We were young and we are (getting) old: everybody should be conscious, to the extreme edge, of his own reality.
We had the pleasure and related commercial success to work with bands like (***) Katatonia, Mayhem, Behemoth, Shining, Carpathian Forest, Taake and so on, and experienced the privilege to sell many records and, most importantly, to have high hopes based on strong facts.
Time has passed away and with it the record market completely changed (“the grass was greener and the light was brighter“, they sing).
Today record labels have two extremely opposite options: one is to dare and make it big, by investing money, dedication, work and a good dose of “ass“, as we say in Italy (everybody else says “luck”). The other one is to serenely fold to a more pocket-sized reality and thus dare only with financially sustainable projects.
Not that one is wrong and the other correct: there even is a few examples (like Prophecy or Season of Mist, but there’s a few more) of actual successful achievements as a clear demonstration that a label can still be a business and not only a hobbie-pleasure to run. But there is also black knells tolling as a reminder not to be an idiot when measuring your penis (Regain Records, Black Lotus Records).
The basic fact is that today all mid-sized labels, like Avantgarde Music was, are disappearing: either you are big or you are small. You can’t own a Ferrari if you live in a 30 square meters rats flat. Point.
We will do our best to meet the expectations of any band signing an agreement with us and we offer a rather stripped-down honesty to the bands approaching us for a record deal: but please don’t write us just because we were the label of those ones (***) and clearly expecting, for that reason, to deal with a corporation that will grant you sales or super promotion. As said, we are rather half sized nowdays and we are interested in releasing only bands that we like and that we think (and hope) can at least cover back costs and generate a reasonable financial income in order to fund next label’s activities and pay back our 6/7 days job.
Please do not misunderstand these words (often they are…: eventually bands prefer when they are offered dreams) but also do not under-rate them because i am tired to have to deal with bands who apparently are “easy! easy!” when in need to get a deal but then complain they didnt sell or whatever else. If record sales are the last of your concerns because you know that your band is small, then does it really make a difference in selling 377 or 524 copies of your record?
And before looking for a record deal with high ambitions please ask yourself and your band’s fellas ‘how many cds have we bought in the last year?”: if the answer is less than 40-50 per member you already have the answer why your record will not sell with us.
And no, we are not buying a Lamborghini with your royalties.
