‘Steady Decline Of Music Industry’ Forces Indie Label Hyrdra Head To Close, Ask Fans For Help

After 20 years in business, modern indie metal label Hydra Head is closing: "The simple fact of the matter is we've been running on empty for a while now and cannot afford to keep our doors open for much longer". The label will stop new releases in December. "Thereafter, we will be remain operational only in the interest of maintaining our back catalog, with the ultimate aim of repaying our rather sizable debts."

Hydra Head was founded in 1993 as a distribution company while Aaron Turner was in high school. Bands signed to the label include Cave In, Xasthur, Kayo Dot, Boris, and Jesu.

"Years of imbalance between creative ideals and financial realities… and the steady decline of the music industry in general, are amongst the chief reasons for our inability to continue," said the company.

Asking Fans For Help To Pay Artists

"…and this brings us to the present moment, where in all honesty we are in need of financial assistance from anyone and everyone who's willing to throw us a rope. Though it is highly unlikely we'll be able to resuscitate the label, we do wish to follow through on the final round of releases to which we're committed and pay off our debts to our artists and manufacturers. In order to do this we are initiating a massive sell-off of everything we can dig up and produce for the next 6-12 months."