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discovered Mushroomhead ,” hesays .
The label , which has three employees , has been home to more than 50 bands , including ABreach of Silence , Blowsight , Genus Ordinis Dei , Hearts & Hand Grenades , Sifting , SiXforNinE , Violet Blend , and more ; its recordings reach markets worldwide through distributor The Orchard . Eclipse has generated more than $ 1.8 million in sales .
FOR THE RECORD
The emergence of Eclipse came just over 15 years after Megaforce Records in Old Bridge , where Metallica , Anthrax and more got their start , and established the Garden State ’ s metal creds .
“ Eclipse Records was instrumental in solidifying Jersey ’ splace within the metal genre sphere ,” says Jessica Guica , aNew Jersey-based music writer whose work appears in TheAquarian Weekly . “ The influence of adedicated metal audience in the Jersey-New York scene was legitimized when Eclipse Records emerged . The scene had created fertile ground for alabel such as Eclipse tobe born .”
It hasn ’ t been easy . Especially tricky
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is navigating the changing formats that have delivered music to fans over the last two-plus decades .“ When you see a trend starting to happen and the data ’ s there , you have to try to get out ahead of that , learn it and embrace it and be ready for it , because you can ’ t stop change ,” says Poland . “ You have to adapt to change .”
He learned his lesson the hard way after fans shifted to downloading music , and he was stuck warehousing 60,000 CDs in Riverdale .
“ There was no way tomove them , so we had to destroy them ,” hesays . “ I had to destroy 60,000 units with acircular saw , just cutting up boxes of 30 . You just can ’ t throw them out . Youhave to destroy them because ifyou throw them out , someone ’ s going to recognize them as inventory . Even if they sell them for five cents apiece , they can make aprofit because they ’ re taking them out of the garbage and they ’ ll make their way to aone-stop somewhere . Then it gets toa distributor and the distributor returns it to me for full credit , and Ihave to reimburse them on that credit . So that ’ swhy it had to be destroyed .”
Poland is bracing for the next format
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change . He has his eye on NFTs , or non-fungible tokens , which are digital assets based on blockchain technology .“ There ’ snot an infrastructure to play the format yet — people are still consuming music on traditional DSP ( digital signal processor ) apps , such as Spotify and Apple Music ,” he says .“ So there ’ snointegration for blockchains yet , but for me , the way it ’ sgoing to happen isit ’ snot necessarily going to be away that music is consumed , but it ’ sgoing to be anew source of revenue for artists and labels . It ’ sgoing to bring rarity back to the music , because it can be limited .”
In the near future , the label will release “ Weapons of Choice ” from the Wisconsin hard rock band Carbellion . Poland , who has awife and daughter , taps into the spirit of the kid looking at metal records in the bins at Bradlees when looking for new talent . “ If the songs are popping into my head when I ’ m not thinking about it , that is asignal ,” hesays . “ If the music is calling me , then the music will call other people , too .” ■
Visit eclipserecords . com for more information .
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SIFTING : COURTESY OFARIANA ROSE ; HEARTS & HAND GRENADES : COURTESY OF MEREDITH SNOW |
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18 MAY 2023 WAYNE MAGAZINE |