THE CULT SIGN WITH ROADRUNNER RECORDS

According to a report on Blabbermouth.net, The Cult have signed with Roadrunner Records. The signing is the third such recent signing of long established acts, the first two being Megadeth and Dream Theater, completing a remarkable 7 year turnaround that saw Roadrunner go from the laughing stock of the industry to king of the crop.

Despite the fact that Roadrunner is owned by big-boy label Warner Music Group, I predict they will be one of the few labels to survive the impending doom facing the record industry. The model that Roadrunner has established will be the model of the future — pick a niche, spend exactly the amount of money necessary to market to that niche, and sell less units for a higher profit. The marketing machine at Roadrunner is designed to very specifically target the metal audience rather than the carpet-bombing marketing efforts of major labels. Music is so divided now, so niche, that a model relying on millions of record sales to turn a profit just doesn’t hold up anymore. Better off to let a label like Roadrunner sell 100,000 – 300,000 units, and though the advance (if any) will be smaller and the audience will be narrower, bands will continue to be able to make a living from their music. With that in mind, The Cult signing to Roadrunner makes perfect sense.

-VN