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The Story of Astra Heights

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By: Charbarred | in: Music |

Astra Heights

I had a little email chat with Mark V. Morales from a band called Astra Heights. Here’s a story about a small band and a major label. See what you can make of it.

Astra Heights has been together for over 7 years, released two EPs on their own, and on Sept. 2005 got signed to Universal after a little label hype battle broke out. They recorded their album on February 2006 and were expecting a summer release. In early March ‘06 they turned in the album and awaited word, then somewhat expectedly, in early April their A&R girl quit thus leaving them as orphans in a label that is notorious for signing too many bands and waiting for the cream to rise to the top…it was MCA which became Universal; aptly nicknamed Musician’s Cemetery of America.

In late April after much one-sided correspondence the label sent word that they were ‘underwhelmed’ without any other directions, suggestions or anything constructive. Unsure of who is in charge of them in the label, the band decided to have a friend help re-record some of the tracks. The days of big money deals were long gone and when all was said and done they each got $12,500 from the deal which didn’t last for long. Their new initiative came from their own shallow pockets. “What I’d really like to convey to you is that once we got word that the album wasn’t impressive they shut off…they didn’t seem to care…they moved on…our 15 minutes were over…there was no plan B” said Mark. Time passed and they also parted ways with their manager who was too busy with his established acts. Their agent also quit due to their inactivity, and even their attorney left.

Astra Heights

Fast forward to September of this year, Astra Heights turned in a new album. The label approved it but hasn’t given them a release date. They flew to NYC, do 7 shows in 6 days, and rock it out for the label. Universal now believes in the band again and say they want the album released in England, as they think it’ll do well there. When the band gets back to LA, the label changes its mind and decides that Astra Heights don’t have enough steam behind them. Astra Heights gets the following deal – They will receive 2000 copies of the CD and release it on iTunes for $5.99. All that, plus the label won’t pay for the artwork and will not approve a $1000 video budget.

“So here we are today”, says Mark, “with no budget for marketing, or promotions, or anything…all they’ve done for us in the last year is give us 2000 copies of our own CD to sell at shows…what a weird catch 22 to have a label spend $175,000 to record an album but refuse to put any money to promote it. All the while our new manager has helped us set up mini-tours, cross-promotions, and all sorts of stuff including possibly even being the free single of the week on iTunes Latino. The label has literally done nothing since April of 2006 to further the cause of the band. Nice people at the label, especially Monte and Avery Lippman (the prez & vp) but the system is certainly puzzling”.

It’s a common story which shouldn’t stop you from supporting Astra Heights as they are a talented bunch. $5.99 on iTunes is not a bad deal. We’ll never know whether your money will be invested in promoting the new Vanessa Carlton album or help in getting these guys the success they deserve.


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Posted on October 27, 2007

Comments

2 Responses to “The Story of Astra Heights”

  1. My Ghillie » The Story of Astra Heights on October 27th, 2007 1:37 pm

    […] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerpt […]


  2. emonome | How To Get Screwed By Major Record Labels on October 27th, 2007 9:21 pm

    […] I’m sure there are hundreds of stories such as this one. Checked out their MySpace page (via The Plugg). Very good songs. […]


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