Metropolis Records’ Dave Heckman:
The dark interview
He’s the entrepreneur behind the music label specializing in post-industrial music. In a frank, revealing and dark interview, Dave Heckman talks about his achievements—and also how the Internet is imploding the music industry. And the result? Get ready musicians: it looks like more of you will be facing the often ridiculous economics of most contemporary visual artists.
Introduction & interview by R.J. Preece artdesigncafé | music + art room. Published 29 April 2010.
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With humble beginnings, Metropolis Records grew out of a Philadelphia USA record store called ’Digital Underground’ in 1994 and has developed a strong reputation over the years as a leader in the music genres of electro-industrial, synthpop, future pop, darkwave, and gothic music. In interview, R.J. Preece—a self-confessed Front Line Assembly addict, a band which is represented by Metropolis—interviews the entrepreneur behind the music label. (While typing the interview up... FLA’s Unleashed on Artificial Soldier plays in the background...) The following are excerpts from the conversation: R.J. Preece: Was it your aim to build such an impressive and extensive community of artists—or was this unexpected? Dave Heckman: I’d have to say it was unexpected. I was happy to license a few small bands when I started, but once we got a reputation for being good at what we did, larger acts came to the record label. And we broke some bands that once sold a thousand [CDs] and ended up selling 50,000, which is very good in this genre. When I started Metropolis, I did not know—I did not think—I’d dominate the scene. I did not think I’d be working with Front 242, Front Line Assembly, KMFDM and Peter Murphy. I never thought that would happen. R.J. Preece: What are some of your most memorable moments over the years at Metropolis? Dave Heckman: I’m proudest about taking small bands that sell 1000 copies and turning them into a band that sells 30-50,000. We did that with bands like VNV Nation, Apoptygma Berzerk, Covenant, etc. To put it into perspective, only 1 in 100 bands sells 10,000 copies. So I’m proud of the fact that we took small bands and made them bigger, and big bands came to me and I’ve loved working with them—most of them (laughs). R.J. Preece: Which leads to my next question: what sorts of mistakes have you seen bands make when approaching—or working with—a record label? Dave Heckman: I think most artists don’t understand what it takes to run a label, and I think I really didn’t know either. When I’d get a lot of complaints with bands, it was that they thought ads, print advertising, sold records. Metropolis started in 1994, and believe me, print doesn’t sell. So that was the biggest thing. The important thing is just to spread as much around the underground, and work your way up. Whether it’s club, or radio, or Internet now. R.J. Preece: Are you pro-active in identifying artists and developing them? Dave Heckman: In the last five years since the record industry has fallen apart, I haven’t been that pro-active. Now it’s more bands coming to me. R.J. Preece: What do you mean exactly about the record industry falling apart? Dave Heckman: Everybody knows about illegal downloading and burning. I got into the business when it was still on an upswing. But since 2000 until the end of 2009—that whole decade—in the industry there’s been a huge drop in sales. So almost all of the major record stores are gone. The vast majority of sales are bought online, whether from itunes digitally, or Amazon digitally or physically, or a lot of record labels like Metropolis sell online themselves. Relatively speaking, we do a killer business because there are very few record stores around. I’ve had many friends in the record industry long before me—they’ve all lost their jobs a long time ago, whether it was working for a record store, a label, a distributor. This industry has been absolutely decimated. It’s tough and it’s not as fun as it used to be. I mean, you promote a band so people become aware of it and then they go out and illegally download it or copy someone else’s. Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 |
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