Hard Read

Victory Megazine

by Paul Autry

Is it a fanzine or a catalog, huh? Or maybe it's a little bit of both. Regardless of what you wanna call it, this 50 page publication is basically a full blown advertisement for Victory Records. There's a ton of interviews with artists such as Hawthorne Heights, Dead To Fall, Catch 22, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Bury Your Dead and a ton of others, all of which are (of course) on Victory Records. I've gotta admit, it's a nice advertising tool. You let people know what merchandise you have and you make it a little more personal by throwin' in some interviews. Any record label that has something to offer should do something like this. I'd much rather get something like this in my mailbox every month instead of those crappy little postcard mailers or those publications that simply list the band name, the album title, year it was released, the price and a short "sounds like so and so" description. I mean, sure, I understand it's nothing more than a sales pitch. It's called the music business for a reason. But, it's not really too creative when you're just telling people, "Hey, here's our stuff...buy it." Don't get me wrong, that does work to a certain degree. It's just too freakin' plain. I mean, after all, you "browse" a catalog, but, you read a fanzine. So, I've gotta give credit to Victory Records for doing it right. Some of the print is a bit too small in places, but, that's just a minor complaint. Other than that, hey, it was a quick and interesting read and I'd like to see more labels do something like this.

http://www.victoryrecords.com