It pays to read this blog

by Cosmo Lee

Someone read this blog and signed a band as a result. That someone was Digby Pearson of Earache, and the band is Wormrot.

According to this post on Earache’s blog, Digby downloaded our grindcore mixtape, loved the Wormrot track, got hip to the Grind and Punishment blog (whose Andrew Childers compiled the mixtape), got over his reluctance to sign bands from obscure countries (Wormrot are from Singapore), reached out to the band, and signed it.

This is the track that got Wormrot signed:

Born Stupid

Interestingly, Digby says that he downloaded Wormrot’s album from mediafire to check them out. This is the first time I’ve seen a big label head openly admit to illegal downloading (especially after past posts denouncing filesharing). Then again, Wormrot’s album Abuse originally came out on a tiny Singaporean label, so I’d guess that 95% of those worldwide who have the album downloaded it illegally.

And then again, Earache recently released Gama Bomb’s new album as a free download, with a follow-up release on CD. So the label is now comfortable with manufacturing physical versions of albums that have already leaked all over the Internet. In Wormrot’s case, the investment is miniscule, as the A&R; costs = zero (perhaps we should get a referral fee!), the album has already been made, and all Earache has to do is slap on a logo and add some bonus tracks.

Typing this entry, I get the feeling that CD’s are now the real “niche market” instead of vinyl.