CENTURY MEDIA TAKES VINCE NEILSTEIN’S ADVICE, LAUNCHES BOOKING AGENCY

For all the shit Century Media spewed at me earlier this year you’d think they actually disagreed with what I had to say. And while they haven’t gotten their artists back on Spotify yet, they’ve taken a firm step into the 21st Century by doing one of the other crucial things I recommended: they’ve launched their very own booking agency! Hilarious.

The new agency, Rock the Nation America, is a partnership between Kataklysm frontman Maurizio Iacono and Century Media and will be based out of the same offices Century Media and Nuclear Blast occupy in the Los Angeles area. I believe that Iacono already had a booking agency and/or management firm of his own prior to this — meaning he’s no stranger to the business side of things — but I can’t turn up any information on it. Either way, he’s always struck me as a smart dude who knows what’s what.

Running a booking agency out of the same offices as a record label is going to be a necessary part of doing business as a label moving forward, as revenues from sales of recorded music dry up and labels look to diversify their income streams. Sumerian and Prosthetic Records already know this; smart! From where Century sits, this move seems especially necessary given their reliance on CM Distro as a source of income, making them especially vulnerable to the evaporation of the CD market.

Good work, Century! Maybe in 2012 you’ll launch a merch division too. You can find an invoice for my consulting services for giving you all of these great ideas right here; payment is accepted via check or paypal.

-VN