The recent acquisition of a majority stake in Nuclear Blast Records by Believe Digital has generated some response from some label heads. The acquisition came as the result of what was reportedly an eight-figure sum.
Among those to weigh in are Earache Records‘ founder Digby Pearson, who himself faced harsh criticism for merely licensing a number of his labels releases to a major label back in the 90s. In a world where metal and hard rock labels are frequently being acquired by larger parties, he commented of the irony of the matter in a tweet made yesterday, October 11th:
I licensed 7 albums for 18 months to Columbia Records in the 90s which was considered a heinous crime against metal, still discussed in books. 20 years later entire metal labels are sold off to Sony or to a French tech company and it barely raises an eyebrow #musicbizisfunny
— (@digearache) October 11, 2018
Meanwhile, Sumerian Records founder Ash Avildsen was a bit more brash in his tweet regarding the sale, commenting:
Nuclear Blast – SOLD. Rise – SOLD. Fearless – SOLD. Century Media – SOLD. Razor & Tie – SOLD. Artery – SOLD. Vagrant – SOLD. Sumerian – BOLD. World – COLD. ✌
— Ash Avildsen (@ashavildsen) October 12, 2018
