Parent company BMG Rights Management Distributor(s) ADA Founder Andreas Katsambas | Status Active Country of origin United States Founded 1998 | |
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Genre Rock, heavy metal, experimental, indie Location Manhattan, New York City Headquarters New York City, New York, United States Artists Agalloch, Dissection, Dir En Grey, Hinder, Lordi Albums The Mantle, Ashes Against the Grain, Pale Folklore, When the Smoke Clears, The Ceaseless Sight Profiles | ||
The End Records is an independent record label located in Manhattan that specializes in rock, metal, indie and electronic music.
Contents
Early years (1998–2005)
The End Records was founded by Andreas Katsambas in Pasadena, California, with the goal of helping small underground artists. Within three years it became a full-time job and Katsambas moved the office to Salt Lake City in 2002. Too underground to get a national distribution deal, he started his own webstore, selling each release for $10 including shipping; the mail order (The Omega Order) helped cover basic expenses and slowly started bringing in other titles.
The next three years were critical in expanding the label which began signing bands such as The Gathering, Crisis, Arcturus, Ulver and many more.
National distribution, moving to Brooklyn (2005–2006)
In 2005 after meeting with most of the major distribution companies, The End signed a national distribution deal with Red Music and moved to Brooklyn, NY, the following year.
The move to New York paid off, enabling the label to expand and diversify their building roster (Dissection, Moonfog, Voivod feat. Jason Newsted of Metallica) with artists such as Mindless Self Indulgence, Danzig, Lemonheads, Juliette Lewis, Badly Drawn Boy, Brendan Perry, Art Brut, The Prodigy, Anathema, Dir En Grey, and Anvil, to name a few. While the label grew, Andreas commitment to each band didn't change, he felt each one was a top priority and has maintained that philosophy ever since.
Growth (2007–2009)
In 2007 The End was featured in Fortune Small Business and CNN which won Fortune their sole New York Press Club award for entertainment news in the magazine category. Now on the rise and gaining attention from press, 2008 won them the CMJ Indie Label of the year award. That same year, they celebrated Mindless Self Indulgence's entrance into the Billboard Top 30 Charts, the highest entry for the band, who also placed three Top 5 singles in the digital charts in the same week. After winning the Eurovision contest with 120,000,000 votes, Finnish metal band Lordi joined the roster, shortly thereafter The Answer came on board, who were hand-picked by AC/DC to support them on their 2008 world-wide tour.
American alt rock band The Lemonheads finally re-entered the Billboard charts in 2009 with Varshons; the band had not charted since 1996. That year, two more artists signed to the label; Juliette Lewis released Terra Incognita which was featured in multiple iTunes commercials, billboards and advertisements and The Charlatans released Who We Touch which stayed number one for three weeks at the Alt Specialty Radio charts.
Diversity (2010–2012)
In 2010 multi-platinum-selling artist Danzig entered the Top 40 charts with Deth Red Sabaoth, his highest charting album since Danzig III. Mercury prize winner Badly Drawn Boy signed to The End and released Part 1 of It's What I'm Thinking series. Canadian metallers Anvil also signed to the label that year, becoming a global phenomenon after the release of their documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil. With the drastic changes in the music industry, Andreas decided to adapt the label by signing indie electronic artists like Audio Bullys and Does It Offend You Yeah? along with electro-dub artists The Orb and The Prodigy. They launched The End Records Sampler which went number one on the Amazon charts. 2011 also marked the acquisition of the entire Music For Nations catalog including releases from Opeth, Paradise Lost, Cradle Of Filth, Anathema, Godflesh and more. 2012 brought an especially unique project: the iconic Halo 4 Original Soundtrack. Working with Microsoft, 7 Hz Productions and Neil Davidge proved to be a monumental move for the label and the release, cracking the record for Billboard's Highest Charting Video Game Soundtrack ever. Always scouting for new talent, the label began working with UK management company Raw Power and released albums for AxeWound (Bullet For My Valentine, Cancer Bats), Funeral For A Friend, Crossfaith and While She Sleeps. The latter two performed all dates on the highly successful Warped Tour 2013. The End Records rounded out 2012 with Rhythms Del Mundo ‘Africa’, which went number 1 at the iTunes world charts and became the main theme in Wold Bank's annual event.
Current (2013–present)
2013 brought more success; Helloween entered the Top 100 charts for the first time in their career and The End's roster also grew with Petula Clark and Fatboy Slim. Later in the year, The End released new albums from The Mission, Sponge, Hey! Hello! (Ginger Wildheart and Victoria Liedtke), Arthur Channel (Jack Irons, Greg Richling, Alain Johannes, Jon Greene), American Sharks, The Red Paintings, Crossfaith, Okta Logue, The Candles, Eklipse, Dead Letter Circus and many more.
The End's new world wide distribution deal with ADA (Alternative Distribution Alliance) came into effect in 2014 and the label announced some major signers: Nina Persson (The Cardigans, A Camp), Rich Robinson (The Black Crowes) and Neil Davidge (producer of Massive Attack and composer of Halo 4 OST) all signed on for their new solo albums.
The End also became more than just a label in 2014, expanding their business model to become a sub-distributor to smaller indie labels including 7 Hz, Crash Collide Records, Evilive Records, Imagen Records, Music For Nations, Small Stone Records, Svart Records, The Middle Ground, Unruly Sounds, Warner Music UK, Universal Scandinavia and Wanz0matic Records.
In June 2016, The End was acquired by BMG Rights Management.