Interview mit Emiliano Lanzoni von Code666

Greetings! Thank you very much for taking the time for this. How are you doing these days?
At the moment we are in full emergency due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It certainly isn’t a good time for the whole world and in particular for Italy, the first European country to be heavily hit by the virus originated in China. As this is our third quarantine month, I am getting used to the situation and am trying to develop a good psychological balance in order to face the next few months which will be very difficult. It’s a challenge for the whole world. I hope we’ll learn something from this experience and start setting the real priorities of a civilized society: the safeguard of our planet and its delicate equilibrium, everybody’s welfare and health and the solidarity among all peoples. Quite a long way from the ideals of profit, success, ‘likes’ and ‘followers’ that seem to have become the new idols to worship in the last years.

You founded CODE666 in 1999 after you had severe problems with your previous label Boundless Records and with your health. How did you get CODE666 up and running after all these hardships?
My previous experiences helped me a lot – making mistakes is a part of living and I have always tried to learn from my numerous failures. That’s probably why I see myself as the typical ‘loser’ and find the so-called ‘winners’ really disagreeable.
When my experience with Boundless Records ended, I realized I needed an escape valve that would allow me to overcome the hard time I was experiencing. CODE666 started as a fanzine where I could write and exorcize the malaise that I had piled up; then, after the first few issues, I turned it into a record label. I was ready for a new adventure and here I am after 21 years. I never thought it would last so long!

You took the name CODE666 from an obscure Mexican movie you saw when you were struggling with severe psychological problems. Can you still identify with it today?
That film was absolute trash – ugly, wicked & obscene; indeed it was perfect for the moment I was going through. Today I wouldn’t enjoy it but at that time it worked; I had reached rock bottom and it helped me understand that from that depth I could only rise up again using the malaise itself as a launching pad instead of it being a weight that would keep me down. CODE666 is a name that brings up conflicting memories: I remember my suffering very well but I also remember how that same suffering helped me to get where I am now. Hardships not only do you good, they are as necessary in everybody’s life as good positive things are. The one can’t exist without the other.

However, you have also played music yourself. Why was it still the greatest fulfillment for you to found and run a label instead of playing in a band?
Because I never had any talent as a musician. I played with my band and enjoyed it; we used to drive around Europe in our van playing in any rundown ‘hole’ but no label was interested in producing us, so we decided to found our own label and produce ourselves. It was the early ‘90s, before the Internet age; at that time it was difficult to gain access to information; it took me months just to learn how to print a CD, asking around for information and help. Still I found the process of learning how to run a label so interesting that I soon realized that I was much better at that than at pursuing a career as a talentless musician.

Is there some kind of label philosophy that guides you in your activities?
There probably is one but it isn’t anything that has been worked out intentionally. As CODE666 is my creature, it moves, acts and breathes with me; it’s me, practically, with all my faults, my contradictions, my limits and my good points. I know that, from a rational point of view, there were times when I should have made different choices but I’ve always decided to follow my instinct and do what my conscience or, if you prefer, my leading spirit suggested doing, and, everything summed up, I’m happy this way.

How many co-workers do you currently employ?
None. I’m no good at team working, I am a ‘loner’ who loves doing things his own way. I had collaborators in the past but it never worked properly so I’ve been running the label on my own for many years.

Which releases of CODE666 were the most important for the label in your opinion?
I could, and maybe I should, name the most successful releases, the ones that sold best and had a good reception; they were surely the best as far as money and business were concerned, but they are not the most important because CODE666 has never been and will never be just business for me. Of course it is my job and my living resource, but what really interests me is releasing records which I’m proud of and represent me. In actual fact, the most important releases of CODE666 are the ones that have sold very little or nothing at all, the ones that nobody noticed and remain like small (or great) hidden gems which someone will find sooner or later. It has often happened to me that I discovered and launched bands that remained unknown for years until they finally reaped the harvest of their talent, such as Imperial Triumphant, Ne Obliviscaris, or Ephel Duath a long time ago.

How does a band get to be signed by you? Does this happen through applications of bands or are you rather actively looking for new talents?
The bands I myself find are much more numerous than the ones I choose from the promos I get. I think this is due to the fact that I’m very selective; I know what I like so I’m better off when I’m actively looking for new talents. Every now and then I happen to get a promo which impresses me, but that’s quite rare.

How intensively do you look into a band that is applying or that you are considering to sign? Is it enough for you to just have a short listen into their music?
I have very little time to listen to the promos. Having to do everything by myself, I’m forced to do a very strict selection, at times too hasty, but there’s no other way if I want to listen to everything I get. This means that every band gets about 30 seconds. If it doesn’t impress me in those 30 seconds, it gets discarded. If it passes that first obstacle, I give it a complete listen, after which I decide whether to discard it or put it among the very few bands deserving a few more careful listenings. In this way I’ve missed a lot of chances and let slip a lot of worthy bands, but this is the inevitable consequence of running the business alone.

As far as I know, CODE666 is intended as a label for extreme and avant-garde music, whereas the parent company Aural Music, which you also founded, releases more accessible music too. Does that mean that sales figures don’t really matter to CODE666?
At first that was the idea: To free CODE666 from any business need, and release the records I wanted regardless of sales figures, but unfortunately the crisis due to Piracy and the HUGE decrease in the sales of records and music in general have made this approach impossible. Now CODE666, too, is run according to a sort of business plan aiming to reach AT LEAST break-even. Sometimes I fail even this goal because I keep making unwise choices (I am not a businessman, I don’t want to be one and I don’t like knowing that, in actual fact, I am one in my own way).

How do you decide which bands are getting signed to CODE666 and which ones to another sublabel – is there even a clear distinction?
In the ‘90s, when I started work, the distinction was much clearer, the scenes were more separate and the necessity for sublabels was evident. If you wanted to range over a variety of genres you were bound to have different brands; now things have changed and such a necessity no longer exists in fact.

Since CODE666 is intended for rather unusual music that you personally like, one might come to think that Aural Music also has bands in its roster that you don’t like as much, but are easier to promote. To what extent is this the case?
Aural Music also reflects me; it’s just another aspect of my personality. The records in its roster are simply more “mainstream” or accessible, but I love them as much as the ones I publish on CODE666. I’ve never been a one-genre man; I’ve published widely varying bands even on CODE666. With Aural Music I’ve only tried to put some order in the chaos of my tastes, but, as I said before, the various sublabels are no longer necessary. I could use only Aural Music and it would be ok; as a matter of fact, I keep CODE666 because I’m fond of it; for personal, sentimental reasons I don’t want to let the symbol of my re-birth die.

How close is the relationship between the bands of your label and you? Is it important to you to know them all personally?
With some of the bands I have an excellent relationship: We keep in touch daily and cooperate in a friendly way; with other bands the rapport is not so close. I suppose this is due to various factors: the different personalities and the different approaches to interpersonal relationship. I’m a very shy and solitary person, with enormous relational difficulties ever since I was a child. CODE666 has helped me a lot in this respect: Now I have friends all over the world and, in spite of all my limits, I have made giant steps in relating to others thanks to my job.

Can you think of certain bands with whom it was especially pleasant or, vice versa, especially difficult to work with?
Sure. There are bands with whom you feel tuned in right from the beginning because they have a positive attitude and are aware of having signed with a small label which requires an attitude of mutual help. Others, instead, think that, once they’ve signed a contract, they can sit down and let the label do all the work, complaining if they don’t have “success”. There are also bands who are incapable of managing themselves; they spend all the time quarrelling, can’t appreciate good advice and get lost in useless and senseless plans. That’s exactly where having a label turns up useful: someone wise and expert who can advise you and help you manage your career if you can’t do it yourself.

Were there any signings you regretted afterwards – be it for financial or even personal reasons?
Of course there were! Mistakes are part of our lives, as I said before; they are the most important thing: The more mistakes you make, the more you learn from them. I made a lot, I’m still making some and will make some more in the future. It is inevitable and it is a good thing; we must allow ourselves the possibility to err: Failure is as important and respectable as success, actually, I consider it even more useful and important. Obviously I have regrets: I could have taken a certain band I let slip instead of signing a contract with the one that had a gorgeous demo but then did a lousy record. As I say, it’s all part of life.

In a previous interview with us you mentioned that you don’t have a problem with the fact that physical mediums like CDs and Vinyl continuously lose their importance. How do things look in this respect today – do you see modern means like streaming as a profitable possibility for you as a label?
No, streaming hasn’t become a source of profit yet, or not enough to compensate for the enormous drop in the sales of physical mediums. We’re still going through a stage when most streaming is not adequately rewarded (think of Youtube) and in any case the money doesn’t go into the artists’ or the label’s pockets but into Google’s. They pay a pittance to the intellectual owners of the artistic works which they offer in streaming to their users, getting billions of advertising money. I keep wishing for a more equal division of the takings where authors and publishers are rewarded more than those who only vehiculate other people’s works.

However, in the interview you also said that labels will probably become completely irrelevant at some point. Do you already feel a development in this direction or is it still easy for you to offer your bands advantages over them doing everything on their own?
Labels, the way they were 20 or 30 years ago, are no longer a workable model. We are slowly turning into companies offering services to the bands rather than being proper publishers.

At the moment the music industry is suffering very much from the undoubtedly necessary, but also very restrictive measures against the Corona virus. How serious is this situation for CODE666 or Aural Music?
It is very serious. Sales have dropped by 90% since the outbreak and this negative trend will continue through the following months. Since the operational costs remain unchanged, the situation is clearly unsustainable in the medium/long run. Hopefully the situation will get back to normal soon, but I very much doubt it.

Are there any exciting newcomers or already well-known bands that you would like to sign with CODE666, if you had the chance?
No, none. I couldn’t afford to manage well-known bands, nor would I want to do it. I like being the talent scout who discovers an unknown band and helps them build up their career from scratch until they are well-known enough to sign with a bigger label and take that leap forward which I can no longer help them do. That’s the perfect role for me and I intend to remain in this comfort zone. I could have often decided to expand, employ people, rent larger premises, sign contracts with bigger bands, but I didn’t want to. Mine is a mindful choice because I prefer to stay the way I am. At times this has been more difficult than expanding, when I lost all the profits in tax because I had not reinvested them in personnel and structures. But I don’t mind. One must know one’s own limits, accept them and acknowledge one’s faults as well as one’s good points.

Finally I would like to go through our traditional Metal1.info brainstorming with you. What do you think about the following terms?
“Trve” black metal: This is something that existed and made sense 20/30 years ago; now it’s outdated.
Lingua Ignota: I first saw her at Roadburn last year and was disappointed. It’s not for me.
Limited/Special editions: These are things that an old nostalgic like me adores; I’ve always liked them and would like to go on doing them as long as there’s somebody interested in having them.
Bandcamp: A platform useful both for bands and for small labels like mine; it helps to differentiate the sales and the distribution net.
Italian pop music: Italy has a thousand-year-old excellent musical culture and artists that made history; therefore I think it’s shameful that this prestigious tradition is now represented by talentless individuals who poison 99% of the space on national radios and televisions.
Current favorite album: There are quite a few; music has never been restricted for me, I don’t have a favorite band or a specific record that has left its mark. A few days ago I listened to “Morok” by Agruss, one of those hidden gems I mentioned before; I was pleased to find it has aged very well and maybe in ten years’ time someone will acknowledge its value or maybe it will remain only in my heart forever. In any case I’m very happy I published it even though (almost) all the copies have been lying in my stockroom so far…

At this point I would like to thank you very much for your answers. I would like to leave the last words to you:
Thank you for the beautiful interview, it had nothing to do with the routine questions that go around more and more often. Over the years, Metal1.info has always been a portal promoting high quality contents with authentic passion and competence. There is a need for more people like you on today’s musical scene!

Publiziert am 10. Mai 2020 von Stephan Rajchl