Why aren't Katatonia big?

[A Stranger]

I agree that the emotional content probably turns some ppl off katatonia but I have to believe that almost all people who hear them must in some way think its good. I cant imagine not likeing Katatonia. The shitty record company they are signed to doesnt really help either. Any gig they have ever played here in ireland I'v missed due to a COMPLETE lack of advertisement and information on prices and venue locations.

 

[sanitydriven]

They don´t want to... don´t need to...

 

[Anesthesia]

There is another band I like in the same situation called Darkane. They have actually had to cancel gigs because one or more of the members couldn't get time off work. The main reason is that record labels keep almost all of the profit from CD sales. The best way to support a band financially is to buy the CDs, get your friends to buy the Cds and then go to the shows with your friends. Any of the bands I've ever been in made 80% of our income from touring and usually less than $1.00 per CD sold, which has to be split among the members in the band. Unfortunately, buying the CDs is something we have to do, although you are lining the Record Company's pockets, the more CDs the band sells, the better the deal they will be able to negotiate when their current contract is up and they will be able to get into bigger festivals and the record companies and publishers will promote the shows more. That's the short version of my experiences.

 

[the_joy_of_grief]

I sure don't mind being able to see Katatonia in small clubs for decent ticket prices. But in a way I feel they ought to open up for bands like Tool, A Perfect Circle, Deftones etc., so that more mainstream-oriented people would hear their music. I believe that many bands that used to play metal and then changed their style to some kind of rock music don't get "big" because they lose the old metal fans without winning a lot of new ones, due to lack of exposure.

 

[Anthony3]

Lack of promotion. To sell records in the US you need to tour the US. I wish they could get on a tour with Lacuna Coil. I talked to Katatonia and Lacuna Coil about it and they both would like to tour together but it won't happen.

 

[Anthony]

I believe that many bands that used to play metal and then changed their style to some kind of rock music don't get "big" because they lose the old metal fans without winning a lot of new ones, due to lack of exposure.

Yeah, there's a lot of examples... when metal band crosses Radiohead(for example) territory, most Radiohead fans still know nothin' about it, so the band's left with most devoted metalhead-fans. And noone wants to promote brit-pop band, that has 10 death-grind albums in it's history. They'll better promote brand new band like Coldplay or something.

 

[living_dead_squid]

I think Katatonia should be bigger. But then again, it's obviously not everyone's cup of tea.

Personally, I think if Coldplay released Omerta it would be a huge hit. So it could be biased in some way.

As Anthony said, people dont want to promote a doom band with a newer sound, they want a Coldplay or whatever else.

 

[MaskedSanity]

Lack of promotion. To sell records in the US you need to tour the US. I wish they could get on a tour with Lacuna Coil. I talked to Katatonia and Lacuna Coil about it and they both would like to tour together but it won't happen.

Building on what Anthony3 said, you need "the machine" behind you to be big. Jonas said they don't tour the US because they don't have any real good US distribution. Is there a label for them in the US, I don't know. With Roadrunner recently signing Nightwish, maybe there is a chance Roadrunner would be interested in a band like Katatonia.
Century Media is another one, but I don't have that much confidence in Century Media. They don't seem to push bands to become big, they just seem to push them when they are big, look at Lacuna Coil for proof of that.

 

[living_dead_squid]

Well, they sure dont have any decent Australian distribution either. I can think of 2 stores in the whole of Sydney that sell them. There may be others, but I've only ever seen them in 2 stores.

That's one reason why they're not bigger here.