It's official, Roadrunner Records has been fully dissolved into Warner Music Group. The acquisition started in 2007 when Warner bought 73.5% of the company, with the full purchase being completed recently. An internal memo was sent out to all Roadrunner employees by CEO Cees Wessels explaining the buyout:
"Since joining the Warner Music family, we have enjoyed some of our greatest creative and commercial successes as a label. Most importantly, we have retained our unique identity while also expanding our horizons, thanks in part to the tremendous expertise and experience we can tap into as part of the Warner Music family and the relationships we have built with our Warner Music colleagues around the world.
"I am very proud that Roadrunner is now a fully-fledged stable mate of such iconic labels as Atlantic , Warner Bros. Records, Elektra, Asylum and Rhino, and I believe that we are in this position thanks to our team’s hard work and consistently original approach over the years. The vast majority of our staff around the world will experience little or no change to their roles.
"However after carefully reviewing our operations, we have decided to transfer the support functions across to our Warner Music colleagues in some territories. This is not an easy process to undertake, but we believe that, by making these changes, we can take Roadrunner to the next level by focusing our resources on marketing our existing line-up of acclaimed artists as well as discovering the stars of tomorrow."
Translation of that last paragraph: JOB CUTS! Doesn't sound like a super fun time to be a Roadrunner employee. Taking a look back at some of the artists Roadrunner has signed since 2007 (Korn, Tommy Lee's Methods of Mayhem, Lynyrd Skynyrd) it's easy to see that the label is trying to reinvent itself as more of a mainstream rock label then a metal label. Who knows? Maybe in a few months, we'll be posting that Creed signed with Roadrunner (we wouldn't even if they did)
