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Nuclear Blast has most successful year ever, driven by leading artist releases and powerful direct-to-fan platform providing unique support through the pandemic.

Nuclear Blast
Published Oct 28, 2021

Hamburg – 29 October 2021 – For pioneering metal label Nuclear Blast, 2021 is already the most successful year in its 34-year history. The strength of the label and its direct-to-fan platform have allowed the company to provide a unique support to artists during 2 years of pandemic.  

Since its acquisition by global digital music company Believe in 2018, Nuclear Blast, the most powerful platform in the metal world, has continued to expand, offering the best services to artists in the physical world with its unique global solution and direct-to-fan experience attracting the largest community of metal fans and in the digital world where the group has invested significantly to become the most innovative digital company in the metal.
  
Nuclear Blast continues to extend its global platform to artists, combining the best retail windows for physical products – such as an elaborate boxset release for Carcass’s Torn Arteries album (including stainless steel cutlery and a porcelain plate), an eco-friendly release of Sepultura’s SepulQuarta on recycled vinyl and a retro version of Rob Zombie’s The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy as a limited-edition 8-track – alongside its leading digital prowess.  
 
“Having worked with Nuclear Blast for almost 10 years, I always appreciated the great setup they provide for all matters of traditional label work and physical distribution,” says Mille Petrozza from Kreator currently in the studio working on the final mix for the band’s new album, due in 2022. “Together with their growing expertise in digital, they are an unbeatable partner – combining everything that’s important to us as a band. We share the same mindset: deeply rooted in the metal scene but also aiming for modern approaches and new ways to bring our music to the fans!” 

Earlier this year, Nuclear Blast became the first metal label to test out a range of new digital marketing initiatives in collaboration with major services. These included: Spotify’s sponsored recommendation platform, Marquee; in-game programmatic ads with Anzu that have generated over 10,000 hours of views; premium video on Facebook for Paradise Lost in the US and South America; and an imminent video game for Beast In Black.  
 
In the past year, the label has doubled interaction on Instagram and is closing in on 2.75 million subscribers to its YouTube channel, where it has a retention rate of 80%.  
 
Digital marketing has been central to the promotion of new acts as much as it has been used by heritage artists to reach new audiences, seen most successfully in Nuclear Blast’s TikTok and Spotify campaigns for legendary metal act Accept’s #TooMeanToDie workout challenge. The band’s monthly listeners more than doubled as a result, rising from 648k to 1.34 million, while catalog streams had increased by 66% by the end of the campaign.  

“The label is in constant evolution to build the best platform for artists, to provide to the fans the strongest experience with music through physical products, collectibles, streaming, social contents or livestream” says Jérôme Riera, Label Manager Europe at Nuclear Blast, stressing that the successes of 2021 will serve as the foundations for even greater growth in 2022 and beyond. 

Earlier this year, Nuclear Blast continued its unbroken run of top 10 metal albums in the US with the release of Rob Zombie’s The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy album in March, which also reached number 4 in Germany. 
 
The label has just completed a refresh of its e-commerce platform that has driven a significant increase in physical sales thanks to the support of a community of close to 250.000 engaged fans since its launch on October 25. In the coming months, it will begin offering acts a white label solution for their own D2C stores where they can plug into the Nuclear Blast infrastructure while keeping full control over their online sales and CRM.  

Nuclear Blast has also been overseeing the continued growth of Blood Blast, its digital distribution arm which gives both new and established metal acts greater access to digital markets while retaining their independence. It also works as an incubator system where rising acts can graduate into the Nuclear Blast label system. Through its Blood Blast distribution arm and the Nuclear Blast label itself, systems are in place to help artists grow at every stage in their career. 
 
While 2021 was a landmark year for the label, it remains about forward propulsion. It is working with major acts in the genre (such as Sabaton and Nightwish, as well as expanding a global deal with Behemoth) while also signing and developing the key acts of tomorrow (including Gatecreeper, MOL and Fuming Mouth) and supporting the rise of the modern scene through SHARPTONE with Loathe, Holding Absence, Caskets and many more.

 “With the support of Believe’s innovative structure and vision, the label continues to develop its strong independent artistic direction to serve a roster of bands in control of their artistic choices,” says Marcus Hammer, Managing Director of Nuclear Blast. 

About Nuclear Blast 
For 30 years and counting, Nuclear Blast Records is synonymous with the worldwide advancement of heavy metal, extreme music, and hard rock. Founded in Donzdorf, Germany in 1987, Nuclear Blast boasts a roster of over 150 bands representing eighteen countries. Their satellites offices in Los Angeles, London, Hamburg and now Paris has helped build the label’s trusted global reputation with numerous Billboard album chart entries, high-profile tours, and continual signings of new & heritage acts (Slayer, Machine Head, Nightwish, Kreator, Exodus, Anthrax, Sabaton, Hatebreed, Testament, Sepultura, Behemoth, Dimmu Borgir, Avantasia...). The label has additional representatives in Australia, Brazil, Finland, Italy, Sweden, amongst other. 
www.nuclearblast.de / www.nuclearblast.com
 
About Believe 
Believe is one of the world’s leading digital music companies. Believe’s mission is to develop independent artists and labels in the digital world by providing them the solutions they need to grow their audience at each stage of their career and development. Believe’s passionate team of digital music experts around the world leverages the Group’s global technology platform to advise artists and labels, distribute and promote their music. Its 1,370 employees in more than 50 countries aim to support independent artists and labels with a unique digital expertise, respect, fairness and transparency. Believe offers its various solutions through a portfolio of brands including TuneCore, Nuclear Blast, Naïve, Groove Attack and AllPoints. Believe is listed on compartment A of the regulated market of Euronext Paris (Ticker: BLV.PA, ISIN: FR0014003FE9).  www.believe.com