Is anyone really shocked by this? An interesting article was posted over at The Daily Beast today talking about how Unlocking The Truth is getting jerked around by Sony, and their $1.8 million record deal isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
You probably remember back in 2013 when the band went viral online. A trio of three black preteens from Brooklyn playing metal on the streets on New York City — it became an overnight sensation.
But now the boys, who are currently in their early teens, are trying to get out of the contract. And there’s a new documentary called Breaking a Monster that talks about their major label disaster.
“It’s been very difficult. We’re speaking to our attorneys about leaving Sony, and it’s very complicated,” says bassist Alec Atkins. “The album is ready, but because our attorneys are talking about us leaving the record label, it’s going to be a whole process of getting our music back.”
The album that he’s speaking of is apparently in limbo — it just hasn’t been released just because.
And that $1.8 million deal — they’d need to sell over 250,000 copies of a single album in order to see more money than the advance they were given. Of course, that’s like selling 2 million copies ten years ago.
As an aside, we can’t help but point out this interview they did at SXSW this past week. When their manager was asked how he found out about the band, he said he saw them in an article in Spin. “I had not even heard their music. I just looked at them and said I wanna work with these guys.”
Note to bands: make sure your manager has heard your music.