As an independent label we are doing all we can to survive and prevail the double blow of the recession and the upheaval that has affected the music industry as a whole. As a result we have been busy developing our capability with digital releases. We plan to continue to develop our online presence and digital capability to be able to offer artists package services that will give them the chance to increase their presence and sales at no cost to them. That includes digital fees and online promotional services that would normally be paid to places such as iTunes by individual bands or artists. We offer digital distribution that is faster and more efficient and we compensate our artists at a much higher rate financially than Mechanical Rights recommend. We also take care of all online promotional costs and submissions to the media.
Your release will still be promoted in the same way as a CD release and to us is just as valid and important.In return we will provide you with links, widgets and embed codes for you to place online delivering access to your releases to your fans quickly, without you having to do any of the work.
Our recording contracts are not contracts in the old and accepted form of the term that nails bands down. We have licensing agreements that run for a set fixed term. More importantly as artists you keep your rights to your music and these agreements are based on a single release so as artists you are not bound to the label outside of the music released by KillZone Records.
Also unless we agree on specific terms for licensing any merchandise, we leave those entirely for the band, and where we can we can connect you to promotions for live appearances we will. We will also help you promote regardless of whether the gig(s) were set up as part of the label or not.
We believe that we can work creatively with our artists in developing new ways to promote online, because we believe that the digital side is not being exploited to its fullest potential not just in terms of social networks to promote, but more importantly in how the label promotes its artists.
We have some interesting names and music coming via digital release and if you are an artist or group that has music ready we can offer you a quick and cost effective way of getting your presence developed.
This does not mean we are doing away with CD releases, it just means that it is getting harder to justify the costs of production in a market of declining sales. We will still be
selectively releasing CD's. Right now because of the recession it has been harder to raise the capital to invest in CD releases and we have a group of artists who have releases on CD which are waiting in the wings once we can raise the investment.
And this is where a part of the problem lies.
A lot of the main stream metal music media refuse to take digital only releases, because to them its not a real release. Yet as downloads of any kind increase as people find quicker and more efficient ways to access and store music, and who look to other means outside that media, [they] all still want your money to pay for advertising whose costs are substantially higher and in desperation they offer cut prices which prove damaging, just to fill space. Look at what happened to Metal Maniacs and Metal Edge-gone. Still CD sales continue to pile into the ground and still metal acts want CD's. This is because as metal fans we all love to get our favorite artists releases which was and for many is still more than just about the music. Its that feeling of its really real. Its perverse. So what we intend to do is to be able to offer artists something different for each release. We open our doors to different genres of metal music and extreme sounds and see KillZone Records as more than just a producer of music but more as a facilitator to help our artists develop creatively as well as gaining awareness, which we hope will ultimately be more satisfying. The CD may still be alive in the world of metal and all its related genres but the pressure to face the future is real and we wish to be prepared for this to better help our artists and their fans.
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