After all the problems Ministry had with the Warner label… they may end up back on it!
Reuters is reporting that Sanctuary Group’s discussions with potential investors included meetings with larger rivals EMI and Warner Music, a person familiar with the situation said on Sunday.
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=37708
That would sorta suck…
-jimmy
I bet Sanctuary are pissed that Morrissey announced that he dropped them - that can’t have been good for their takeover negotiations.
It’s rather ironic that major labels would be interested in Sanctuary, seeing as most of the bands on that label were picked up after the majors dumped them. Maybe the majors should actually take care of their artists and give them proper promotion and not expect everyone to deliver platinum albums every time.
Of course, maybe this would clear the way for deluxe remastered versions of the albums on Warner Bros, plus the DVD of In Case…
…isn’t Sanctuary a very small subsidiary of Warner Music?
It’s rather ironic that major labels would be interested in Sanctuary, seeing as most of the bands on that label were picked up after the majors dumped them. Maybe the majors should actually take care of their artists and give them proper promotion and not expect everyone to deliver platinum albums every time.
True, but labels like Sanctuary wouldn’t exist if the majors hadn’t heavilly promoted these bands for years. Sanctuary has been turning over healthy profits every year because they pick up bands that still hold name recognition to a core audience of 50,000 to 100,000 in the U.S, based on past success.
Sanctuary doesn’t sign many bands that they have to build from the ground up. They carry bands that had name recognition in the late 80s and early 90s. They don’t expect them to deliver platinum albums, because it is silly to expect bands like COC and Living Colour to deliver albums that will strike a cord with the MTV audience, since they are far too old to appeal to the mall-core crowd.
They give the artists more freedom to experiment only because they know they are only going to get a limited return in terms of revenue from album sales, regardless of the quality of the albums. But since they don’t put much capital into the product in terms of promotion, they have nothing to lose.
Now that the majors have seen that they can still capitalize on the minimal popularity of bands like Ministry and Biohazard, they want a piece of the pie as well.