Warner Music Group Intends to Buy French Digital Music Company Believe SA, Owner of Nuclear Blast Records and Tunecore


One of the largest record labels in the world, Warner Music Group (WMG) has announced it intends to purchase Believe SA, a French digital music company. Among the many companies Believe owns includes a controlling stake in Nuclear Blast Records (acquired in 2018) and its offshoot Blood Blast Distribution, as well as Tunecore a Brooklyn, New York–based digital music distribution, publishing and licensing service founded in 2006. Tunecore distributes music through online retailers such as iTunes, Deezer, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Google Play, Tidal, Beatport. According to the press release you can read below, Warner “would provide Believe with strategic support and financial stability to help the development and growth of the Company, including by accelerating its expansion into new geographies.” Nuclear Blast founded in 1987 in Germany, is home to some of the greatest bands in Metal such as, Slayer, Anthrax, Testament, C.O.C., Nightwish, Sepultura, Sabaton, In Flames, Lamb of God (Europe), and countless others. In addition to their legendary main brand known for Rock, Pop, Country, and Dance music, WMG owns a ton of sub labels boasting some of the biggest names in Hard Rock, Metal and Punk like 10K Projects, 300 Entertainment (Highly Suspect, Waterparks), Asylum, Atlantic (Shinedown, Halestorm) Big Beat, Elektra Entertainment (formerly: Metallica, Slipknot & Paramore – current: twenty one pilots, Brandi Carlile, Sturgill Simpson) Erato, First Night, Fueled By Ramen (Fall Out Boy, Jimmy Eat World, A Day To Remember), Nonesuch, Parlophone (Iron Maiden), Reprise (Lamb of God in the USA, Deftones, Disturbed, Crosses), Rhino (boxed sets, vinyl and CD reissues, and countless legacy releases), Roadrunner (Gojira, Turnstile, Motionless In White, Trivium, newly signed Deafheaven, Coheed and Cambria, Stone Sour), Sire, Spinnin’, Warner Records, Warner Classics, and Warner Music Nashville. WMG’s music publishing arm, Warner Chappell Music, as well as artist management and services divisions. If the sale goes through, it remains to be seen what shape the deal would have and what impact is might have for Nuclear Blast and Tunecore. Stay tuned for more news on this story.Continue reading


Eleven Seven Music Rebrands As Better Noise Music, Signs Five Finger Death Punch, The Hu, and More


Founded by acclaimed music industry veteran and independent pioneer Allen Kovac as Eleven Seven Music and Eleven Seven Label Group in 2006, the label has announced they are rebranding under the name Better Noise Music. The label has also announced the signing of bands Five Finger Death Punch, The Hu, AWOLNATION, and Atlas Genius. They join a roster that already includes Mötley Crüe, Papa Roach, Dirty Heads, Bad Wolves, Fire From The Gods, Nothing More, Escape The Fate, Sixx: A.M., Diamante and Hellyeah.Continue reading


Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody Is The Most Streamed Song From The 20th Century


Bolstered by the runaway smash hit (roughly $168 million at the box office in five weeks) of the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody (20th Century Fox), Queen’s classic song ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is now officially the most-streamed track from the 20th century, achieving more than 1.6 billion global streams. Universal Music Group (UMG) announced the news and Billboard made the report that also indicated the track has also become it the most-streamed classic rock song of all time, edging out Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit,’ Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Sweet Child O’Mine’ and ‘November Rain’ and a-ha’s ‘Take on Me’ in both categories. The ranking considers all registered streams on global on-demand streaming services including Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and others, as well as streams from an official song or video streams on YouTube.Continue reading


Volbeat Signs With Q Prime Management For The Americas


Q Prime

 

Volbeat have signed a management deal with the legendary Q Prime agency (Metallica, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Muse, The Black Keys, Snow Patrol, Baroness) for the North America. Their latest Grammy nominated album Outlaw Gentleman and Shady Ladies (Universal) has been certified Platinum in three countries and Gold in several others. The band is hitting the road this spring for a string of dates with Anthrax and Crobot. With offices in New York, London, and Nashville Q Prime , founded by Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch, is perhaps best known as the agency that helped lead Metallica to prominence from the underground to one of the biggest, most commercially successful bands in music history.

 

Volbeat band 2015

 

Press Notes:

Q Prime, the New York based music management firm founded and run by Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch, today announced the North American management signing of the Grammy nominated Danish metal band Volbeat.

“Anytime you see a band (in Lubbock, Texas no less) who can play Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” and their own “Hangman’s Body Count” in the same set is worth managing,” said Peter Mensch. “We are looking forward to plunging into wildly imaginative world of Volbeat.”

“We are truly excited to join forces with Qprime as our management team for the Americas. We’re honored to be amongst such great bands as Muse and Metallica and to be able to work with such a great organization,” said Volbeat’s Michael Poulsen. “We can’t wait to be back on North American soil to see our American and Canadian fans in April.”

Since forming in Copenhagen in 2000, Volbeat has released five studio albums and two live offerings. Volbeat is Michael Poulsen (vocals/guitar), Anders Kjølholm (bass) and Jon Larsen (drums). In 2013, former Anthrax/The Damned Things guitarist Rob Caggiano, who produced their current album, Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies, with longtime Volbeat co-producer Jacob Hansen, joined the band as a full time member.

Volbeat’s current release Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies has sold more than 300,000 copies in the U.S., alongside hundreds of thousands of digital singles. The title has been certified platinum in their home country of Denmark, alongside Germany and Austria, with gold sales in Finland and Sweden. The album has also been certified gold in Canada. This past year, the Danish quartet received their first GRAMMY nomination in the “Best Metal Performance” category for “Room 24” (Volbeat Featuring King Diamond), and won Germany’s Echo Award for “Best International Alternative Act.” Recently, “A Warrior’s Call” from Beyond Heaven / Above Hell was certified gold in the U.S. for sales of 500,000 units by the RIAA.