VICTORY RECORDS

'Victory Records' is a Chicago-based independent record label founded by Tony Brummel. Victory Records is a privately held corporation with several imprint labels, as well as a music publishing company called "Another Victory Publishing."
Founder Tony Brummel has received media attention for his criticism of Apple Computer's iTunes music download service, which he believes "makes music disposable. It makes it a faceless impulse item. It steals its soul."^[1] However, music by bands signed to Victory Records can be purchased on iTunes, making it possible that Brummel has backtracked on this position.

Contents

History

Lawsuit

Current Artists

Colored CD Cases

Extras

References

See also

External links

History

Originally focusing on Hardcore punk bands, Victory later shifted focus to metalcore, Indie rock, Post-Hardcore, and Pop-punk subgenres. The label has had multiple records exceeding the 200,000 sales mark, including four gold certified records (Hawthorne Heights' The Silence in Black and White and If Only You Were Lonely and Taking Back Sunday's Tell All Your Friends and Where You Want to Be), and one platinum record ( Hawthorne Heights' The Silence in Black and White).
In early 2002, 25% of the label was announced to have been sold to Universal Music Group.^[2] However later that year the deal was terminated by Victory.^[3] Victory is currently distributed by Sony BMG's RED Distribution.
This is not the same Victory Records that was owned by JVC in the early '90s.

Lawsuit

On August 7, 2006, the popular Victory-signed band Hawthorne Heights announced in a "manifesto" on their website that they were leaving the label^[4] and filed suit against it, accusing Victory of fraudulent accounting practices and "severely damag[ing] the band's reputation and relationship with their fans."^[5] Brummel allegedly issued public statements in the band's name criticizing hip-hop and singer Ne-Yo (whose CD In My Own Words was Hawthorne Heights' most prominent competition on the Billboard 200 charts),^[6] as well as urging street team members to conceal copies of Ne-Yo's CD in record stores.⁴⁵ On September 13, 2006, Victory records countersued Hawthorne Heights, accusing the band of breach of contract and libel.^[7][8]
Former Victory bands Taking Back Sunday and Thursday have also had acrimonious relationships with the label, although Thursday returned to Victory in 2007.^[9][10] Thursday had accused Victory of forcing them to sign to a major label (Island Def Jam in 2002); a clause in their contract allegedly blocked the band from switching to another independent label. ^[11]

Current Artists

★ 1997

★ A Day To Remember

★ A Perfect Murder

★ Across Five Aprils

★ Adalia

★ Aiden

★ All Out War

★ Arise and Ruin

★ theAUDITION

★ Bayside

★ Beneath the Sky

★ Between the Buried and Me

★ The Black Maria

★ Bury Your Dead

★ Buried Alive

★ Catch 22

★ Comeback Kid

★ Damnation A.D.

★ Darkest Hour

★ Dead to Fall

★ Driver Side Impact

★ Earth Crisis

★ Emmure

★ Endwell

★ Farewell to Freeway

★ The Forecast

★ Four Letter Lie

★ Freya

★ Giles

★ The Hurt Process

★ June

★ The Junior Varsity

★ Moros Eros

★ Nights Like These

★ Nodes of Ranvier

★ On the Last Day

★ Premonitions of War

★ Ringworm

★ Scars of Tomorrow

★ Secret Lives of the Freemasons

★ Silverstein

★ Sinai Beach

★ The Autumn Offering

★ The Sleeping

★ Spitalfield

★ Streetlight Manifesto

★ The Tossers

★ Voodoo Glow Skulls

★ The Warriors

★ Waterdown

★ With Blood Comes Cleansing

★ With Honor

Colored CD Cases

Victory Records packaged a number of their CD releases in colored CD jewel cases. The exact number of CDs sold with a colored CD case is not known. This was done simply as a way to make the CDs stand out more on music store shelves and was not limited or collectible in ways that some pressings of colored vinyl was.

Extras

Victory records include DVDs in more recent albums, showcasing other bands on the label with the series "VicTorV".

References

1. iTunes steals music's soul, MacWorld, 2006-02-16
2. MCA acquires 25% of Victory Records, PunkNews, 2002-04-17
3. MCA / Victory deal falls apart, PunkNews, 2002-10-20
4. The REAL Manifesto,Hawthorne Heights, 2006
5. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1538058/20060807/hawthorne_heights.jhtml
6. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1525066/20060228/hawthorne_heights.jhtml
7. Punknews, Victory files countersuit 10/13/2006
8. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1540810/20060913/hawthorne_heights.jhtml
9. http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/1565185/20070719/taking_back_sunday.jhtml
10. http://www.vh1.com/news/articles/1564369/20070709/thursday.jhtml
11. Punknews Thursday complaints regarding victory

See also

★ List of record labels

★ Victory Records artists

External links

★ Official site