Op-Ed: On Spinefarm’s Acquisition of Candlelight Records

News broke this morning that long-running U.K. metal record label Candlelight Records — who put out records by Absu, Candlemass, Electric Wizard, Fear Factory, Havok, Keep of Kalessin, Morbid Angel and about a hundred more — has been acquired by Spinefarm Records (who themselves are now owned by Universal Music Group). An email was sent to all Candlelight artists informing them of the development, which can be read at Blabbermouth.

These kinds of label acquisition aren’t uncommon, but let’s take a look at what this particular changing of the guard means for Candelight, its artists and the metal world as a whole.

1. Better support for Candlelight artists.

First and foremost. Spinefarm has been on the upswing since ex-Roadrunner head honcho Jonas Nachsin took over two and a half years ago, staffing up, signing both established and developing artists and spending money to promote them. All the bands on Candlelight stand to benefit greatly from entering this ecosystem. It’s worth noting that record label staff often aren’t as passionate about acts they didn’t sign and develop themselves, but I think the folks at Spinefarm will see the value of the bands on Candlelight’s roster… and they’re all devoted metalheads and probably fans of a lot of these bands anyway.

2. More exposure for Candlelight as a brand.

Candlelight’s presence in the metal world has always felt weak, even when compared to other metal labels of similar size and scope (Relapse, Profound Lore, Prosthetic, etc). I can’t say whether that problem was specific to Candlelight’s U.S. office — I’m not privvy to the U.K. office’s marketing efforts — but with a roster as strong (and history as rich) as Candlelight’s, the label should really be much more of a force on the worldwide scene. Teaming up with Spinefarm should help.

3. Roster cuts?

It’s possible. The email sent to Candlelight artists says that “Contractually, nothing will change. All future album options and commitments as well as accounting will continue as agreed in [the artists’] contracts.” But read that closely: if there are “options,” instead of guaranteed releases, it’s possible that Spinefarm will cut some of the smaller bands from Candlelight’s roster. If that happens I’m sure it’ll be done on a case-by-case basis with a scalpel, not en masse with a hacksaw. In other words you’re probably not going to see Ihsahn slashed, but don’t be surprised if Ancient Ascendant become free agents (although that’d be a shame — that band rules).

4. Staff cuts?

Very likely. I don’t have intimate knowledge of Candlelight’s office structure, but typically in any merger or acquisition — music industry or otherwise — there end up being redundancies. This may be even more likely here than usual since Spinefarm has backing from the massive Universal Music Group which takes care of many of their back-office functions.

5. New branding for Candlelight?

While Spinefarm’s certainly been spending time and money developing newer acts (Toothgrinder, Royal Thunder, Shining), it seems they’ve been focusing mostly on signing older, more established ones: Atreyu, Nonpoint, Electric Wizard, 36 Crazyfists. Even if we put forth that Spinefarm has been doing both equally, it’d be neat to see Candlelight become Spinefarm/Universal’s more underground/extreme record label, similar to (but not quite the same) the way Atlantic uses Roadrunner as their metal arm.

6. More North American touring opportunities for Candlelight artists.

It’s expensive to get here, not to mention a bitch dealing with our ass-backwards visa process. Spinefarm and Universal have the money and manpower to grease both of those wheels, so perhaps we start seeing Candlelight’s European acts tour the States more often. Wouldn’t it be great if Ihsahn had financial tour support to make a proper U.S. run happen? It’d do really, really well, I’m certain. Ditto for Sigh and Xerath. There’s also this: the people who work at Spinefarm are more “plugged in” to the current social scene of managers/agents/labels that make big tours happen, and that’ll surely benefit the bands on Candlelight.

We’ll see what happens in the coming weeks and months, but for the most part I think this acquisition is a good thing; nearly everyone stands to benefit. Here’s to Candlelight 2k16 and onwards.