I am reminded by the revealing 2004 documentary movie, Some Kind of Monster, that Metallica was forced to examine the nature of their very existence. Soul searching can sometimes prove beneficial when it comes to shedding skin and replenishing your mission.

Last week I wrote about Spotify, Sean Parker and Metallica forming a new understanding with each other. Metallica’s entire back catalog became available for listening on the Spotify cloud. This set the stage for a monumental announcement the very next day.

Metallica announced that were now are an independent band with their own label, Blackened Recordings.

From now on, every Metallica project from future studio albums to reissues will be released via Blackened. The label will even boast its own in-house marketing and promotion staff and will be distributed by WMG reissue subsidiary Rhino Entertainment. Blackened Recordings will also license their releases to Universal Music Group internationally

Blackened Recordings was created by Metallica as a home for all of their recordings, both audio and visual, and anything else that suits them.

“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,” said Metallica frontman James Hetfield. “It’s always been about control for us as a band,” said Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. “Forming Blackened Recordings is the ultimate in independence, giving us 100% control and putting us in the driver’s seat of our own creative destiny.”

The first Metallica Blackened Recordings product is a live concert DVD called Quebec Magnetic, two World Magnetic Tour live shows from Quebec City in the fall of 2009. In typical fan focused fashion the set list for Quebec Magnetic was voted on by 35,000+ fans at Metallica.com a couple of months back.

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