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Ah, you beat me to it. This is the email I got- it was forwarded so I'm not sure of the original source-
>> World Serpent Distribution have closed their doors. We first heard the news on August 11, but not wanting to spread false rumors we held off saying anything until we could verify what we were told. Our attempts to contact and elicit comment from WSD failed, and additional sources have since confirmed the sad demise of the company. World Serpent were for a long time one of our most important suppliers. During the '90s their fortunes flew high, but messy personal politics lead to the departure of several important acts, including Boyd Rice, Death In June, Lustmord and Der Blutharsh. The company survived, but with the general downturn in music sales over the last few years their fortunes began to decline, and many more bands found themselves released and unexpectedly homeless. Nearly all of them complained privately of non-payment of royalties. The Legendary Pink Dots aired their grievances on their website in March, announcing the severing of ties with WSD because there hadn't been any accounting of sales in more than a year, and no payment had reached them since August, and then only under great pressure. In recent months several key acts released albums through other labels, and WSD let many crucial titles go out of print. Their last release, "Cabal", by Carter Tutti, was due to be made available in June, but copies were never delivered, and the CD languishes in a distribution limbo. We mourn the passing of such a pivotal supplier, but we regret even more the situation their bands find themselves in. Coil in particular must find it ironic to have given World Serpent reissued versions their earliest releases, two of which bore the words "Stevo, Pay Us What You Owe Us", a reference to the Some Bizarre label founder who they claimed went out of business owing them thousands of pound
A bit of a shame, really. I probably own more WS releases than I do any other independent label- it was usually a sign of quality. |
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