SPV declared insolvent

[ant]

People may have seen this buy I picked this up from the DPRP news page. Its seems unclear what the impact will be...

SPV: German label SPV, which is the mother label of prime prog label Inside Out has declared itself insolvent according to an article by Wolfgang Spahr on Billboard.biz:
SPV Schallplatten Produktion und Vertrieb GmbH in Hanover has declared itself insolvent. The managing partner, Manfred Schütz, decided to submit an application to commence insolvency proceedings on May 25 - roughly equivalent to Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In response to this, on May 27, the District Court of Hanover appointed the attorney Manuel Sack as the provisional insolvency administrator. "Normal business will continue even after the application for insolvency," said Schütz.

According to Schütz, together with attorney Manuel Sack, the management of SPV GmbH will not only carry on business operations, but also continue working in the areas of production and distribution in the usual way.

The purpose of the case now in progress is to make it possible for SPV to continue on the basis of a restructuring plan to be jointly drawn up. According to a statement issued, the aim is not only to secure as many jobs as possible in the long term, but also to retain the justified confidence of its customers and suppliers, built up over a period of 25 years.

SPV was founded by Manfred Schütz in 1984. The company is considered to be one of the leading international heavy metal labels and includes groups such as Böhse Onkelz, Fury in the Slaughterhouse, Kreator and Motörhead as well as non-metal acts such as John Lee Hooker.

According to sources, other recording companies are interested in buying SPV although no names have been mentioned.
It is unknown what will happen with the prog-related labels Inside Out, Superball Music and Steamhammer which operate under the SPV umbrella.

[Lawrie]

Wow, that's pretty big news for anyone concerned with PRR - thanks for posting it, Ant... albeit I'd much prefer the story not to exist at all!

By the looks of things, it's not definite yet what impact this will have on PRR going forward. In a best-case scenario, everything should tick along as it is; as a worst-case scenario, the band will effectively be label-less again and have to go through all the time, effort and pain that finding a new label involves. Too early to tell whether that will end up being the case or not, but it's not good news for PRR and their fans whichever way you look at it.

[avometer]

As long as they have the "recuperable but not recoverable" clause relating to advances in their contract they've nothing to worry about.

[butler]

I don't know how practical it would be for PRR, but if Super Ball do go bust, do you think they have a strong enough fan base to "do a Marillion" and go it alone. Sell the albums in advance to fund recording etc, maybe go download only.

[Lawrie]

I haven't got the first clue as to the actual economics of keeping PRR in the business of making albums, but my gut would tell me that that route would either be non-viable economically, or else they would have to sell the albums at bumper prices for it to work. Stress that I know no details at all about the financial facts involved, but that would be my guess.

[ryan]

I'd guess the same. There's nothing like enough of a fan base for that to be the bands sole way of funding itself.

[ant]

I agree and its not just financing albums its getting money up front to pay for touring also. Hopefully things will sort themselves out but at the moment I see this is already having an effect on some other bands. E.g the Tangent are selling a self produced CD of out-takes to try pay for studio time and some tours appear to have been cancelled by other Inside Out bands because funding is not there right now.

[ryan]

And keep in mind PRR have their own 'studio' (or equipment at least) so don't need funding for that.

[butler]

That's good to hear. Yeah, it's a shame the band aren't yet big enough to go it alone, but it seems such a shame, that only months after they've settled with a suitable label, they might have to put themselves in the shop window again.

If Inside Out go, I really do fear that some bands will simply fall through the cracks... sad times

[Lawrie]

Yup. I'd hope that the band's quality would speak for itself if they do end up having to look for a new label, but musical quality and creativity doesn't always win out as the deciding factor with plenty of labels out there.

Fingers crossed for all of the band that however things turn out, they're still able to keep making the music that we all know and love.

[Lawrie]

Got Superball as a friend on Myspace, and they've just released a new bulletin saying they're releasing a new Oceansize CD/DVD set. Not too bothered about the Oceansize thing (presumably people will discuss it in Music if anybody wants to), but it's interesting to see that they're putting out a new release since the news about SPV's insolvency.

The timing doesn't make this easy to tell whether this release is an indicator that Superball will be fine and carrying on as normal going forward, or whether it's a case that this release has been in the works for a while and it's less cost/trouble for Superball to put it out than not put it out despite them being hamstrung financially for future releases by their other acts.

Either way, a small morsel of food for thought, I reckon.

[ryan]

Yeah, it's been in the works for a while.
It's also been put back more than a month at the last moment.

[Lawrie]

Jul 9, 2009 9:10:10 GMT ryan said:

Yeah, it's been in the works for a while.
It's also been put back more than a month at the last moment.

Hmmm, doesn't sound too promising then...

[the dark fourth]

Dunno if it means anything at all but I just noticed on my myspace thread that Jon is "friends" with a new record label...at least I think it's a record label...seems a little odd...
beatrouterecords.co.uk/