'artist services' deals in the 1990s, where the artist retains ownership of the copyright of their recorded material.

[8] Cooking Vinyl has provided similar services for Alison Moyet, Black Spiders, Gary Numan, James Skelly & The Intenders, Madness, Pigeon Detectives, Reverend and The Makers, Ron Sexsmith, and The View.

[9][10] In 2009, Cooking Vinyl partnered on the release of The Prodigy's fifth studio album Invaders Must Die, which went on to sell 1.2 million units worldwide and was the biggest-selling independent record of the year in Europe.

[11] In 2012, Amanda Palmer, an advocate of the DIY approach,[12] announced that she was partnering with Cooking Vinyl in a distribution and label services deal for the European release of her studio album Theatre Is Evil.

[21] In 2018, Lucy Spraggan, former contestant on The X Factor, signed to both Cooking Vinyl Records and Publishing on a long-term global artist services deal.

[3] Other artists that have released through the label in the 2010s include Counting Crows, Ryan Adams, Suzanne Vega, The Cult, The Charlatans, The Cranberries, Richard Ashcroft (CV licensed the Righteous Phonographic released album These People, with Ashcroft going on to be signed by BMG),[23][24][25] The Subways, Echo and the Bunnymen, Gary Numan, The Enemy, Groove Armada, The Proclaimers, Seth Lakeman, UB40 and The Dropkick Murphys.

[3] In December 2021, Clare Grogan announced that the first Altered Images album in over 38 years would be released in August 2022 on Cooking Vinyl and called Mascara Streakz.

[29] As of December 2021, other artists signed to Cooking Vinyl include Alison Moyet, Eliza & The Delusionals, Lissie, Nina Nesbitt, The Orb, Will Young, Passenger, The Waterboys, BABYMETAL, Fickle Friends, Lucy Spraggan, Rumer, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, The Darkness,[30][31][32] The Psychedelic Furs, Billy Bragg, Del Amitri, Kiefer Sutherland, Reverend And The Makers, Suzanne Vega, The Fratellis, The Rifles, and Willy Mason[33] Essential Music & Marketing In 2003, Vital Distribution's managing director Mike Chadwick teamed up with Cooking Vinyl's Martin Goldschmidt to launch Essential Music & Marketing, an independent distributor and service provider.

The company has a diverse roster with current writers including Tom Speight, C Duncan, Vitto Meirelles, Isobel Campbell, Lucy Spraggan, 485C, 65 Days of Static and Palestinian acts DAM, 47 Soul and Le Trio Joubran.

The company's catalogue includes songs by artists such as Reverend & The Makers, The Rifles, Amber Run, Roll Deep, Meursalt, Tal National, Audio Bullys, Exit Calm and The Virgin Marys.