Metallica Take Ownership Of Their Recordings

Metallica announced recently that they have taken ownership of all their master recordings, something that is almost unheard of for a group signed to a major record label. 

Under provision of their renegotiated joint-venture agreement with the Warner Music Group, all masters now revert back to the band, who are the sole owners.

"We would like to thank everyone at the Warner Music Group for 28 years of a fantastic relationship, particularly since 1994 where we truly felt we had partners in every aspect of our business in North America" said frontman James Hetfield in a statement. 

Drummer Lars Ulrich added that "it's always been about control for us as a band...Forming Blackened Recordings is the ultimate in independence, giving us 100% control and putting us in the driver's seat of our own creative destiny."

'Blackened Recordings' was created by the band as a home for all of their audio and visual recordings, as well as "anything else that suits them."

(BILLBOARD)