Victory Records Sold to Concord
It’s the end of an era, folks: the infamous Tony Brummel has sold Victory Records to Concord, the self-described “independent, worldwide leader in the development, management and acquisition of sound recordings, music publishing and theatrical performance rights.” (So at least we can still crack wise about “leading independent music retailer VICTORY RECORDS.”) The company, which already owns the catalogues of such metal-friendly labels as Razor & Tie (All That Remains, The Sword) and Loma Vista (Ghost), apparently made Brummel an offer too attractive to decline, despite the fact that he hadn’t been looking to sell the business.
Although terms of the deal have not been publicly disclosed, Billboard estimates “that Concord paid somewhere in the range of $27 million-$34 million for the Victory company,” which they believe to have had an annual revenue range of somewhere in the $5 millionish range. The deal includes not only the Victory name and infamous bulldog logo, but Another Victory, Brummel’s publishing company, as well.
According to Concord’s chief business development officer, Steve Salm, another one of the company’s acquisitions, Fearless Records, “is the most likely home” to handle marketing of Victory’s upcoming releases. As for the rest of Victory’s thirty employees…
“[They] will remain employed by Brummel, who sources say has a ‘limited’ non-compete clause that will allow him to pursue opportunities in the music business going forward, if he so chooses. The staff will work on Brummel’s other businesses which includes a third-party merch business, plus some real estate and other investments. Also, they will be involved in assisting with on-boarding Victory’s catalog and royalty payments onto Concord’s platform over the next few months.”
As for what, if anything, this will mean for the dozens of bands that allege Brummel totally screwed them over and stole from them, well, that remains to be seen. It probably won’t amount to much… although if Brummel being out of the picture means that bands like, say, Darkest Hour are more comfortable being involved in future reissues of their back catalogue, well… bonus, right?
