As Axl revealed to you all yesterday via the Completely Unreadable Band Logo contest… MARCH IS METAL MONTH! But what does it all mean?!?

To make a long story short, a bunch of legendary metal record labels, including Century Media, Nuclear Blast, Earache, Candlelight, Season of Mist, Willow Tip, Crash Music and more, are teaming up on a “get out the vote”-style initiative to drive traffic to independent retail music stores. The sale of recorded music is still the financial cornerstone of the music we all love, so MetalSucks has jumped on board to help out.

Throughout March is Metal Month you’ll see a bunch of fun contests here and on Metal Injection and Metal Insider, a CD sampler featuring some of the best bands on the above labels, exclusive merch available only at select retail locations and much more.

Read more about March is Metal Month at MarchIsMetalMonth.com or read the full press release after the jump.

March is Metal Month At Indie Retail

EMI Label Services and Caroline Distribution Bring Metal to the Masses for their now annual “March is Metal” Retail Campaign

New York, March 1, 2010 – EMI Music’s Label Services is once again bringing metal to the masses with their “March is Metal” campaign with retailers across the US.  The retail campaign will continue to include promotions from such legendary labels as Century Media, Nuclear Blast, Earache and Candlelight along with Season of Mist, Willow Tip, Crash Music, Prospect Park and Capitol.

Along with the sampler which includes tracks from Lacuna Coil, Five Finger Death Punch, Fear Factory, White Wizzard, Isahn, Gama Bomb, Atlas Moth, Queensryche, Exodus and Arsis along with hotly anticipated pre-release tracks from Triptykon and Defeated Sanity, ELS and Caroline will also offer a limited edition T-shirt designed by Rich Hall and the MMM logo will appear on the Testament/ Exodus tour poster as a sponsor for the tour.  They are also sponsoring “Full Metal Texas” at this year’s SXSW.

“EMI Label Services and Caroline Distribution have the privilege of working with the best labels in the Metal genre.  The annual ‘March is Metal Month’ campaign is a platform for us to expose the great repertoire from these partners to both the trade and consumer alike,” stated Dominic Pandiscia SVP / GM of EMI Label Services and Caroline Distribution.

Don Robertson, President of Century Media goes on to say, “We are excited to be a part of MMM.  We specifically combed through our list of releases and picked for the consumer what we think are some of the best music we have to offer.  It is great to be in unity with our fellow metal labels and bring something really special to retail.”

During March, EMI Label Services and Caroline will team up with key online metal sites to drive fans to independent retailers.

• Metalinsider (www.metalinsider.com) will be running Q&A’s with bands and labels participating in March is Metal campaign.

• Metal Sucks (www.metalsucks.net) will run a “Show Us Your Metal” promotion inviting fans to visit their favorite record store and take a picture of themselves in the metal section adorned with band t-shirts, corpse paint, Viking helmets, swords, spikes or other metal gear.   The winning metalhead selected by the site receives a prize pack.

• Metal Injection (www.metalinjection.tv) is creating an online channel dedicated to “March is Metal Month”-featured artists, with videos available at www.Metalinjection.tv/marchismetalmonth.

You can find out more about March is Metal on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or log onto marchismetalmonth.com.

About EMI Music

EMI Music is one of the world’s leading music companies. EMI Music represents artists spanning all musical tastes and genres. Its record labels include Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capitol, Capitol Latin, Capitol Nashville, EMI Classics, EMI CMG, EMI Records, Manhattan, Mute, Parlophone and Virgin. Its EMI Music Services unit provides EMI’s roster of artists – as well as independent labels and artists – with a global menu of commercial services and seamless access to an expanding range of revenue streams.