Victory Records is a

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

-based

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

founded by Tony Brummel. It operates a music publishing company called "Another Victory, Inc." and is the distributor of several record labels. It has featured many prominent artists including

Thursday Thursday is the Names of the days of the week, day of the week between Wednesday and Friday. According to the ISO 8601 international standard, it is the fourth day of the week. In countries which adopt the "Sunday-first" convention, it is the fi ...

Hawthorne Heights Hawthorne Heights, formerly A Day in the Life, is an American rock band from Dayton, Ohio, formed in 2001. Their lineup currently consists of JT Woodruff (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Matt Ridenour (bass guitar, backing vocals), Mark McMillon (l ...

, Silverstein,

Taking Back Sunday Taking Back Sunday is an American rock band from Long Island, New York. The band was formed by guitarist Eddie Reyes and bassist Jesse Lacey in 1999. The band's members currently are Adam Lazzara (lead vocals), John Nolan (lead guitar, keybo ...

, Bayside,

Streetlight Manifesto Streetlight Manifesto is an American ska punk band from New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States, formed in 2002. They released their first album, '' Everything Goes Numb'', which was distributed by Victory Records, on August 26, 2003. The band h ...

, and

A Day to Remember A Day to Remember (often abbreviated ADTR, and previously known as End of an Era) is an American rock band from Ocala, Florida, founded in 2003 by guitarist Tom Denney and drummer Bobby Scruggs. They are known for their amalgamation of meta ...

. In September 2019, years after buying part of the label's catalogue,

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

bought Victory Records and Another Victory for $30 million. Craft Recordings has been managing Victory Record’ catalog since Concord acquired the label. Victory has since not signed any new bands or released new records. Instead, the label operates for the current distribution of the label’s alumni, as well as for reissues. Victory's catalogue includes 4,500 master recordings and 3,500 compositions through its publisher Another Victory.

History

Originally focusing on

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...

and

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. It was initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like post-punk, the term has been ...

bands, Victory later expanded its roster to include

emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

and

pop punk Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other pu ...

acts. In early 2002, twenty-five percent of the label was announced to have been sold to

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

.MCA acquires 25% of Victory Records
PunkNews, April 17, 2002 However, later that year the deal was terminated by Victory.MCA / Victory deal falls apart
PunkNews, October 20, 2002 Victory is currently partnered with and distributed by Sony's RED Distribution. It was announced in April 2014 that the label would be sponsoring a Victory Records stage for the entirety of the

Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival The Mayhem Festival was a touring heavy metal festival that took place during the summer. The inaugural season took place in 2008; the festival later became an annual event across the United States. Most years also included a single date in eit ...

featuring five of their artists:

Emmure Emmure () is an American metalcore band formed in 2003. Originally based in New Fairfield, Connecticut, before moving to Queens, New York, the group has released eight albums, with their first public release being a 2006 EP entitled '' The Comp ...

Ill Niño Ill Niño (stylized as ill niño) is an American metal band formed in Union City, New Jersey, in 1998 by drummer and percussionist Dave Chavarri. They have released seven studio albums, two EPs and one compilation album, totaling in over 1.3 mi ...

Wretched Wretched may refer to: * Wretched (punk band) *Wretched (doom metal band) * Wretched (metal band), a death metal band from Charlotte * ''The Wretched'' (film), a 2020 supernatural horror film by the Pierce Brothers *"The Wretched", a song by The Wo ...

Islander Islander, Islanders, or The Islanders may refer to: People * Islander, referring to Jersey people * Islander, New Zealand-English term usually meaning Pacific Islander Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''The Islander'' (Rylant novel), ...

and Erimha. They would continue to sponsor the stage through the eighth annual festival with five of their artists to be announced.

Another Victory Publishing

Another Victory is the sister publishing company to Victory Records, founded in 1997. The company holds a variety of worldwide sub-publishing deals, including those with

Mushroom Group Mushroom Group is the largest independent music and entertainment company in Australia. It comprises more than two dozen companies. It has offices in Melbourne, Sydney, and Auckland with over 200 employees. History The Mushroom Group was found ...

BMG Chrysalis Chrysalis Group was a UK media company that was founded by Chris Wright, chairman, and Terry Ellis. Wright was named in '' Sunday Times Rich List 2009'' of the 1,000 richest persons in the UK. Previously having interests in television, books a ...

, David Gresham Publishing, CTM Publishing, Clipper's Music, FujiPacific Music INC., FujiPacific Music (S.E. ASIA) LTD., Gulliver Music Publishing, Basement Brazil, and Musou LTD. Music Publishing. Representing a catalog of over 5,000 songs, Another Victory has landed a multitude of big-name placements for its artists tracks various movies, games and advertisements including "Chain Gang" by Close Your Eyes in NHL 15, "Like LaMotta" by

Secrets and Lies (U.S. TV series) ''Secrets and Lies'' is an American mystery anthology television series that aired on ABC from March 1, 2015 to December 4, 2016. The series is based on the Australian television series of the same name, and developed for American television by ...

, "All I Want" by

A Day To Remember A Day to Remember (often abbreviated ADTR, and previously known as End of an Era) is an American rock band from Ocala, Florida, founded in 2003 by guitarist Tom Denney and drummer Bobby Scruggs. They are known for their amalgamation of meta ...

in Crazy Taxi: City Rush, "Die Knowing" by Comeback Kid on The Challenge: Free Agents, and "Let Me Teach You How To Eat" by

The Reverend Horton Heat The Reverend Horton Heat is the stage name of American musician James C. Heath (born 1959) as well as the name of his Dallas, Texas-based psychobilly trio. Heath is a singer, songwriter and guitarist. A ''Prick'' magazine reviewer called Heath ...

Ridiculousness (TV series) ''Ridiculousness'' is an American comedy clip show that began airing on August 29, 2011 on MTV. It is hosted by Rob Dyrdek and co-hosted by Sterling "Steelo" Brim and Chanel West Coast. ''Ridiculousness'' strictly showcases various viral videos ...

Distributed labels

Victory has had distribution deals with

Sumerian Records Sumerian Records is an American independent record label based in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and London. The label was founded in 2006 by Ash Avildsen.Rise Records, and

Red Cord Records Red Cord Records is an American record label from Rockford, Illinois. The label started in September 2008, but went on hiatus in 2014. The label signed bands including Phinehas, Random Hero, Inhale Exhale, and Bloodline Severed. Background Red ...

. In July 2012, it was announced that Victory would become the distribution home for

Boston, MA Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

based record label, We Are Triumphant. On May 10, 2013 Victory announced they will be distributing

I Scream Records I Scream Records is an independent record label founded by Laurens Kusters in 1994 in Brussels, Belgium. The label has an extensive catalogue and is one of the leading punk and hardcore labels in Western Europe. History The label's first r ...

.Victory To distribute I Scream Records
ChristianPost, May 10, 2013 On September 9, 2014 Famined Records signed a distribution deal with Victory. On February 9, 2017 it was announced that Wilhelm Records will exclusively distribute through Victory Records.

Current

* AEI *

Carbon Copy Media Carbon () is a chemical element with the chemical symbol, symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalence, tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent bond, covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to gro ...

Desperate Fight Records Desperate Fight Records was an independent record label in existence between 1993 and 2000 in Umeå, Sweden, owned and operated by Dennis Lyxzén and Jose Saxlund. It released records by most of the bands in the huge local Straight edge hardcore ...

* Dragon Well * Famined Records * GMM Records *

* Ironbound Records * JMB Records * Jumpstart Records *

Life Sentence Records Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

Lobster Records Lobster Records is an independent record label based in Santa Barbara, California. It was founded by Stevan Lubarsky in 1991 in music, 1991. The label started with Bad Neighbor, a Montecito, California, Montecito-based rock band, with a huge local ...

Luxor Records Luxor Records is an American record label located in Los Angeles, California. Background Luxor Records was co-founded by Aaron Bridgewater (lead vocals) and Nick Morris (lead guitarist), of As They Sleep. The label was created to release the ba ...

Mutant League Records Mutant League Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago. Established in 2012, Mutant League has released albums for seminal pop-punk groups such as Seaway, Belmont, and As It Is among others. As of 2022, the label has ...

* Pop Up Records *

* School Night Records * Smorgasbord Records *

StandBy Records Standby Records was an independent record label originally from Ohio. Lawsuits In 2016 Davey Suicide leaked to Alternative Press that the group had entered into a lawsuit with Standby Records. This prompted label-mates As Blood Runs Black to spea ...

* Torque Records * Toy Box Records *

Undecided Records Undecided Records was an American independent record label established in 1998 by Clifford Wiener and Alexander Kenny. The record company was founded in Loxahatchee, Florida but its headquarters moved around in various parts of Palm Beach Coun ...

* We Are Triumphant Records * Wilhelm Records

Past

* Hand of Hope Records *

Lifeforce Records Lifeforce Records is a German heavy metal independent record label that specializes in metalcore and death metal. Their roster contains bands such as Confession, This or the Apocalypse, Omnium Gatherum and Last Leaf Down, and they have helped t ...

* Rise Records *

Sumerian Records Sumerian Records is an American independent record label based in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and London. The label was founded in 2006 by Ash Avildsen.Thursday Thursday is the Names of the days of the week, day of the week between Wednesday and Friday. According to the ISO 8601 international standard, it is the fourth day of the week. In countries which adopt the "Sunday-first" convention, it is the fi ...

has had a conflict with the label, citing issues with royalties. The band also cited an incident involving the Victory Records marketing staff producing whoopie cushions for the promotion of their 2001 album ''

Full Collapse ''Full Collapse'' is the second studio album by American post-hardcore band Thursday. It was released on April 10, 2001, through Victory Records, to whom the band signed after leaving Eyeball Records. With the addition of guitarist Steve Pedulla, ...

'', against their wishes. Thursday stated in the DVD accompanying their compilation album Kill the House Lights that they chose to go to a major label (

Island Def Jam The Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJMG) was an American recording music unit, formed on New Year's Eve 1998 by the Universal Music Group. It consists of labels devised and consisted under the basic operations of Island Records and Def Jam Recordin ...

in 2002) and after fulfilling their contract, Tony Brummel and Victory Records welcomed Thursday "back with open arms." In a 2021 podcast interview,

Atreyu Atreyu is an American metalcore band from Yorba Linda, California, formed in 1998. The band currently consists of clean vocalist Brandon Saller, guitarists Dan Jacobs and Travis Miguel, bassist and unclean vocals, unclean vocalist Marc "Porter ...

guitarist Dan Jacobs spoke ill of Victory and the label's founder, saying they had issues with "Tony Brummel and his awful, scummy ways". On July 12, 2015,

Wil Francis William Roy "wiL" Francis (a.k.a. William Control) (born January 8, 1982) is an American rock musician, record producer, author, and artist. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the horror punk band Aiden. Bio ...

of Horror Punk band

Aiden Aiden was an American horror punk band from Seattle, Washington that formed in the spring of 2003. They achieved underground success during the mid to late 2000s with their classic lineup, featuring vocalist William Francis, guitarists Angel Ib ...

posted on their official Facebook that they sold 500,000 albums total through Victory Records and were not paid. Despite the controversy, relations between Victory Records and its bands have not been all negative. Close Your Eyes and

have mentioned positive relations multiple times in interview. Emmure has said specifically "Victory does good business, and if you’re a band that is expecting more than what you get, then you’re going to feel cheated and robbed."

Hawthorne Heights lawsuit

On August 7, 2006, the Victory-signed band

announced in a "manifesto" on their website that they were leaving the labelThe REAL Manifesto
Hawthorne Heights, 2006 and filed a lawsuit accusing Victory of fraudulent accounting practices and for "severely damag ngthe band's reputation and relationship with their fans." Brummel allegedly issued public statements in the band's name criticizing hip-hop singer

Ne-Yo Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He gained fame for his songwriting abilities when he penned Mario's 2004 hit " Let Me Love You ...

(whose CD ''

In My Own Words ''In My Own Words'' is the debut studio album of American singer-songwriter Ne-Yo. It was released by Def Jam Recordings on February 28, 2006. Conceived following his songwriting breakthrough with " Let Me Love You" for fellow R&B singer Mario ...

'' was Hawthorne Heights' most prominent competition on the ''Billboard'' 200 charts), as well as urging fans and street team members to conceal copies of Ne-Yo's CD in record stores to sabotage his sales. On September 13, 2006, Victory records countersued Hawthorne Heights, accusing the band of

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other party ...

and

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

. In October 2006, a Chicago judge dismissed two of the three main claims in the band's suit, ruling that the trademark and copyright violation allegations were unfounded. On March 5, 2007 a federal judge in Chicago ruled that Victory Records does ''not'' hold exclusive rights for the band's recording services and that the band can record for any label. Specifically, the judge stated: "The agreement contains no exclusivity provision, nor does any of its language appear to prevent

he band He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

from recording elsewhere during the life of the agreement". The judge later reaffirmed this ruling on May 17, 2007, stating that Hawthorne Heights is still contractually bound to deliver two albums to Victory, but may record albums which are released elsewhere. In January 2008, Victory filed a lawsuit against Virgin/EMI Records alleging that "Virgin/EMI improperly induced platinum-selling band Hawthorne Heights to repudiate its contract with top independent label Victory Records", including allegations that Virgin/EMI funded the initial phase of Hawthorne Heights' lawsuit against Victory. The suit sought actual damages of $10M and

punitive damages Punitive damages, or exemplary damages, are damages assessed in order to punish the defendant for outrageous conduct and/or to reform or deter the defendant and others from engaging in conduct similar to that which formed the basis of the lawsuit. ...

of $25M.

A Day to Remember lawsuit

On December 15, 2011, it was announced that metalcore band

planned on filing a civil action against the label for

. Legal action was reportedly initiated on May 31 of that year, in which the band claimed that Victory owed them over $75,000 in royalties. Victory Records has said, on their behalf, that the lawsuit is actually about the band's refusal to fulfill their five-album contractual commitment to Victory and their newfound desire to move to a major label. On October 5, 2013, news outlets reported that

had been given permission to self-release their new album '' Common Courtesy'' without any involvement from Victory. The album was released digitally on October 8, 2013. Victory and the band released statements in response to the court ruling. On November 26, 2016, A Day to Remember won the lawsuit against Victory Records. The band was given $4.02 million dollars and won three of the four issues they were suing Victory for fulfilling the bands contract, controlling the band's publishing, and digital royalty withheld from the band. Victory won the band's master recordings.

Design the Skyline criticism

Beginning in May 2011, the label was widely criticized for signing groups perceived as inferior to many of the bands they signed in the past. Some bloggers called Design the Skyline "the worst band ever." Although Victory refused to comment on the signing, they continued to promote the band regardless of the criticism. The band however, did comment on their controversy, stating; "We really don’t mind. We can honestly see why people give us negative feedback for one, the way we look and the fact that we got signed to a mainly hardcore metal label with just one song; we stick out like a sore thumb. And not to mention how young we are."

Streetlight Manifesto lawsuit

Ska-punk Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music together. (sometimes spelled skacore) is a subgenre of ska punk that mixes ska with hardcore punk. Early ska punk mixed both 2 tone and ska with hard ...

group

has had numerous conflicts and has a generally poor relationship with Victory Records. The band left the label after their album

The Hands That Thieve ''The Hands That Thieve'' is the fifth studio album by the American ska-punk band Streetlight Manifesto. It was their first studio album since 2010's 99 Songs of Revolution: Vol. 1, and their first album of original material since 2007's Somewhe ...

. In February 2012, Streetlight Manifesto went so far as to request that their fans boycott their (Streetlight Manifesto's) music and other items from the Victory record label's online store. On October 20, 2015, media outlets reported of a $1,000,000 lawsuit filed by Victory Records against lead vocalist

Tomas Kalnoky Tomas Kalnoky (born December 24, 1980) is a Czechoslovakia-born United States, American musician. He is the lead singer/guitarist and songwriter of the bands Streetlight Manifesto and Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution, and goes by the pseudonym ...

. The lawsuit was filed in regard to the band not fulfilling their record deal of four studio albums to be released under Victory. The band released five albums while on the label, however Victory claims that ''"... the band agreed not to count this album as one of the four albums under its contract to receive a $10,000 emergency advance."'' Victory also claims that the band's album 99 Songs of Revolution: Vol. 1 does not count towards the contract due to it being a covers album. The lawsuit claims the $1,000,000 is to be paid for

Streetlight A street light, light pole, lamp pole, lamppost, street lamp, light standard, or lamp standard is a raised source of light on the edge of a road or path. Similar lights may be found on a railway platform. When urban electric power distribution ...

not fulfilling their 4 album record deal, as well as damages for copyright infringement relating to the release of their last album

in which

released an acoustic version of the album under his pseudonym Toh Kay titled "The Hand That Thieves". The Toh Kay release was officially cancelled, however the release was later made available online. On April 19, 2017, the band announced on their social media pages that a settlement had been reached with Victory Records. As part of the settlement, Victory Records sold all Streetlight Manifesto master tapes back to the band.

Artists

* See

List of Victory Records artists Victory Records is an American record label based in Chicago. Originally focusing on hardcore punk and post-hardcore bands, Victory later expanded its roster to include emo and pop rock acts. Current bands * Abandoned By Bears * Awaken I Am * ...

References

External links

*
Victory Records Australian distribution
{{Authority control American independent record labels Concord Music Group Companies based in Chicago Hardcore record labels Heavy metal record labels