Century Media is sold to Sony for $20 million

Another day, another indie label swallowed up by a corporate behemoth. Let's hope the inevitable "restructuring" doesn't happen immediately.

Century Media has sucked for years, but it's too bad another metal label is gone.

I can't imagine the bands on I used to F*ck People Like You in Prison Records (an independently run punk label owned by Century) are going to be too impressed at this deal. Or Tom Fischer for that matter (He despises major labels after his experience with Noise Records) 

Sad day

They were a great label back in the day, but considering the way the music business has been over the last decade plus, it's not too surprising. Plus, if it was your business and the guy with the millions came to buy you off, you'd probably do it too. I would.

GrandNational wrote:

They were a great label back in the day, but considering the way the music business has been over the last decade plus, it's not too surprising. Plus, if it was your business and the guy with the millions came to buy you off, you'd probably do it too. I would.

Great point. Given the state of the music industry these days, if I'd invested all my money (not to mention intangibles like heart and soul) into my label and a mega-conglomerate came calling offering me millions? I'd fold in a heartbeat.

GrandNational wrote:

They were a great label back in the day, but considering the way the music business has been over the last decade plus, it's not too surprising. Plus, if it was your business and the guy with the millions came to buy you off, you'd probably do it too. I would.

He's staying on as CEO too.

Boris2008 wrote:

GrandNational wrote:

They were a great label back in the day, but considering the way the music business has been over the last decade plus, it's not too surprising. Plus, if it was your business and the guy with the millions came to buy you off, you'd probably do it too. I would.

He's staying on as CEO too.

Big payout and a CEO gig? Who's gonna say "no" to that?

I wonder if the label will now take the Roadrunner path. Roadrunner went from having Heathen, Exhorder, Suffocation, and Gorguts on their roster to Nickelback and third tier nu-metal bands.

Required Fields wrote:

I wonder if the label will now take the Roadrunner path. Roadrunner went from having Heathen, Exhorder, Suffocation, and Gorguts on their roster to Nickelback and third tier nu-metal bands.

Roadrunner always had those kinds of bands.

Anyway, they are still a fantastic label. My worry is that a lot of their bands will be ditched in the merge. I think it's probably a given, though, that some more mainstream bands will be signed to in the future.

Eyesore wrote:

My worry is that a lot of their  bands will be ditched in the merge. I think it's probably a given, though, that some more mainstream bands will be signed to in the future.

Yup. Visit the current roster of bands, see who is profitable or has marketing potential and then cut accordingly.

Hooray for big business!!

Roadrunner also has Rush and Opeth on their roster. However, both artists have distribution only arrangements with Roadrunner, so the bands own all their material and masters and Roadrunner just handles physical distribution.

S.D. wrote:

Roadrunner also has Rush and Opeth on their roster.  However, both artists have distribution only arrangements with Roadrunner, so the bands own all their material and masters and Roadrunner just handles physical distribution.  

Those are the same deals that AC/DC, Aerosmith, KISS and the Rolling Stones have in place with their various labels

I think the deal was a good one and I certainly wouldn't have hesitated with the state of the music industry what it is today.


I find it interesting with the way the internet and digital mediums are so prevalent that record labels are even necessary. I suspect for distro purposes, but again the internet is a great place to do this. Tons of self released stuff flooding the market, I find myself buying far more direct from the artist cd's than record store or major label. Can't think of many bands that I would care about on a "major" label anyways.

manny wrote:

S.D. wrote:

Roadrunner also has Rush and Opeth on their roster.  However, both artists have distribution only arrangements with Roadrunner, so the bands own all their material and masters and Roadrunner just handles physical distribution.  

Those are the same deals that AC/DC, Aerosmith, KISS and the Rolling Stones have in place with their various labels

Come to think of it, I think Triptykon have that kind of a deal with Century. Tom has Prowling Death Records and then Century do the distro (I think)

I just hope Nuclear Blast doesnt suffer the same fate (though it would be nice to see NB releases in the wal-marts and best buys of the world).

This could be and I stress could be good for some of the bands at least distribution wise. CM have a good back catalog I believe that might see a bigger audience due to this.

I saw this on another forum but didn't know about the former owner staying on as CEO. I certainly would have done what he did, but I don't know if I could stay on and possibly watch big business bastardize my creation. I give him props for that.

to me CM had its heyday a long time ago.

In the late 90s/early 00s I listened to a lot of stuff on the Century Media label, but I barely know who's on their roster anymore.

Off the top of my head the only "current" CM bands I can think of are Queensryche, Iced Earth, Lacuna Coil and Nevermore (if they still exist?)/Sanctuary.

Most of the other CM bands I followed back then - Radakka, Blind Guardian, Angel Dust, Enola Gay, Jag Panzer, Tad Morose, Onward, etc. - have either broken up or moved on to other companies.

Yeah it's a label that had better days (at least for me) but it will be a shame to see it go (if indeed it does go).

Heck, that's big news. Napalm Death are also currently on CM.

If Nevermore ever reforms, I doubt they will be back at CM. They were one of the few bands that had been on the label for the entire duration of their career. I think they'll get picked up by Nuclear Blast.

Troublezone wrote:

If Nevermore ever reforms, I doubt they will be back at CM. They were one of the few bands that had been on the label for the entire duration of their career. I think they'll get picked up by Nuclear Blast.

Nuclear blast seems to the destination of choice now. Metal Blade, CM, Roadrunner are all former shells of themselves.

I don't understand why people would still consider Century Media and Nuclear Blast "indy" labels. They were indy labels 25 years ago, but nowadays CM was arguably the biggest metal label in USA with major physical distribution and the only US metal magazine (DECIBEL) dedicating half of its contents to their releases and advertising...

Eyesore wrote:

Required Fields wrote:

I wonder if the label will now take the Roadrunner path. Roadrunner went from having Heathen, Exhorder, Suffocation, and Gorguts on their roster to Nickelback and third tier nu-metal bands.

Roadrunner always had those kinds of bands.

Well, they didn't have too many...I'm drawing a blank as to whom their equivalent to Nickelback and the KoRn wannabes on the label in the late 1990s/2000s were before that point.