Earache Records Ripping Off The Haunted!

[Deadly Embrace]

THE HAUNTED's MARCO ARO: EARACHE RECORDS Are Lying To Us All The Time

Swedish high-energy thrashers THE HAUNTED have fulfilled their contractual obligations to Earache Records and have no intentions of re-signing with the label, according to frontman Marco Aro. "Earache are lying to us all the time," he told Finland's Kaista. "According to them, we have sold only ONE thousand copies of the last album in the States even though we've done headlining tours over there. You know, Earache doesn't keep any records that would reveal how many albums have been pressed and so on, so we have no idea how many albums we have actually sold.

"When we signed to Earache, we actually [inherited] AT THE GATES' old contract [as per the leaving member's clause in the agreement]," he added. "So when we got some royalties from our first album, all that money went to pay back the debts that AT THE GATES had with the label.

"ENTOMBED's situation with Earache was the 'funniest'," Aro continued. "Earache was built from the money that they made by selling the early records from NAPALM DEATH and ENTOMBED. Anyway, [former ENTOMBED drummer] Nicke Andersson saw some of the Earache guys when he was doing a show in London with THE HELLACOPTERS, and he asked them if he should perhaps be collecting some money from them in back royalties. The Earache guys were like, 'Yeah, sure.' Guess what Nicke got from them later? 25 pounds and one 'Monkey Puss' live video! (laughs)"

According to Aro, it was Earache's unwillingness to properly fund the group's recently-released DVD, "Caught On Tape", that resulted in the final product not being of the high standard that the band had hoped for.

"Well, it's ok, there's two shows and everything," Marco said of the DVD. "But it could have been better, too. We were supposed to get really good digital video camera from our record company when we went to tour US with CANNIBAL CORPSE and DIMMU BORGIR. We were supposed to shoot some material for the DVD... Well, we got that camera when there was two shows left in the tour. And then, when we asked if we could shoot some material from the summer festivals with that camera, we were told that this was not OK and we had to return the camera to the record company. By the way, our first idea was to release the live DVD and live album in one package at a special price. But that was not OK with Earache..."
________________________________________________

This has been a problem, not just with Earache, but other Record Companies, ripping off the artists that sign with them, & trust them. Just like Bonded By Blood(Exodus), never has gone gold(500,000 copies), this sucks bigtime..............

 

[Valofvalhalla]

That is really fucked. My question is this, where is the manager through all this?

 

[hiddenlegions]

Man that's totally fucked. You'd think they could pursue some serious legal action. I'm blown away about the Exodus info. Greedy bastards at the record companies That's why in a small way I'm glad with the growth of the internet and mp3's it takes away from their greed and that's why it pisses them off. On the other hand I know it affects the artists more so I understand that point as well. Sucks all the way around. The artists should get PAID , not the greedy record companies.

 

[*M*]

I know this is old now, but I just thought it needed some closure. It seems we can mark this up in the "blabbermouth strikes again" catagory.
Here is Marco's official statement about the matter (From www.earache.com )

THE HAUNTED'S MARCO ARO SETS THE STORY STRAIGHT
"The Blabbermouth quotes are bullshit"
The Haunted's vocalist Marco Aro set the story straight today regarding an interview with The Haunted posted online this week by Finland's Kaista Magazine. In the Kaista interview, Aro is quoted as making allegations against Earache Records, including accusing the label of being dishonest about royalties and of making a less-than-average quality Haunted DVD.
Infamous metal news website Blabbermouth promptly reported on the Kaista interview, posting a news piece entitled "The Haunted' Macro Aro: Earache Records Are Lying To Us All The Time". In an official statement made today, Aro vehemently denounced the Kaista interview and the Blabbermouth news piece, stating he never made those allegations against Earache.

"The Blabbermouth quotes are bullshit. I don't think Earache are telling us lies. The level of communication with the label right now is the best it has ever been and the relationship is fine. If anyone wants to know about our relationship with Earache, come and ask us directly. We are very happy right now. Earache is working really hard for us with One Kill Wonder. They did a great job and the chart positions all over the world speak for themselves. We get our royalties from Earache and the sales in the US are, we think, accurate. With the DVD, of course things could always be done better with hindsight but its number one in the Swedish charts, how can anyone be unhappy with that?!! When you become an international artist you have to expect people to talk bullshit about you but it pisses me off when everyone tries to stir up shit between us and our label."

 

[JesterOfDeath]

Shit like this is why Chuck Schuldiner is one of the wisest musicians ever....He hated the media because it was all full of rumors and bullshit. I fuckin' hate the media.

 

[Voice of God]

There's mp3-clips of the Kaista interview in Blabbermouth where Aro is saying all the things mentioned in the first post. They speak finnish though, but as a finn I can confirm that the quotes are right and it's Aro speaking (he has swedish accent and I've heard him speaking finnish before, so I recognized him). I think Earache has threatened Aro with lawsuit or something, so that he had to "clear things out". Anyway, the Kaista interview isn't the first time Aro bashes Earache.

 

[Yetti]

note to self:

self, never sign w/ earache

 

[Valofvalhalla]

There's mp3-clips of the Kaista interview in Blabbermouth where Aro is saying all the things mentioned in the first post. They speak finnish though, but as a finn I can confirm that the quotes are right and it's Aro speaking (he has swedish accent and I've heard him speaking finnish before, so I recognized him). I think Earache has threatened Aro with lawsuit or something, so that he had to "clear things out". Anyway, the Kaista interview isn't the first time Aro bashes Earache.

A lawsuit would make total sense. You threaten people with their income and they sit up and beg. Nothing against The Haunted because I think they great. No one likes to have to apologize for speaking the truth. Thank you for your post. I would like to hear the outcome on this one.

 

[pest666]

Also, that story attributed to Marco saying he didn't say those comments was put out by Earache and the story was written by an earache rep. Digby went on the Blabber site and made some comments about the story. Here's what he had to say:

COMMENT | Errr... the truth anyone?
posted by: digbyp
2/24/2003 2:13:26 PM
We at Earache expect no favours from a Roadrunner-backed site, but c'mon, this stuff is dangerous talk...well, at least Marco admits they do actually get royalty statements from us!! However, The royalty statement Marco refers to is obviously for sales over a 6 month period, not the life of the record. C'mon, 1000 records IN TOTAL is plainly ridiculous - Marco mistakenly quotes 6 months reported sales, NOT cumulative sales since release!..... Marco is right that the Haunted deal was basically an extension of ATG, but after they complained of bearing the ATG debt we DID actually separate the royalties out so the Haunted could see some cash for their efforts, though we were'nt obliged to, cos we are friendly like that...... As for Entombed, Nicke forgets that back in about 95, to gain release from Earache's record contract so they could go sign with the Major East West instead, they decided to forgoe and sacrifice a TON of future royalties becoming due from us, and thats still the case even now......regarding the Haunted DVD, its been top 10 in Sweden for 3 weeks now so a lot of folks must like it, but I agree it could always be done better...if anyone here ever wants to get our take on any news posted on blabbermouth, please feel free to email using our 'Ask Earache' feature on our http://www.earache.com site. Thanks for reading my contribution to this thread. Digby/Earache

 

[Ray]

Morning all,

to see The Haunted mouthing off Earache is nothing new. When doing promotional work for their second album, the same allegations were directed at the company by the band. It`s obvious that they are extremely annoyed with the label, and they have every right to show their anger at what they feel is unreasonable behaviour. Regarding Earache, it`s imprints and employees, I can only speak for myself as member and manager of Lunaris. One year into our deal with them, we definately do not have any major issues with them. From the start on we`ve communicated very well with them, and in my dealings with them, I`ve got to know most of the guys there. Every time we`ve asked for something, they`ve responded. We`ve got statements regarding record-sales specified on each country where the album is released, they`ve set up tours for us (whice we`ve unfortunately have had to turn down) and they were very professional when we were in the process of negotiating the recording-agreement with them. We had quite a few objections and demands which they handled very well, resulting in a fair and decent arrangement for both parties.

I do not know what the future will bring, but so far Lee Barrett and the guys at Earache have been decent guys and helped us out when we`ve needed to. As long as a band shows a professional approach and knows that it wants, reasonable arrangements can be done. What is not acceptable though, is to sign a contract, and then start bitching about it`s contents. If yoy don`t have bothered to actually read and understand what the contract says, you`ll have to face the consequences, whether you like it or not. The record-business is obviously about making money, as any other business is, but believe you me, when it comes to availability and the ability respond to requests, Earache are a hell of a lot better than some of the major metal-labels around...

Ray