Pursuing commercial success was immaterial to Brian Slagel when he founded the Metal Blade label as a one-man operation in 1982, working in his mother's garage. Now 56, he insists that swift cash-ins on fleeting fads weren't part of the metal mainstay's mission statement.
"We never tried to be too much into one specific scene, and the last thing we would do is go like, 'This thing is really big, we need a band like that.' I think that's ridiculous and it's not what we try to do here. We're always actually trying to find whatever the next thing is, and I'd much rather be way out in front of something like that than try to chase something around. It was the same from day one until now. There's really nothing we're specifically looking for. If something comes in that I like, I'll want to work with it."
Growing up in California, Slagel became enamoured with metal, starting a fanzine and trading tapes. He eventually met a few fellow new wave British heavy metal fanatics, including Lars Ulrich (who wrote the foreword to Slagel's new book, For The Sake Of Heaviness - The History Of Metal Blade Records). Slagel granted Ulrich's fledgeling band Metallica a spot on the first Metal Massacre compilation.
Many fans reach middle age and the passion for heavy metal dissipates for various reasons, as real life responsibilities supplant seeking out fresh music. That's not the case for Slagel. "I'm still into the music as much as I ever have been. I'm probably more excited about new bands coming out these days than I have for a while. I don't ever want to retire. I want to keep doing this for as long as humanly possible."
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Their roster now includes flagship bands like Cannibal Corpse, Amon Amarth and The Black Dahlia Murder. As the traditional music industry format remains in a parlous state, Slagel notes in the book that there "is a move away from the concept of music ownership and towards the concept of music access".
"Last year the music business overall was up 9%, and this year for the first half of this year it's up a little bit more than that," he says. "Clearly a lot of that is pop and hip hop stuff, but we're starting to see even in our world now, the Spotify numbers [are] way better than they thought they were.
"You still have vinyl that's doing really well and CDs are not going to completely go away, although obviously there's going to [be] less than they were before. It seems the industry is poised for several good years of growth now, and growth where there's going to be income for not only the labels but more importantly the artists. So I feel we're in a really good spot now moving forward, and we have such a big catalogue that… 53% of all the Spotify streams and the same thing with all the other streaming services are catalogue. So that definitely bodes well for us, and certainly for the artists. It seems like we should hopefully have some good times ahead."
