On Tuesday, Aaron Turner, founder of metal and noise label Hydra Head, announced that the company will be shutting down in December after 17 years. Throughout their existence, Hydra Head has featured releases by artists such as Isis, Converge, Boris, Sunn O))), Harvey Milk, Jesu, Torche, Neurosis, Piebald, Cave In, Oxbow, Xasthur, Botch, Khanate, Pelican, These Arms Are Snakes, and many more.
The announcement was made on the label’s blog and explained that the decision was made as a result of many years of financial troubles. About this, Turner (also a member of Isis) said:
We’ve spent the majority of our existence excitedly scrambling from one thing to the next, taking on more than we could ever possibly hope to achieve, and never quite finding solid footing in the midst of our self-induced whirlwind of chaos.
Additionally, the label head wrote that the pulling of the plug came after
Years of imbalance between creative ideals and financial realities, personal problems amongst the label operators, an unwillingness to compromise our aesthetic standards, a tendency towards releasing challenging (i.e. unmarketable) artists, and the steady decline of the music industry in general.
Through December, the label will continue to operate and work on releasing their final round of releases. After that, Turner hopes to push toward paying off their debts by issuing back catalogue material. In the interim, the post informs that Hydra Head will be offering discounted bundles of CDs/LPs/posters/etc, represses of certain titles for which we still have parts, test pressings, etc. and graciously asks fans and readers to contribute whatever they are able.
In closing, Turner writes
We hope this closing will provide an opening into other even more positive and rewarding experiences for all of us and all of you who have been a part of our shared experience.
For more, head over to Pitchfork.
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