Lamb Of God frontman Randy Blythe recently addressed an interesting industry related question via his Twitter. When asked by a Twitter user if he thought it was fair that fans have to wait while press get to hear a bands new material first, he replied:
“Um, YES, OF COURSE IT IS FAIR for the press to hear it 1st. That’s kinda how it works, ya know? They review the album in advance in order to write reviews that come out BEFORE the record so that people who might not be familiar with the band will check it out. That’s what press is for bro- that’s what a good label & pr person will do for you- make sure your record gets in the right hands so that people actually know its coming out.
That’s the problem with the model some people seem to think will work- every one just releasing their own stuff & putting it out. That’s very nice indeed- for bands like Radiohead, NIN, or say, MY BAND, who already have a built in fan base. OF COURSE people are going to buy LOG records no matter if a label puts it out or we do-we already have built-in interest. But right now ANYONE can release their own records, and they are.
They are recording them themselves, writing their own glowing EPK’s, & putting then out there on the Internet. THOUSANDS of bands are doing this. BUT… Who is paying attention to all these bands? Are they able to make enough money to tour? If they are SERIOUS about touring, are they able to quit their day jobs & make JUST ENOUGH MONEY TO SURVIVE off of touring on a record NOBODY KNOW ABOUT?
Nope. It’s a FUCKING NIGHTMARE for touring bands, ESPECIALLY YOUNG ONES, right now. Only the strong will survive, ESPECIALLY YOUNG ONES. A label & press helps. Whew! Long answer- sorry, it ran away from me.”
Lamb Of God‘s new album “Resolution” will land in stores on January 24th through Epic.
