Dream Theater Signs With SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT via its INSIDE OUT imprint

[noxon]

SONY MUSIC SIGNS DREAM THEATER TO A LONG-TERM DEAL VIA ITS INSIDE OUT MUSIC IMPRINT

In a career that has spanned in excess of 30 years and during which they have sold more than eight million albums, two-time Grammy-nominated US progressive-metal band Dream Theater has never done the predictable. This was evident with the release of their ambitious 2016 concept album 'The Astonishing' and the elaborately-produced tour that followed.
Now Dream Theater is pleased to announce that they have signed with Sony Music Entertainment worldwide, through Sony's leading progressive music label imprint INSIDE OUT MUSIC, for the release of the band's forthcoming 14th studio album. They join an impressive roster of bands, many of which wouldn't exist without Dream Theater blazing a trail before them, and inspiring young musicians since the early '90s.

The band comments: "We are all really excited about signing a brand-new record deal with InsideOut/Sony! We've known Thomas Waber for a very long time and it's great to finally get a chance to work together. Thomas' enthusiasm, energy, music industry expertise and positive outlook towards the future of DT's recording career has been incredible to witness, and we have no doubt that being part of the InsideOut/Sony family will be an amazing creative and professional experience for all of us!"

InsideOutMusic Label Head / A&R Thomas Waber adds: "This is what the term 'coming full circle' was invented for. We've followed the band closely ever since they started touring in Europe in 1993, and there has been a lot of history and friendship between DT and us for close to 25 years. Stepping up to the plate to join with them for this next important chapter in their career feels like the natural and right thing to do. I can't wait to get started!"

Sony Music Germany CFO Philip von Esebeck continues: "This is an important signing in our goal to support and grow the InsideOutMusic label as a brand, and we are very excited at Sony Music to welcome Dream Theater to our roster of top-tier artists!"

Since completing the theatrical stage presentation/fifteen-month touring cycle for 'The Astonishing,' Dream Theater have been circling the world in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the band's much-loved and gold-selling record 'Images & Words,' their breakthrough album which spawned the Top 10 hit "Pull Me Under."

Beginning in February 2017, the band has played in Europe, Japan, Australia, India, South East Asia, and the Middle East and just finished up their tour in North America.
For almost 25 years, InsideOutMusic has been one of the leading labels worldwide for progressive music and is part of the Century Media Label Group, a division of Sony Music.

[the keyboard wizard]

Extremely pleased with that announcement: Inside Out is a real prog label and they know how to take care of their artists. Funny that now they are with the same label than Sons of Apollo

[Zydar]

No more Roadrunner then.

[noxon]

Funny that now they are with the same label than Sons of Apollo

I would actually think that "hurts" more for SoA than for DT

[Mladen]

Didn't Dream Theater sign a three-record deal with Roadrunner before the self titled album? I wonder why they left Roadrunner, I seem to recall Opeth and several other bands abandoning the label.

[erwinrafael]

Nice. Maybe this explains why they put off recording a new album to next year. They were negotiating a deal that would make the most sense for them.

Funny that now they are with the same label than Sons of Apollo

I would actually think that "hurts" more for SoA than for DT

Well, maybe this would silence some of Sherinian's shots at DT.

[?]

Funny that now they are with the same label than Sons of Apollo

I would actually think that "hurts" more for SoA than for DT

Yeah, it doesn't take an Einstein to figure who's going to be the bigger priority.

Didn't Dream Theater sign a three-record deal with Roadrunner before the self titled album? I wonder why they left Roadrunner, I seem to recall Opeth and several other bands abandoning the label.

Maybe TA counted as 2 albums in the contract or there'll be some kind of compilation?

Åkerfeldt said RR picked up the option for one more album, but didn't want to pay the full advance specified in their record deal, so Opeth left the label. I remember Warner shut down some of RR's offices a while ago, so they may not be doing as well as they used to and hence probably can't pay bands as well anymore.

[Madman Shepherd]

I get that the label is now a subsidiary of Sony but historically it's been a very small label. Hopefully this is good move for them but Inside Out doesn't have much of a track record for major bands at this point, do they?

[ariich]

I do find it funny that the announcement is "we signed with Sony" when every other band who ever signed with InsideOut simply said "we signed with InsideOut".

Cool stuff anyway, IO is a great label.

[noxon]

Didn't Dream Theater sign a three-record deal with Roadrunner before the self titled album? I wonder why they left Roadrunner, I seem to recall Opeth and several other bands abandoning the label.

Maybe TA counted as 2 albums in the contract
[/quote]

It is not unheard of for double albums to be counted as 2 albums when it comes to a record deal.

[YtseJamittaja]

Great, every IO record have been good/gold so I'm expecting good music/production in the future

[mikeyd23]

I get that the label is now a subsidiary of Sony but historically it's been a very small label. Hopefully this is good move for them but Inside Out doesn't have much of a track record for major bands at this point, do they?

That was my first thought as well.

[ariich]

Great, every IO record have been good/gold so I'm expecting good music/production in the future

I don't know that it'll change anything about the sound or production at all, DT just do whatever they want in that regard I think.

[mikeyd23]

Great, every IO record have been good/gold so I'm expecting good music/production in the future

I don't know that it'll change anything about the sound or production at all, DT just do whatever they want in that regard I think.

Yeah, I think it's been a very, very long time since a label had anything to do with the sonics of a DT record. Like maybe since FII.

[noxon]

I get that the label is now a subsidiary of Sony but historically it's been a very small label. Hopefully this is good move for them but Inside Out doesn't have much of a track record for major bands at this point, do they?

That was my first thought as well.

I do believe Sony Music consolidated a lot of their assets earlier this year - i seem to remember getting a lot of emails from the imprints about new consents being required for marketing purposes etc.. And DT is the first big signing I've seen since those emails came. It's probably something Sony Music wants as it lends much more weight than just saying "Inside Out".

[erwinrafael]

I get that the label is now a subsidiary of Sony but historically it's been a very small label. Hopefully this is good move for them but Inside Out doesn't have much of a track record for major bands at this point, do they?

That was my first thought as well.

You have to take this statement by Sony in consideration:

"This is an important signing in our goal to support and grow the InsideOutMusic label as a brand, and we are very excited at Sony Music to welcome Dream Theater to our roster of top-tier artists!"

They were brought in to boost the brand. I think this bodes well for DT as they would not be goven second-fiddle treatment. They might actually be royalty in this case.

[MirrorMask]

Nice. Maybe this explains why they put off recording a new album to next year. They were negotiating a deal that would make the most sense for them.

It certainly makes sense, but on the other hand, "Promoters basically forced us to tour the whole world with I&WAB and then JP has G3 and then we'll do the album" seems a natural reason also.

Anyway, good luck to DT with the new label!

[erwinrafael]

Nice. Maybe this explains why they put off recording a new album to next year. They were negotiating a deal that would make the most sense for them.

It certainly makes sense, but on the other hand, "Promoters basically forced us to tour the whole world with I&WAB and then JP has G3 and then we'll do the album" seems a natural reason also.

Yes, but what was noticeable was the lack of urgency to record the new album which they have been religiously doing every other year.

The good thing about this piece of news is that it came out of nowhere. No leak. No hints. Nothing.

[SwedishGoose]

This will hopefully be good both for Dream Theater and for Inside Out.....
Good combination

[theanalogkid7]

Perhaps this means we won't have to deal with another mess similar to the release of TA's deluxe and collectors box sets!

[SeRoX]

The sad part of this we lost our favourite meme about RR:  "Soon."

[RoeDent]

Nothing in the rules to say that "Soon" can't continue. Just as a good-natured reminder of the RR times.

[Fritzinger]

 As a vinyl fan I am very happy to hear this, since every single vinyl I have bought from inside out has been extraordinary in terms of packaging and pressing.  Plus, their prices are reasonable and they always show way more passion and love for their own bands than RR did.

[rumborak]

I'm personally quite happy about this. RoadRunner always rubbed me the wrong way, I never liked where they took the band image wise.

On another note, when kingshmegland and I met before the show in Boston, I told him "there will be some announcement after the tour ends, I'm feeling it". Called it!

[goo-goo]

Kind of ironic: Steven Wilson goes to Caroline International which is a bigger label, and DT goes to a relatively smaller label (Inside Out). I do like however that a prog guy (Thomas Weber) is at the helm of Inside Out.

[SeRoX]

I believe James' solo label is Inside Out too.

[Mindflux]

Well.. this gives me "SOME" faith in "Deluxe Editions" not being bungled for nearly a year after the album release, like The Astonishing.

[Fritzinger]

Well.. this gives me "SOME" faith in "Deluxe Editions" not being bungled for nearly a year after the album release, like The Astonishing.

Word

[cramx3]

I had no issues with DT being on RR and I don't expect any issues with DT being on Inside Out.  Just glad to see they are signed on for more music, which I never feared, but nice that they have a home with a prog label. 

[noxon]

Kind of ironic: Steven Wilson goes to Caroline International which is a bigger label, and DT goes to a relatively smaller label (Inside Out). I do like however that a prog guy (Thomas Weber) is at the helm of Inside Out.

Eh. Inside Out is an imprint of Sony Music, so strictly speaking DT is going up (from Warner to Sony).

[Dreamer]

Pleased that DT are going onwards and upwards and that the IOM/Sony thing is a success. I may go see G3 next year as they are coming close to me on the south coast of England.

[pcs90]

Seems like a good  move to me!

[gzarruk]

Very interesting news! I don't know why, but for a long time I felt like DT were going to leave RR in the not so distant future, and it finally happened. I never expected them to sign to IO, though, since it's always been a smaller label, but after reading the press release I think this is how things played out:

Based on the comments about them being good friends with the president of IO for a long time, I think they always had the chance/were offered to join, but the label was too small for them at the time and they decided to stay with RR, since there's no way DT would sign to a smaller, indie label. Then, Sony acquired Century Media (Inside Out's parent company) in 2015 and things started to look better for IO, now under one of the big 3 record labels (Sony, Universal and Warner). And, after some of the issues with RR and the deluxe versions of TA (and I'm sure a lot of other stuff), I think DT felt it was time to leave Roadrunner and go to, basically, the home of most current prog bands out there.

I think this is a great thing for both DT (as, probably, the biggest band with Inside Out) and IO, which just signed one of the founders of prog metal, and surely the most succesful one.

[Setlist Scotty]

I get that the label is now a subsidiary of Sony but historically it's been a very small label. Hopefully this is good move for them but Inside Out doesn't have much of a track record for major bands at this point, do they?

Aside from the comments already made about having Sony's backing, you can be sure that the band would be very careful about not making a misstep by switching labels - not since Frank Solomon's been their manager, and of course JP being very involved in the business aspects of the band.

SONY MUSIC SIGNS DREAM THEATER TO A LONG-TERM DEAL VIA ITS INSIDE OUT MUSIC IMPRINT

What I'm most curious about is what this "long-term deal" is - for how many years or for how many albums? We knew that they were signed with Atco/EastWest/Elektra/Warner for 7 albums, for 3 albums with the first RR contract, and 3 albums for the second RR contract, but how about this one?

[goo-goo]

Kind of ironic: Steven Wilson goes to Caroline International which is a bigger label, and DT goes to a relatively smaller label (Inside Out). I do like however that a prog guy (Thomas Weber) is at the helm of Inside Out.

Eh. Inside Out is an imprint of Sony Music, so strictly speaking DT is going up (from Warner to Sony).

Just because IO is part of Sony, that doesn't make IO a big label.

Don't get me wrong, just wanted to start a discussion on my comment. Steven Wilson WANTED a bigger label and more exposure. I'm pretty sure DT wants more exposure and more ways to get the music out there. Having Sony backing IO opens up a lot of more options on the distribution side. But having IO and them specializing in prog is a huge advantage over what they had in Roadrunner, which was more metal oriented.