[NIBBS]

Originally Posted by devildriver

Well I think it is a bad day for rock and metal in general because despite their widening of the genres of bands that they signed, Roadrunner was at it's core still a metal label. Now they are being rolled into the bigger Warner corporate machine so who knows how that's going to change things.

But long term I just reckon that the major labels will drop everything other than their high-sales chart artists and the music industry will be further homogenised in favour of X Factor, radio friendly stuff that sells.

All extreme music or anything that isn't mainstream enough will just fall to the smaller labels/independents. Nuclear Blast (not that small), Peaceville, Season of Mist - all of which are European incidentally.

But how long can the smaller labels last when sales keep falling?

I think the independents are better off staying as they are, there's a loyal (if small) fanbase on the more extreme side of things and although sales may be down all over, they never stand a chance of survival once they get rolled up into the majors

[ThunderApple]

Seriously? Noooooo!
Are they crazy or what? Closing such a great label! Can't believe this. How stupid are the big fat bosses? Nowdays, when metal is one of the most important source of incomes? *uck them all.

[Knifey Spoony]

Originally Posted by ThunderApple

Seriously? Noooooo!
Are they crazy or what? Closing such a great label! Can't believe this. How stupid are the big fat bosses? Nowdays, when metal is one of the most important source of incomes? *uck them all.

When was metal ever one of the biggest sources of income for a label? I would have thought it was actually quite hard to make money off a metal band given that most of it (metal) is underground and there being only a select few bands that are gareenteed to sell a profitable amount of albums.