 Although initially his plan was to take a "director of operations" role (he cites Daniel Miller has his greatest influence), O'Connor and his label partner Peter Sutton (aka Female) found it increasingly difficult to find artists to share their vision, and to this day still work with the same core artists.O'Connor began making music in the early 1990s and founded Downward Records with Sutton in 1993 in the Halesowen area of Birmingham.He set up the Integrale Muzique distribution company in 1996 with Sutton and Antonio Soares-Vieira.