Read this quote from Stu Pflaum, co-founder (with famous rapper Talib Kweli) of independent hip-hop label Element 9 [via the 10/25 Lefsetz Letter]:

Since [Talib Kweli's] release went live on Spotify we’ve streamed the album over 70K times. I know what skeptics will say; our revenue from those streams is about $7. Who cares? Our web traffic has more than tripled in terms of site visitors & discussion… we’re getting real-time feedback from listeners on which tracks they favor and are able to adjust our marketing accordingly with most of our budget still intact. The group & the album have a legitimate buzz now.

Totally nails it. It’s not about the dollars and cents, but everything else that comes along with Spotify that makes it such a great tool for artists, and for their labels too. This benefit is hard to measure in dollars, but as it turns out is the case with the Spotify/Facebook integration the value can now be approximated — and it’s staggering! So what’s behind Sumerian’s decision to leave?

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The passing of Apple visionary Steve Jobs is not nearly as maddening as the Casey Anthony verdict (let’s get cereal for a moment: it’s actually incredibly sad), but the responses of the metal community via Twitter are just as lulzy! So, in the spirit of our own Anso DF’s Casey Anthony verdict vs. the metal people Twitter roast I present to you…

… THE METAL PEOPLE REMEMBER STEVE JOBS:

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By now, many of you are aware of the things Ash Avildsen said about myself and MetalSucks a few weeks ago; yesterday, reader and “Run MetalSucks for a Day” winner Justin Gosnell even posted an interview with Ash on the subject. And I know that many of you are disappointed that I did not initially respond.

I think it is important that you understand that the reason I did not respond has nothing to do with the fact that Ash said “mean” things about me and or any of the other writers at MetalSucks. We understand that if you say unkind words about people in a public forum such as the internet, some of those people will inevitably be offended, and may say unkind words in response. That goes with the territory, and we can handle it. That’s why I was game to engage in a public debate with Century Media owner Oliver Withöft. (And it may be worth noting that, yes, we are still on great terms with Century Media. We also have yet to receive any cease and desist from Axl Rose about our “Appetite for Deconstruction” shirts… but I digress.)

The reason we didn’t respond is because Ash’s tirade had nothing to do with the subject at hand — namely, Spotify. Instead, he used Spotify and my comments on the current state and future of the music industry as an excuse and a veil to attack my personal character, credibility and that of MetalSucks. Consequently, the post did not warrant a response.

But his tirade against myself and MetalSucks was also full of several factual inaccuracies. And while we have communicated with Ash via e-mail since his post went up, and he is fully aware of the factual errors of his allegations, in yesterday’s interview, he failed to re-address those errors. So now we would like to clear them up.

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Well, we’ve arrived at my last post I’ll be making here during my 24 hour take over of Metalsucks.net and this one’s gonna be a doozy.

Before I get started I’d like to extend a sincere thanks to Vince and Axl for allowing me to come into their home and ruin it A.C. Slater style. I really appreciate the opportunity and I hope I didn’t do too shitty of a job.

The contest rules said I could post any-fucking-thing I want but I’m really wondering if this last post will be the “exception” to that rule?!  I will say this, if this is posted in full I will have the utmost respect for Ben Umanov (a.k.a. Vince Neilstein) because he’s gonna have to swallow some pride by allowing it to happen.

Just to be clear I mean no disrespect by anything that follows, it’s just something I personally feel needs to be addressed.

On July 25th, Ash Avildsen-the owner of Sumerian Records-posted a blog expressing his opinion on the whole Spotify/Metalsucks situation that’s been brewing on this site as of late while also taking some pretty strong shots at Metalsucks.net’s owner, Vince Neilstein.  Readers of this site have continually asked for a response from Vince, yet he’s remained silent; something that’s completely unlike him to do.  I strongly feel that Ash’s opinion should be made available to as many people as possible though.  Why?  Because we’re in a time where label after label is failing along with hundreds of thousands of bands and management companies.  Not Sumerian though.  They continue to grow at a pretty alarming rate and I think there is something to be said for that; they must be doing something right.

As an avid reader/loyal fan of Metalsucks I used to dig how Vince would post on a certain topic and give his well thought-out opinion in a calm and collected manor.  A great example of this was when Ash created a video sharing his opinion on music piracy.  Metalsucks featured it in a story along with a very fair analysis of it by Vince where he shared his opinion on what he agreed with along with what he didn’t-all while maintaining a certain level of respect.  That’s what get’s my respect and is a HUGE reason why I love Bob Lefsetz.  He’ll voice his opinion on a topic then when he does his follow up “Mailbag” newsletter he is pretty 50/50 in including ones from readers fully on his side all the way to ones totally tearing him apart; even ones where they say he’s an asshole that doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about.

With that said I think the whole Spotify debate that’s been raging on this site as of late has gotten really out of hand.  Vince almost seems to become enraged if someone doesn’t agree with his opinion on Spotify.  As the whole has progressed it’s seemed to be getting worse and I’ve started to think that he’s only posting interviews/opinions of others that are inline with his.  Yes, he’s posted responses from parties that disagree with him on the matter but they always seem to be ones that are really weak and easy for him to pick apart which of course makes it easy for him to come out looking completely right in the matter. With that said I think Ash’s blog was VERY well written and really provided some great insights into why it is important for labels to get revenue off of their bands music sales.  It was strong, concise, to the point, and was presented in a very easy to understand manor and I have a feeling that’s why Vince didn’t respond-it really called him out. Keep in mind they had no problem posting Ash’s response when it was attacking The Gauntlet.  Personally, I was anxiously awaiting what he’d have to say and was pretty bummed out when a response never came.

I do realize this is Vince’s site and he can do whatever the fuck he pleases but I also feel like there’s a certain responsibility that should be carried so you don’t come out looking like Fox News.  For many readers this is the ONLY site where they’re getting information on this whole Spotify thing and I strongly feel that they should be able to hear both sides perspectives so they can fairly form their own opinion on the matter.  After all, when a jury’s deciding which side to take in a trial wouldn’t it be a little unfair to the defense if the prosecution were the only ones allowed to make their case?

So first check out Ash’s entire blog which I’ve reposted below and after that you’ll find an interview I conducted with the man himself this week.  I had so many things I wanted to get his in-depth opinion on and he was kind enough to answer everything in full!

As for me, as I said in the beginning it’s my last post-I hope you enjoy it as well as everything else I posted today!  As for this post you may be asking yourself: is this the ultimate troll, a statement on unbiasedness, or a loving attempt at putting out the fire on those bridges?  I’ll let you decide…

Love your favorite guest writer in Metalsucks history,

Justin Gosnell

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Let it be said that metalheads cannot thrive on metal alone.

As avid fans of all things chunky and technical we need a break every now and then, you know, just to keep us sharp. A demand for intelligent, intense music that isn’t necessarily “heavy” has surfaced in the metal community, and even readers on this site have come to embrace a number of acts that are hardly BR00TAL. Porcupine Tree, Karnivool, Fair to Midland, and Dredg have all shared the stage with heavier acts and received acclaim from even the most opinionated and stubborn metal snobs. This year Sumerian Records have apparently taken notice, adding Brisbane’s Dead Letter Circus to their once very homogenous roster.

The signing of these left-of-center alt rockers and the recent American release of their debut album This is the Warning marks the label’s first true departure from their infamous Sumeriancore stigma. Stirring a lively dose of surround-sound ambience and percussive programming into their quality brand of Aussie alternative, Dead Letter Circus has continually won favor in progressive and extreme metal circles (the group is currently touring with Animals as Leaders, Intronaut, and Last Chance to Reason).

Playing no small role in the group’s universal appeal is Kim Benzie’s powerhouse tenor that drives the group’s music through numerous emotional twists and turns. I recently had the opportunity to speak with him on the road about how a rock band attracts a metal label, why the Australian music scene differs from our own, and, you guessed it, NICKELBACK!

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A few questionable signings aside, there’s no denying that Sumerian Records is one of the few modern metal record labels with real, actual A&R and artist development, and one of the only labels that routinely takes chances on far left-of-center acts that wouldn’t stand a chance elsewhere. It’s actually pretty remarkable that wonky instrumental metal is getting such a big push in 2011, some two decades after the sub-genre’s peak. And if there’s any label that can effectively promote this kind of music to the masses it’s Sumerian, whatwith their label+agency+management all-in-one business model and an incredibly strong brand identity of what it means to be on Sumerian (ya know, Sumeriancore, more or less). The only other label with a similar forward-thinking setup is Prosthetic, and hey, lookit, they do well with lots of oddball prog acts too.

Case in point: on June 28th Sumerian released not one but two solo instru-metal records. We gave a fair amount of coverage to Evan Brewer’s solo bass album Alone — a solo bass album fer chrissakes! that such a thing even exists as a signed act is awesome — but the other release, All Shall Perish shredder Francesco Artusato’s shreddy shredsterpiece of shred, Chaos and the Primordial, went a bit overlooked. It’s a killer album, natch — All Shall Perish didn’t import this guy all the way from Italy [via Berklee College of Music] for nothing — so all you guitarists and wannabe guitarists and ex-guitarists best get to checking out the album’s title track above and at the Francesco Artusato Project’s Facebook page and ordering the album here. ‘Cause every shredder has to attach “Project” to their name when releasing a solo record, duh, this is like the #1 cardinal rule of shred records.

-VN

When I think about the most bloggable, trendy genres of the last eighteen months or so, two things come to mind: djent and dubstep. I don’t have a ponytail, so I don’t really know much about djent, but I know that Tumblrsluts, moshbros, and other tastemaking, high-value music consumers who were into deathcore and metalcore last year are into dubstep this year. With that in mind, it makes a lot of sense to me that leading independent music retailer SUMERIAN RECORDS added dubstep sensations BORGORE to their roster.

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A quick recap: Sumerian Records founder Ash Avildsen recently published a video lambasting music pirates, generating quite a bit of Internet chatter. The Gauntlet’s Jason Fisher wrote up a lengthy response in which he accused Ash of being a hypocrite, having run in the same IRC software pirating circles in the early/mid ’90s. And now Ash has fired back at Jason with the below response, sent in to MetalSucks by Ash late last night:

Dear Jason @ The Gauntlet,

Congratulations on bringing traffic to your site by exploiting my name and childhood. I like the House of Blues Ad  you have there next to my name. Yes, from ages 11-15 in the days of dial-up modems, BBS and IRC, before cell phones and websites, I pirated PC video games.  I also stole cigarettes from convenience stores when I was 13, but later realized smoking cigarettes was bad for my health and that stealing is stupid. Care to do an article on that?

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Props to Heavy Blog is Heavy for catching this interesting update from Sumerian Records’ official Facebook page:

As HBiH notes, this sounds like it’s going to be a release (or releases) in the vein of Roadrunner United and Nuclear Blast All-Stars — basically a “who’s who” team-up of musicians signed to the label. Those offerings actually ended up being, by and large, pretty cool (I mean, of course there were some missteps, but I don’t look back at those albums and think, “Well, that was ill-advised”), and Sumerian’s current roster is one of the strongest in metal (The Faceless, Animals as Leaders, Periphery, Veil of Maya, After the Burial, etc., pretty much make up for their creatively vapid bands like Asking Alexandria and Upon a Burning Body), so it makes sense that they’d wanna do something like this.

Question is… what form, exactly, will it take? I almost don’t care, as long as Bizzy Bone is involved. Hey, it could happen.

-AR

So as it turns out, Periphery have a rather sizable online following. Hm. Who knew?

ANYWAY, here’s how we amused ourselves this week:

• We debuted new music by the aforementioned Periphery, as well as Meek is Murder.
• Gwar’s Oderus Urungus answered some more reader questions, and we spoke to Fredrik Andersson from Amon Amarth.
• We checked out the latest releases from Drugs of Faith and Throatruiner Records.
• We reported on all the awesome metalocity at SXSW.
• We wondered if metalheads support gay marriage.
• We offered a retort to Sumerian Records head honcho Ash Avilldsen’s anti-piracy argument.
• We started the “Best of 2011″ argumentswwwaaaaayyyy early.
• We watched the best school assembly ever.
• We wondered why good musicians join terrible bands.
• We steeled ourselves for the release of the worst album of the year.

Alright, have a good frakin’ weekend everyone! See ya Monday.

-AR

Sumerian Records co-founder Ash Avildsen published a ballsy video yesterday in which he presents some facts and his own opinions on the issue of music piracy. Since Ash instructs listeners at the very beginning to “take 3 minutes of your day to listen to this message with an open mind, and then decide for yourself how you feel about the subject at hand,” I figured I’d do just that.

So… first, watch the above video.

OK, ready? Now let’s dive in.

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After the Burial released their new album In Dreams on November 23rd just before heading out to California for their current tour with Winds of Plague. On the day of the album’s release I caught up with ATB guitarist Trent Hafdahl by phone; we chatted about the new album, new vocalist Anthony Notarmaso and his role in the writing process, what really went down when they dropped off the Bleeding Through tour this fall, their plans for 2011 and, of course, Sumeriancore. Our chat after the fold.

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This is not quite what I meant when I coined the term Sumeriancore.

But Sumerian Records founder Ash Avildsen had this to say about his label’s recent signing of the iconic member of Bone Thugs N’ Harmony:

While we have been making a meaningful impact on the current state of heavy music, the true theme to Sumerian has always been about progressive music, not just metal. Bizzy Bone is one of the most progressive vocalists I have ever heard! Known in his genre for being the fastest yet the most melodic, the most technical yet the most harmonic, the marks Bizzy has left in music are something I will always love. The fact that Bizzy and Bone Thugs all booked one way Greyhound tickets to LA and lived on the streets until they were able to get discovered and signed is true artist dedication to their craft. This same spirit is something that has allowed many Sumerian bands to organically build their careers and achieve their dreams.

Well alrighty then. I don’t exactly think “progressive” or “technical” when I think of “Tha Crossroads,” but um, ya know, they were definitely very influential to a certain kind of music so there’s that.

Expect to see Bizzy Bone opening up for The Faceless any day now.

-VN

Dudes like Misha Mansoor are the future of the music industry. For the time being let’s not even talk about his band Periphery (who we happen to like very much), but the manner in which he’s making things happen for himself. Mansoor recorded his band’s album in his apartment — aka cheap — and because he spent years honing his recording skills, it sounds fantastic. Then he took the finished product and got it signed to five different record labels worldwide, yet he retains the ownership of his masters. That’s called smart business whether you like his band or not, and as new technology and the Internet make business models like this possible, expect more bands to follow suit in the very near future.

In my 20-minute phone chat with Misha on the eve of Periphery’s album release, we talked all about how he created his own little empire and what the implications may be, both for Periphery and the music industry as a whole. What you’ll find is a dude that “gets it” and whose expectations are firmly rooted in reality despite the fact that his band is blowing the fuck up. Our chat after the jump.

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Just because Metal Inquisition’s Sergeant D failed at having his own self-coined micro-genre of metal added to Wikipedia doesn’t mean we’re not gonna give it a shot; where Wigger Slam was struck down by the Wikipedia fascists, Sumeriancore shall succeed because it’s decidedly more PC.

Folks, Sumeriancore isn’t just some mistake the MetalSucks Mansion Monkeys stumbled upon whilst banging away at their typewriters; it’s a real movement, and it’s making itself felt in the scene in a serious way. Phil Freeman of the quite-reputable Allmusic.com (ex-Metal Edge) referenced the term in his review of Born of Osiris’ A Higher Place, a review which is now being syndicated by hundreds of sites including iTunes, Best Buy and Barnes & Noble. Kids are debating the meaning of the term on MusicianForums.com, while over at the SMNnews.com forums a member of MetalSucks-faves The Binary Code poses this question to the masses: “Is my band ‘Sumeriancore’?” Even on Sumerian Records’ own Last.fm page, kids are e-yelling “SUMERIANCORE!” in the comments.

So let’s get this shit going. Despite what MS Maniac Caspar Colderson commented on yesterday’s Tesseract post, “Sumeriancore” isn’t yet in Wikipedia. Can someone who’s bored at work take a stab at entering it in? ‘Cause we can’t do it ourselves, lest we make the Wikipedia Gods angry. I like Freeman’s definition: “a blend of tech-death and hardcore played by preternaturally talented youngsters,” as well as “Any band that sounds like they are/could be signed to Sumerian Records (the Faceless, After the Burial, Veil of Maya)” from the aforementioned Binary Code post.

We’ll send anyone who helps out a copy of A Higher Place signed by Glen Danzig.

-VN

We’ve barely covered UK prog-techsters Tesseract on MetalSucks — save for a hilarious “music video” shot by some Subway Sandwich employees rocking out to the band whilst cleaning up at night — which kinda blows my mind, because this band is freakin’ awesome and I’ve been e-following them for years now. They’re pretty much the best Sumeriancore band in existence that hasn’t yet been signed to Sumerian Records, though they definitely pre-date this now wide-spread* sub-genre name.

Tesseract haven’t even released a proper studio album yet but I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one that follows this band on the Internet closely; people email us about them all the time. Apparently they’re doing some dates in their UK homeland next month, and though they’ve got a new song out there’s still no word on an album. Their new song “Lament” hit the UK radio earlier this week and summarily ended up on YouTube. Have a listen below, and if you’re lucky enough to live in the UK go see them live (dates on their MySpace page) and let us know how they are.

-VN

[Thanks: Jesse Z.]

*and by wide-spread I mean “only on MetalSucks.”

“Reliable news source” Lambgoat is reporting that San Diego, CA-based deathcore-ish band Sea of Treachery have either been booted from or left Sumerian Records, depending on who you ask. I’d never heard of this band, so in due journalistic diligence I did my research. I’d like to posit the following theories for why Sumerian kicked the band to the curb (because, really, why would any band leave a label with as much current clout as Sumerian?):

1. They suck.
2. They aren’t Sumeriancore.
3. The most popular song (by far) on their MySpace page is a cover of Paramore’s “Misery Business.”

Apparently the band is un-phased, as they’re currently recording a new album and have a mammoth U.S. tour booked for the fall.

Less bands like this and more bands like Periphery k thx.

-VN

Told ya so.

Now that Periphery have signed with Sumerian Records, expect them to take their prototypical brand of Sumeriancore on the road… a LOT. See, the Sumerian guys are smart — rather than banking on selling records, a futile business model in 2009 if ever there was one, Sumerian bases their financial model on touring the hell out of their bands (and we’d have to guess that the label participates in this income stream as well), an easy feat because the label is half-owned by booking agent Ash Avildsen. It makes perfect sense in terms of artist development too — no better way to break a band than to get them directly in front of potential fans.

So we’ll be seeing a lot of Periphery in support slots on tours in the coming months, methinks. Sure, Sumerian will put an album out, but that’ll serve more as a talking point / press event to drive interest in the band and get them out on the road. And this is a good thing — Periphery are a phenomenal live band. Along with After the Burial and The Faceless, they’re probably Sumerian’s best. Now there’s a tour I’d like to see… how about it, Ash?

-VN

If I were a betting man and I wagered on the chances of any given band signed to any metal label in 2009 actually being good, I’d definitely put my money down on Prosthetic or Sumerian Records. Both labels are completely killing right now. Where Sumerian certainly wins in “scene points” and innovation stylistically speaking, Prosthetic takes a decidedly more varied but no less awesome route; all bands on Prosthetic sound completely different from one another (hello Kylesa, Gojira, Animals as Leaders, Grief of War, etc etc etc ad infinitum) but they’re all superb. Furthermore, their bands have little if anything to do with what’s hot in today’s metal scene — they just are what they are, and they’re damn good at it.

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Axl’s gotten his panties all up in a bunch (and justifiably so) several times in the past about bands re-recording, re-mixing and re-releasing their classic albums (see: Exodus, Arch Enemy, etc) as a gluttonous cash-grab. But After the Burial, one of my favoritest Sumeriancore bands, might be the one rare case in which I fully support their decision to re-record, re-release and re-master one of their prior albums.

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