As of today, November 30th, Metallica has taken official ownership of all their recordings, including music and long form videos. This is highly uncommon for artists that are under a recording contract.

Metallica headlining at the Big 4 festival in Indio, CA. 23 April 2011. Photo Credit: Marv Watson

The move is amicable as Hetfield, Metallica’s frontman, notes:

We would like to thank everyone at the Warner Music Group for 28 years of a fantastic relationship, particularly since 1994 where we truly felt we had partners in every aspect of our business in North America…

Another big move for the band is occurring as they just announced the launch of their new label, Blackened Recordings. The label was created by the band and is meant to be a home for all of their recordings. The released will be licensed to Universal Music Group. Fans can expect the first release from the label to be on December 10, 2012. The release, “Quebec Magnetic,” is a DVD of two live shows from Quebec 2009.