Tony Kostrzewa — known as Tony K — was a pioneer of the British independent music scene with his Yorkshire-based label, Red Rhino Records. Like several similar record companies which emerged in the post-punk era of the late 1970s, including Rough Trade and Beggar's Banquet, Red Rhino began life as a record store. Finding new groups and releasing their records on his own label was to Kostrzewa a logical development from his role as a record shop proprietor: both were driven by the same desire to thrust obscure records he loved on an unsuspecting public with an enthusiastic cry of "listen to this!"

The most famous name in the Red Rhino catalogue was Pulp, although they were completely unknown outside Yorkshire when Kostrzewa released their debut album. Other bands to appear on his label included the Mekons, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and Skeletal Family. The label also spawned a separate distribution company, a music publishing arm and the subsidiary labels Ediesta and Red Rhino Europe, which released records by Front 242 and Butthole Surfers among others.

Born Julian Anthony Kostrzewa in Bradford, Yorkshire on October 18, 1949, he was the eldest of four children born to a Polish father and a local Yorkshire mother. By his mid-teens he had become a mod, obsessed with stylish clothes and imported 1960s American soul records. A career in music was far from his mind, however. After his application to join the RAF was turned down, he trained in a bank before moving to London, where he took up further junior clerical posts in accounting and shipping.

In 1973 he moved to Norwich, where his girlfriend (later to become his wife) was studying at university and struck up a friendship with Robin Watson, who ran the city's leading independent record store. Inspired by Watson, on his return north in 1977, Kostrzewa set up Red Rhino Records in York. His timing was perfect. The DIY ethos of punk was spawning a new generation of musicians and an army of fans who wanted nothing to do with the musical mainstream and Kostrzewa's tiny shop in Gillygate became a magnet for them. Before long he was forced to relocate to larger premises in Goodramgate and in 1979 he branched out from retail to launch a record label and distribution company.

Concentrating on local Yorkshire-based bands, his second release, "Spiderman" by Akrylykz, a ska revival band from Hull in the style of the Specials, marked the recording debut of Roland Gift, who four years later became the singer with Fine Young Cannibals. In 1983 Red Rhino released Pulp's debut album It, although the group had to wait another decade for commercial success. Kostrzewa had more luck when Red Rhino distributed a version of Nellie the Elephant by the Sunderland cartoon punks Toy Dolls, which became a surprise Christmas hit single in 1984, selling half a million copies. He also distributed early releases by the Wedding Present, Sisters Of Mercy, Chumbawamba and March Violets.

After releasing more than 125 singles and albums in ten years and distributing many more, he was reluctantly forced to put the label into liquidation in 1989 following the financial collapse of Red Rhino Distribution. He continued to run the record shop in Goodramgate until 1992, when he and his family moved to Leeds, from where he pursued various other business interests and ran a music industry consultancy.

He is survived by his wife, Gerri Palmer, and their two children.

Tony Kostrzewa, independent music entrepreneur, was born on October 18, 1949. He died of cancer on May 1, 2008, aged 58