Victory Records

Victory Records
Founded	1989
Founder	Tony Brummel
Distributor(s)	RED (US), ADA (US), PIAS (UK), Sony Music (CAN)
Genre	Various
Country of origin	United States
Location	Chicago, Illinois
Official website	www.victoryrecords.com

Victory Records is a Chicago-based record label founded by Tony Brummel.^[1] It is a privately held corporation. It also operates a music publishing company called "Another Victory, Inc." and is the distributor of several smaller independent record labels.

Victory Records has deals with major music distributors, which include Best Buy, Amazon, Trans World, Hot Topic and more. Music by bands signed to Victory Records can be purchased from all major online sources including iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Beats Music, Beats Music

Victory Records has had mixed relationships with some of their artists, including Streetlight Manifesto, Thursday, Hawthorne Heights, and A Day to Remember. ^[2]

History

Originally focusing on hardcore punk and post-hardcore bands, Victory later expanded its roster to include emo and pop rock acts. The label has had multiple records exceed the 250,000 sales mark, including gold records The Silence in Black and White by Hawthorne Heights and Taking Back Sunday's Tell All Your Friends and Where You Want to Be.

In early 2002, twenty-five percent of the label was announced to have been sold to Universal Music Group.^[3] However, later that year the deal was terminated by Victory.^[4] Victory is currently partnered with and distributed by Sony's RED Distribution.

It was announced in April 2014 that the label would be sponsoring a Victory Records stage for the entirety of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival featuring five of their artists: Emmure, Ill Niño, Wretched, Islander, and Erimha.^[5][6] In February 2015 Victory Records announced that they would once again be sponsoring a stage throughout the 8'th annual Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival with five of their artists to be announced,^[7] however as a result of the full lineup of the fest being leaked it was revealed that the Victory artists playing the tour would be Sister Sin, Jungle Rot, Shattered Sun, Feed Her to the Sharks, and Kissing Candice.

Another Victory Publishing

Another Victory is the sister publishing company to Victory Records, founded in 1997.^[8] The company holds a variety of worldwide sub-publishing deals, including those with Mushroom Group, BMG Chrysalis, David Gresham Publishing, CTM Publishing, Clipper's Music, FujiPacific Music INC., FujiPacific Music (S.E. ASIA) LTD., Gulliver Music Publishing, Basement Brazil, and Musou LTD. Music Publishing.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

Representing a catalog of over 5,000 songs, Another Victory has landed a multitude of big-name placements for it's artists tracks various movies, games and advertisements including "Chain Gang" by Close Your Eyes in NHL 15,^[13] "Like LaMotta" by Emmure on Secrets and Lies (U.S. TV series),^[14] "All I Want" by A Day To Remember in Crazy Taxi: City Rush,^[15] "Die Knowing" by Comeback Kid on The Challenge: Free Agents,^[16][17] and "Let Me Teach You How To Eat" by Reverend Horton Heat on Ridiculousness (TV series).^[18]

Distributed Labels

Over the years Victory Records has held distribution deals with several other labels including Sumerian Records,^[19][20] Rise Records,^[21][22] and Red Cord Records.^[23]

In July 2012, it was announced that Victory would become the distribution home for Boston, MA based record label, We Are Triumphant.^[24] On May 10, 2013 Victory announced they will be distributing I Scream Records.^[25] On September 9, 2014 Famined Records signed a distribution deal with Victory.^[26][27]

Past

• Lifeforce Records^[28]
• Hand of Hope Records^[29]
• Rise Records^[21][22]
• Sumerian Records^[19][20]

Current

• Lobster Records^[30]
• Undecided Records^[31]
• Jumpstart Records
• Ironbound Records
• Life Sentence Records
• GMM Records^[32]
• Toy Box Records
• Desperate Fight Records
• Smorgasbord Records
• Carbon Copy Media^[33]
• Pop Up Records
• JMB Records
• School Night Records
• Torque Recording Company^[34]
• StandBy Records^[35][36]
• Red Cord Records^[22][23]
• We Are Triumphant Records^[37]
• I Scream Records^[38]
• Mutant League Records^[39]
• AEI^[40]
• Dragon Well
• Famined Records^[26][27]
• Luxor Records^[41]

Bands on label

Relations with label

Victory Records has had mixed relations with artists signed to the label. Over the years, multiple bands have cited grievances, conflicts, or filed lawsuits against the record label, while other have stayed with record label for years, or even came back to Victory after releasing albums on different labels.

Former Victory band Thursday has had a conflict with the label, citing issues with royalties. The band also cited an incident involving the Victory Records marketing staff producing whoopie cushions for the promotion of their 2001 album Full Collapse, against their wishes.^[42][43][44] Thursday stated in the DVD accompanying their compilation album Kill the House Lights that they chose to go to a major label (Island Def Jam in 2002) and after fulfilling their contract, Tony Brummel and Victory Records welcomed Thursday "back with open arms."^[42]

Ska-punk group Streetlight Manifesto has had numerous conflicts and a generally poor relationship with Victory Records. The band is leaving the label after their next album.^[45] In February 2012, Streetlight Manifesto went so far as to request that their fans boycott their (Streetlight Manifesto's) music and other items from the Victory record label's online store^[46]

Despite the controversy, relations between Victory Records and its bands have not been all negative. Close Your Eyes and Ill Niño have mentioned positive relations multiple times in interview. Emmure and Endwell stated that Victory Records has always helped them.^[47] Emmure has said specifically "Victory does good business, and if you’re a band that is expecting more than what you get, then you’re going to feel cheated and robbed."^[48]

Hawthorne Heights lawsuit

On August 7, 2006, the Victory-signed band Hawthorne Heights announced in a "manifesto" on their website that they were leaving the label^[49] and filed a lawsuit accusing Victory of fraudulent accounting practices and for "severely damag[ing] the band's reputation and relationship with their fans."^[50] 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),^[51] as well as urging street team members to conceal copies of Ne-Yo's CD in record stores.^[49][50] On September 13, 2006, Victory records countersued Hawthorne Heights, accusing the band of breach of contract and libel.^[52][53]

In October 2006, a Chicago judge dismissed two of the three main claims in the band's suit, ruling that the trademark and copyright violation allegations were unfounded.^[54] On March 5, 2007 a federal judge in Chicago ruled that Victory Records does not hold exclusive rights for the band's recording services and that the band can record for any label. Specifically, the Judge stated: "The agreement contains no exclusivity provision, nor does any of its language appear to prevent [the band] from recording elsewhere during the life of the agreement".^[55] The judge later reaffirmed this ruling on May 17, 2007, stating that Hawthorne Heights is still contractually bound to deliver two albums to Victory, but may record albums which are released elsewhere.^[56]

In January 2008, Victory filed a lawsuit against Virgin/EMI Records alleging that "Virgin/EMI improperly induced platinum-selling band Hawthorne Heights to repudiate its contract with top independent label Victory Records", including allegations that Virgin/EMI funded the initial phase of Hawthorne Heights' lawsuit against Victory. The suit sought actual damages of $10M and punitive damages of $25M.^[57][58]

A Day to Remember lawsuit

On December 15, 2011, it was announced that Victory act A Day to Remember planned on filing a civil action against the label for breach of contract. Legal action was reportedly initiated on May 31 of that year, in which the band claimed that Victory owed them over $75,000 in royalties.^[59] Victory Records has said, on their behalf, that the lawsuit is actually about the band's refusal to fulfill their 5 album contractual commitment to Victory and their newfound desire to move to a major label.^[60]

Design the Skyline criticism

Beginning in May 2011, the label was widely criticized for signing groups perceived as inferior to many of the bands they signed in the past.^[61] Some bloggers called Design the Skyline "the worst band ever."^[62][63][64] Although Victory refused to comment on the signing, they continued to promote the band regardless of the criticism. The band however, did comment on their controversy, stating; "We really don’t mind. We can honestly see why people give us negative feedback for one, the way we look and the fact that we got signed to a mainly hardcore metal label with just one song; we stick out like a sore thumb. And not to mention how young we are."^[65]

Artists

• See list of Victory Records artists

See also

• List of record labels

References

External links

• Official website
• Victory Records Australian distribution