Rumor: Century Media to Be Acquired by Major Label

According to Blabbermouth, there’s a rumor going around that Century Media “will be acquired by one of the three largest music groups: Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group or Universal,” with Sony being the front-runnner. In fact, Blabbermouth got Century Media founder Robert Kampf to all but confirm that this is going down:

“Kampf did not want to comment on ongoing negotiations, but he did confirm his interest in a major-label acquisition in order to give Century Media a stronger footing at a time of diminishing worldwide sales of sound recordings.”

You probably don’t need to be told that Century is one of metal’s most venerable labels — it and its subsidiaries/sister labels currently serve as home to such artists as At the Gates, Arch Enemy, Napalm Death, Triptykon, Voivod, The Haunted, Devin Townsend, Watain, Iced Earth, and Lacuna Coil, and over the years, it has also released albums by Behemoth, Celtic Frost, Strapping Young Lad, Cryptopsy, God Forbid, Shadows Fall, Suicide Silence… the list goes on and on. So the idea of the label being sold to a major corporation is a big deal… especially when you consider that, in the long run, these kinds of things usually don’t end well for the smaller entity (see: Roadrunner).

Here’s another interesting tidbit from the Blabbermouth piece: Kampf claims that 2014 was Century Media’s “strongest year” to date. That could be interpreted in a lot of different ways, but it seems safe to assume that he means it was the label’s strongest year business-wise. I don’t have access to Century Media’s accounting so take this with a grain of salt, but that does not jibe with the gossip we’ve been hearing lately.

We will, of course, keep you posted as the story develops.