Ministry of Love

Whatever you think of record labels, or their efficacy in the ever-evolving music environment, it would seem nice to have someone helping with the bills and administration that comes with a touring, recording band. Imagine Dragons must think so — it signed a contract with an Interscope subsidiary last month. And this week, two other hard-working bands looking to significantly grow their fanbases also scored label representation.

Punk-pop quintet Ministry of Love announced just last night its partnership with NYC indie Negative Procession Records, which is distributed by Sony/RED. The deal will include some tour support and one album, which will be the Party Animals EP. “A lot of indie labels like Fat Wreck Chords do deals like this, and its better for a band like ours, in my opinion,” says Patrick “Pulsar” Trout.

Hard rock band Otherwise – who made this week’s list of local heroes for its charting charity single, “Soldiers” — also inked a deal this week, though the band isn’t revealing the name of the label or the terms of the deal yet. However, a photo of the band signing its deal at a record company’s office reveals hanging artwork of albums released by metal label Century Media (or one of its subsidiaries). Earlier in the week, singer Adrian Patrick told CityLife that Otherwise was on the cusp of signing some sort of industry deal, though he did explicitly admit his band had hired The Kirby Organization, or TKO, booking agency, on Monday.

If there’s one thing these deals tell us, it’s this: For anyone looking to get signed, it (eventually) pays to leave town, tour and cultivate a non-Vegas following.