BLACK TIDE: A LESSON IN WHY THE MAJOR LABELS ARE DOOMED
Thursday, January 17th, 2008 at 3:24pm by Vince Neilstein
By now you’ve no doubt heard of Interscope Records’ latest priority, the teenage metal band Black Tide. You may have missed their Ozzfest fiasco, in which they got bumped from the Jagermeister-sponsored second stage because they had members under 21 (their youngest is 14), only to be added to an early spot on the main stage. Either way you’ll be hearing a lot about them very soon; Interscope is making sure of this by spending an assload of cash on them. They bought the band a pricey spot on Ozzfest, they’ve sicked high-powered publicists on us for months (10 press releases to date! — no disrespect meant to these good folks though, as they’re great people and we know they’re just doing their job) and even FedExed us a watermarked CD that we can’t even play (these are themselves expensive to manufacture) a full month and a half before the album’s release date (Priority Overnight! what’s the rush, dudes?), all for a very, very young band.
It seems as if Interscope is pushing an old-school campaign to new-school fans. And when it boils down to it, the square peg won’t fit in the round whole.
I don’t wish to get involved in slagging Black Tide because of their age — not only is this fruitless (they certainly seem to be apt musicians), but plenty of extremely talented and successful bands started off young. In fact I’m not even going to talk about Black Tide’s music at all in this piece. But here’s the problem: Interscope is spending big money to run a positively old-school marketing campaign for a band whose target demographic — namely kids the same age or younger than the band members — won’t respond to this kind of bought popularity. In a crumbling record sales market where the name of the game is moderation and niche, Interscope doesn’t seem to be embracing either, instead hedging their bets that the carpet-bomb/scorced-earth method of marketing (to quote the honorable Bob Lefsetz) will saturate enough media to make an imprint. In a climate where freshly signed established bands can’t even recoup, how is a brand new band expected to make anyone, including themselves, any money?
Today’s teenagers are smarter than ever before. Their bullshit detectors are set to super-sensitive, and they can smell it coming a mile away. They want interactive content, direct contact with the band, cool videos, and social networking, not coverage on MTV and in Revolver. When that big budget Black Tide video by a big name director shows up on MTV, kids’ bullshit meters are going to rocket into the stratosphere. What’s more, metal is a genre whose participants and fans pride themselves on grassroots success; nothing garners more respect from the metal community than a band who rises to domination through relentless touring and hard work from the ground up, and in turn nothing draws more ire than popularity that doesn’t seem to be earned. I can think of exactly one metal band ever who rose to true, lasting, multi-platinum superstardom on a major label, and you better believe that band paid their dues in the underground for a looong time.
The handling of Black Tide is the kind of thinking that is going to bury the record business even further, all the while destroying the credibility of 4 young kids who are surely, and understandably, really fucking amped to be given a shot at success, the way any sane person in a signed band would be. If this project ends up being a flop, no one at Interscope can claim they didn’t see it coming. This kind of economic model just doesn’t hold up in today’s music business.
In short, I don’t see any way that this project can be successful. At best, the band members will have some fun touring and pretending to be rockstars for two years while the record company swindles a few clueless teens into buying records, tickets and merch (if I were a betting man I’d say Interscope has these guys locked into a 360 deal). At worst, they’ll squander their advances and be all the poorer, two years older and without a shred of money, credibility, or a clue of what to do in life.
If I were Black Tide I’d run for the hills. If I were Interscope I’d cut my losses now before more hard-working label folk lose their jobs.
-VN
25 COMMENTS on “BLACK TIDE: A LESSON IN WHY THE MAJOR LABELS ARE DOOMED”
the only thrash band that matters right now is Warbringer. fuckin sick band.
Municipal Waste
Bonded By Blood
Avenger of Blood
SSSS
Toxic Holocaust
Black Tide are cool but not that thrash really.
“At worst, they’ll squander their advances and be all the poorer, two years older and without a shred of money, credibility, or a clue of what to do in life.”
Haha true true, BUT in two years if they dont have a lot of cash , credibility, or clue what to do with their life they will pretty much be in the same spot as 90% of the other people their age. Not a bad deal!
Hopefully being around all the money squandering and other BS associated with being on a major label doesn’t make them see that as a bad thing.
Well, I was not aware of them so far, I listed a song on YouTube, they seem ok to me and indeed, they are good as musicians for their age.
These guys bored me to tears at Ozzfest.
[...] On the other hand, they’re amazing musicians and clearly getting a big push from Interscope. BUT The way that Interscope is throwing money at the band is a good example of where the majors are going wrong in their thinking overall, as the freaks over at metalsucks.net point out: The handling of Black Tide is the kind of thinking that is going to bury the record business even further, all the while destroying the credibility of 4 young kids who are surely, and understandably, really fucking amped to be given a shot at success, the way any sane person in a signed band would be. If this project ends up being a flop, no one at Interscope can claim they didn’t see it coming. This kind of economic model just doesn’t hold up in today’s music business. – Black Tide: A Lesson in Why the Major Labels are Doomed [...]
Great writing, Vince. You’ve nailed it. I’m intrigued to hear how these kids sound, but I truly doubt that I can take a band this young seriously at all. At this age, most can barely put together a 5-paragraph essay, let alone construct meaningful lyrics or works of art worth a damn (Mozart might be the only exception in history).
I will check them out, but I’d be surprised if I let them take up space on my hard drive for longer than a week.
BAD 4 GOOD reincarnated, Steve Vai must be rolling in his grave!! ;-)
here’s a Bad 4 Good clip on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9geCxOTx6E . took me back to my Metal Edge reading days :-)
I would have to disagree with Vince. I must start out saying that this band has some great tunes and are definitely fun to watch live. I have seen them first hand and got amped. Now as much as you would want to hate on Interscope’s methods they are actually trying to develop this band. Music today is being marketed like movies. A little buzz that builds up to the two weeks before release and then a slow decline into obscurity again, except music doesn’t get the help of DVD sales to keep them relevant. The label has done the right thing by trying to spread the word about the band early and often. Think how many times you hear about a band before you give them a shot. I am actually surprised how many people have commented and read this story. All those press releases are not really that horrible. Now do I think that the label is spending way more money on the band then they will recoup…yes. The spending can lead us down two paths; the label cuts their losses after the first record or they are so deep in debt they might as well try to see if they can get a second record out of the deal.
All in all this is a solid band and will have to live on if their music is strong enough. I think they have a career and will be extremely savvy in the music business before they hit the age of 21, which is better then a lot of bands out there today. So listen to cranky Vince because he has a shitty CD player or listen to your own feelings. Either way you should give these guys a shot.
Uh, I’m not watching high school kids rock. I don’t care how good they are. This is really sad.
I agree with Nikki and add Dethklok as proof that massmedia exposure still is extremely relevant.
Last time a bunch of kids playing the hip music got a big label push and ozzfest treatment wasn’t it crazy town or whatrever that guy on celebrity cehabs band was?
Anyone here old enough to remember Death Angel and their disasterous Geffen experience? Perhaps they should sit down with BT and thrash out a few home truths: young metal band and major labels with buckets of cash do not a succesful career make.
A guy up above mentioned Steve Vai rolling over in his grave.
Steve Vai is DEAD ??? where have I been. Oh well , no loss there.
So, for Black Tide….arent these the kids that were on the Idol ‘American Band” show.??
but they had 5 members… maybe not. whatever.
I think they should RUN FOR THE HILLS..THEY ARE GETTING USED by the label.
Actually, which exec is getting naked with these young boys and blowing smoke and a few other things up their keesters.
I hope they (the band) wakes upu before its too late. VH1, get the cameras ready for the “where are they this week” episode.
I dont see why the “true” metal fans aren’t excited about Black Tides mainstream publicity. It will spark younger music fans interest in metal. And the “360 signing deal” isn’t accurate. I know personally from one of the band members that Interscope has already agreed for a second album. The truth is that this band is EXTREMELY talented for their age–the drummer can play keyboard and drums at the same time and their 15 year old singer shreds better than a lot of more popular artists. I don’t know if any of you have been to one of their shows with A7X (which I’m not particularly a fan of) but they’ve been getting a great response across the country and now in the UK. So whether you like em or not I think they could really do something good for metal and you should respect that. Even if there style is “weak and unoriginal” on this CD I’m almost positive that the confidence from being on the road will promote a next wave of songs that crack the mold and really establish a name for themselves.
wow. great article dude. im gabriel garcia from black tide. i just want to let you know, i dont care for success. im having the time of my life. im in the U.K right now, and tomorrow i have a show with A7X in front of porbably 4 thousand kids. i love playing and writting my music. if in 2 years this shit goes nowhere, i will be doing the same thing, in my home town miami. BUY MY RECORD. it comes out in march now.
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At worst, they’ll squander their advances and be all the poorer, two years older and without a shred of money, credibility, or a clue of what to do in life.——
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*Whoever fucking wrote this shit should go suck it EASY.
YOU KNOW THAT THE ONLY REASON YOU’RE TALKING SHIT IS BECAUSE YOUR FUCKING JEALOUS
suck my dick.
haha, pwn’d by gabe
there was a band in the mid-late 90′s called Deathkids, they were brothers who were only 9 and 11! and they were amazing…its a shame they didnt get more popular, but they actually were featured in Stuff, and Maxim Magazine back in the day and in a lot of small zines
they sucked
we are now inRed cunts
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