Metal Blade Records history by Dan Slessor:
Founded upon owner Brian Slagel's enduring drive to find great bands and get their music out to as many people as possible, since 1982 Metal Blade has brought wave after wave of powerful, innovative, and often genre-defining music to the ever-hungry metal masses. It is this ethos that has seen Metal Blade build up a stunning and diverse catalogue, weather the various storms facing any independent label, and in an age of declining record sales boast the most successful years of its existence as it strides into its fourth decade.

What perhaps makes this achievement all the more notable is the fact that Slagel never even intended to start a label. Working in an LA record store and writing for various publications, Slagel was acutely aware that many great bands in the local metal scene were being ignored, and he decided to release a compilation of tracks drawn from these ranks. "There were a lot of really good bands and I was just bummed out that nobody could hear them. It just seemed like I could help them out and have some fun at the same time, and that compilation was the first Metal Massacre," he states. Collating tracks from then unknown bands including Ratt, Bitch, Cirith Ungol, and Metallica amongst others, the compilation sold out immediately. "How important is Metal Blade to our career? They're only the reason we are enjoying the worldwide success we have today," states Metallica's James Hetfield. "Without Brian's openness to some raunchy teens with a crap sounding cassette tape we would be who knows where, and playing who knows what!" With the popularity of the tape spurring Slagel on, the first seeds of Metal Blade were sown. "After the success of those compilations I just started putting out records of bands that I was friends with, but without ever really intending it to be a label at all," he explains. "After I put out four or five releases I started to feel like something was happening, and I decided to quit the record store and quit college and see where it went."

Battling through the first few lean years, when the label consisted solely of Slagel working out of his mom's poorly ventilated garage in the San Fernando Valley, it gradually grew in both revenue and stature. Within a few years Metal Blade would go on to release the debuts of Slayer, Armored Saint, Trouble, and Corrosion Of Conformity amongst others, fanning the flames of the burgeoning metal scene and launching careers of bands that would go onto reap global success. "Without Metal Blade, there is a damn good chance we never would've made it out of L.A," says Slayer's Kerry King. "That was the one bit of luck we needed. You can be the most awesome band on the scene, and if no one notices you, you don't catch on. And Brian Slagel is still one of the biggest metalheads I know!" This genuine love and devotion to metal is central to the relationship many of the artists have with Metal Blade, and King Diamond credits much of its relevance and strength to this passion. "I refer to it as having 'boots on the ground'," the mighty Dane states. "It's not like a major label where some people might be into what you're doing but a lot of them just see it as a job – there's a genuine love for metal there. Through staying true to that and doing their own thing they've carved out a very specific niche that they control, and as an artist it's wonderful to be a part of that."over the years. Clearly without those people we couldn't do what we do, and to everyone out there who has helped us along by being a fan we are so very grateful to you."

Read more: http://www.metalblade.com/us/about-us/

James Woodward was always a Metal fan. Starting from Pantera as the first metal band he truly loved and so on to heavier bands such as Lamb of God, Scar Symmetry, SOiL and many others.
His true passion is creating music, and currently sings in Moses Christ which is a Thrash/Heavy Metal Band. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Moses-Christ/52774387501
The Metal-Covers Songs project (Which by the way, is still nameless) started in 2008 with Poker Face by Lady Gaga. Due to unexpected success, and many requests for more, he continued to create more and more Metal Covers of many other songs and artists.
Today, with both Moses Christ and Between Falls, he's working on 2 new albums, which expect to be released this year in 2013.

Klassik und Jazz erfreuen sich immer größerer Beliebtheit. UNIVERSAL MUSIC Stars wie etwa Anna Netrebko oder Till Brönner unterstreichen diesen Trend und sind beste Beispiele für den Erfolg des umfassenden Engagements auf diesem Gebiet. 

Neben der intensiven Arbeit sowohl mit jungen Talenten als auch mit etablierten Künstlern entwickelt UNIVERSAL MUSIC CLASSICS & JAZZ als Marktführer in den jeweiligen Genres kontinuierlich neue, innovative Marketing- und Promotion-Strategien, um alternative und zeitgemäße Zugänge zur facettenreichen und spannenden Welt von Klassik und Jazz anzubieten. Die Unit baut hierfür nicht nur junge Künstlerinnen und Künstler auf und begleitet sorgfältig und verantwortungsvoll ihre musikalische Entwicklung, sondern sorgt vor allem auch kontinuierlich für die Erschließung und Pflege neuer Zielgruppen. Mit grenzüberschreitenden Projekten wie der „Yellow Lounge“, die Klassik an ungewöhnlichen Orten präsentiert, oder auch dem „Verve Club“, der die ganze Vielfalt des Jazz präsentiert, leistet UNIVERSAL MUSIC CLASSICS & JAZZ hier und auf manch anderem Gebiet seit langem wertvolle Pionierarbeit. Diese und weitere Aktivitäten bringen die unendliche Vielfalt der Genres einem stetig wachsenden Publikum näher, das musikalische Entdeckungen als Bereicherung seines Lebens zu schätzen weiß.

Established 1999. Releasing newfangled and archival sounds. 

OKeh short history: 

OKeh was founded by Otto K. E. Heinemann when he set up his own recording studio and gramophone record pressing plant in New York City in September 1918. Heinemann formed the name of the record label "OKeh", from his initials.  OKeh began by issuing popular songs, dance numbers, and vaudeville skits similar to the fare of other labels, but Heineman also wished to experiment with music for audiences neglected by the larger record companies. OKeh produced lines of recordings in German, Czech, Polish, Swedish, and Yiddish for the USA's immigrant communities. In 1920, Ralph Peer's recordings by African-American blues singer Mamie Smith were a surprise smash hit for Okeh. The company perceived the significant, little-tapped market for blues and jazz by African American artists. Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Bix Beiderbecke are only a few names of jazz greats that have recorded for the label. By 1926 Columbia Records bought the label and kept it running into the 60's with jazz and R&B recordings. 

In 1994, Sony Music reactivated the OKeh label as a new-age Blues label. Okeh's first new signings included Keb' Mo, Popa Chubby, and Little Axe. By 2000, the Okeh label was again retired, but in 2013 it will see its re-launch as a jazz label once again.

Hello! 

Thanks for dropping by. This is my SoundCloud sandpit, my place on the internet where I put all my audio experiments. 

If you're looking for my recorded songs, head to http://helenarney.bandcamp.com

If you want a whole website about me, Festival of the Spoken Nerd and my comedy girlband The Balconettes, take a look at http://helenarney.com

If you're more interested in a random collection of radio and podcast jingles, unpublished/unpublishable childrens songs, audio captured by me at the Edinburgh Fringe 2011, and stuff I made with my friends for a laugh, you're in the right place.

Thanks for browsing, 

helen

 - - -
Helen Arney
Comedian. Singer. Songwriter. Geek
http://helenarney.com 

Electronic music composer
https://music.mathy.me

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