Season Finale of Metal Injection’s On the Record Explores Record Labels Versus DIY Culture

To sign or not to sign? That is the question!

In the old days, basically every band in the world wanted to be on a record label, because, frankly, it was the only way to ensure that your music had a real chance of reaching its target audience. In the 21st century, this is obviously not the case: technology has made it feasible for a band or artist to basically do everything themselves and potentially still achieve success (depending, of course, on your definition of “success”). So what is a young metal band to do? Try and get an A&R rep to present them with a contract, or get their shit up on Bandcamp and bombard blogs like this one with press releases and hope for the best?

This is, of course, a very important issue in our scene today (and the music world at large). Personally, I think every band needs to make the decision themselves based on their own desires (again, “success” is an amorphous word), needs, and, y’know, opportunity (getting signed isn’t the easiest task in the world). But that’s just one man’s opinion!

So: on the season finale of Metal Injection’s awesome On the Record series, Vince, myself, members of The Dillinger Escape Plan, Candiria, and Periphery, seasoned publicists, other members of the metal media, and a host of peeps from record labels large and small tackle this complex topic. It’s really interesting, ’cause, again, it’s not a debate with a cut-and-dried “correct” answer.

Watch the episode below! And if you missed any previous episodes of the latest season of On the Record, go here to catch up!