HISTORY

While celebrating our 35th anniversary, we’ve received many amazing videos with lovely anniversary wishes from media partners such as Blabbermouth, BraveWords, or Deaf Forever, as well as international rock and metal giants such as Iron Maiden, Savatage, Overkill, the Scorpions, and many others. You can find these videos, alongside fascinating content from behind the scenes here at CMM, exciting gimmicks, and surprising fun facts from the music industry, as part of our thrilling anniversary campaign: “CMM – 35 Years in the Name of Rock!” on our YouTube channel (https://youtube.com/@cmmgmbhyt?feature=shared).

Watch our anniversary campaign
“CMM – 35 Years in the Name of Rock!” here:

Part 1 - CMM History:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar80XrXw6-U

Part 2 - Axxis:
https://youtu.be/fUOYM224XNQ?feature=shared

Part 3 - Overkill:
https://youtu.be/-wae44GrWIQ?feature=shared

Part 4 - SAOL:
https://youtu.be/DCB3DRuDbH4?feature=shared

Part 5 - Bruce Dickinson:
https://youtu.be/qDrSoU9lTEg?feature=shared

Part 6 - Iron Maiden:
https://youtu.be/bAlbnvAMZ-o?feature=shared

Part 7 - CMM History II - Collabs & Companions:
https://youtu.be/u60nJaSSrwY?feature=shared

Part 8 - CMM History III - Behind the Scenes:
https://youtu.be/u1Ak-jw08Dc?feature=shared

Part 9 - Trans-Siberian Orchestra & Savatage:
https://youtu.be/dm4aTKn7n4Q?feature=shared

2023 – A Year in Review

BMG/Bruce Dickinson – The Mandrake Project

After a long period of speculations and rumors, Iron Maiden mastermind Bruce Dickinson finally announced his seventh solo album The Mandrake Project with BMG Records for March 1, 2024, and unveiled a remarkable world tour. Once more, we at CMM have taken over the promotion for this project in German-speaking countries. Rarely has a campaign yielded as many positive surprises as this one! An already excellent product is now being presented in variants that offer fans something really special. And there's more: The album will be accompanied by a comic book series that will be available in stores from January 17. A prequel was included as a book insert with the first single Afterglow Of Ragnarok. And: Bruce added a perfect, moving performance on this theme at the Brazilian Comic Con! There was plenty to do, and it's been a hell of a lot of fun so far!

BMG/Motörhead – "Another Perfect Day"

Our friends at BMG rightly describe the Motörhead album Another Perfect Day as one of the most controversial in the iconic band's eventful history.

Together with CMM as the promo team for the German-speaking countries, the album once again caused a sensation among critics in various high-quality editions for the 40th anniversary in the fall. The feedback from everywhere made one thing clear: This album is listened to with different ears today than it was back then! Whereas in the past the focus was on the clear musical break and this caused criticism, today it's highly valued as an undervalued contribution to the diversity of the band's work.

The moving dialog with our media partners on this topic feels so good (due to the appreciation it expresses) that it really needs to be mentioned here. Our partners at BMG have also pulled out all the stops to provide a wonderful fan service with this new edition in various, all appealing versions. These products show a high degree of respect and passion – and the scene recognizes this.

70000TONS OF METAL

Even though it is no exaggeration to say that 70000TONS OF METAL is a very special event in the CMM calendar every year, 2023 was even more special  it was the first time since January 2020 that our team came back to Miami after long months of preparation to support our international media partners on site in the press office on board and to coordinate interviews and meet & greets. During the trip to Bimini (Bahamas) and back, 60 bands from all over the world did the honors as always and played 2 shows each for the 3000 fans on board, who, once again, came from 71 nations. Nothing could show more clearly that it's true: The United Nations Of Heavy Metal at Sea are a strong, familial unit that won't let a pandemic get them down. It feels good to finally be back – for real! Because it is now clear that we can look forward to a completely new destination in 2024 (January 29 – February 2) with Puerto Plata (Dominican Republic). Marketing is already in full swing, the first bands have been announced and we are ready to set sail!

ROCKHARZ Open Air

Since the beginning of the year, CMM has been proud to be part of the ROCKHARZ family and will support the festival, which succeeds like no other in combining tradition in music and a modernity characterized by strong inclusion, with our consulting and active communication in the future.

The ROCKHARZ Festival at the Ballenstedt airfield was a special highlight for the entire CMM team in the festival summer of 2023, which was packed with dates as always. Fans celebrated the 30th anniversary of the festival, which was sold out months in advance, with bands like In Flames, Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy and Blind Guardian. Our team was also there in full force this year and not only able to experience the festival live, but also hear from fans, employees and bands about what makes this festival so unique.

We are grateful to be part of the great ROCKHARZ family and very much looking forward to continuing to work together as we move forward towards the next (already sold out) edition of the festival from July 3 – 6, 2024, with artists and bands like Bruce Dickinson, Judas Priest, Amorphis, Hammerfall, Kreator (and many more!).

Fun Fact: Our friends in Goslar/Ballenstedt and we in Hanover each have 3 decades of cumulative experience coming together.

EMP Exclusive Merchandise Products

We continue to support our friends and partners EMP as their official press office. From consulting, copywriting, translating and sending out press releases to moderating joint marketing cooperations within the CMM network, there is always something for EMP's own PR department and us to do. For example, EMP recently became the official sponsor of 70000TONS OF METAL.

In cooperation with Universal Music and with us as the press office, EMP presented the Rolling Stones' Hackney Diamonds pop-up bus tour through Germany and supported the home venue in Lingen with its own special sale.
In addition, we created extensive text documents for the quality management of the market leader in merchandise.

Iron Maiden

Working for our longtime friends at Iron Maiden is always a very special thing that deeply moves our entire team. But with "The Future Past", we have a fantastic tour behind us, which has its own significance as a novelty: For the first time in decades, CMM not only stepped up to deliver the Germany-wide promo, but also took care of press inquiries and guest lists for the band throughout continental Europe.
We congratulate everyone involved on an excellent and smooth tour and look forward to working with them again in the future.

CREW Republic x Iron Maiden: Trooper Progressive Lager – the German version of TROOPER beer

Just in time for the tour (and the festival summer) came the launch of the first official German IRON MAIDEN beer TROOPER PROGRESSIVE LAGER. The tasty product of a collaboration between CREW REPUBLIC and the band itself had a fantastic market launch.

CMM supported both parties with consulting and promotion as well as copywriting, proofreading and editing for their own marketing activities.

And it wasn't just the craft beer aficionados in the CMM team who had reason to cheer during testing, as the signature of these highly esteemed Munich cult brewers is also unmistakably present in their first lager beer. TROOPER PROGRESSIVE LAGER is not only highly interesting and independent, but also quite palate-compatible - or, to say it in Bruce Dickinson's words: "dangerously drinkable". And that's not just something he said, as he himself took the opportunity to pay a visit to the CREW Republic brewery and see the quality for himself.

TROOPER PROGRESSIVE LAGER 2023 was rolled out very successfully in leading retail chains, including Aldi, Rewe, Penny and Edeka, just in time for the barbecue and festival season.

Savatage

The critically acclaimed reissue series of all Savatage studio albums by edel/EarMUSIC, for which CMM took over promotion in German-speaking countries and was partly responsible for copywriting, was successfully brought to a close at the end of last year. 

In the fall, however, there was a nice follow-up in the form of the Criss Oliva tribute record Ghost In The Ruins, which our team took over full GSA promotion for. In addition to discussions about further releases with EarMUSIC, CMM also remains active in an advisory capacity for Savatage's management.

Unantastbar/Napalm Records/Spinning Goblin Productions

Things could hardly be going better for the South Tyrolean rockers from UNANTASTBAR at the moment: #2 for their 9th studio album WIR LEBEN LAUT (their first collaboration with Napalm Records' rock subsidiary Spinning Goblin Productions), released at the end of 2022; the tour that started in spring reported "sold out" in the first cities weeks before the start, the band's first own festival turned out to be an instant success, and the halls also filled up rapidly for the last leg of the tour that started in fall. CMM took over the album and tour promo for Napalm Records and is looking forward to an exciting year of further collaboration – since summer 2023 also as a press team on behalf of the band itself for the time between campaigns.

SAOL – Service for Artist Owned Labels by CMM

CMM's in-house indie label service SAOL continues to shine with sophisticated bands and helps them grow steadily while preserving the original genre diversity. With their album Full Force, released in the last quarter of 2022, SILENT KNIGHT, for example, catapulted to the top of our top sellers of the year as a traditional metal act. Our progressive vintage heavy rockers ROOK ROAD received a unanimous accolade from international critics shortly before the end of the year with their SAOL debut and shared the festival stage with UGLY KID JOE in the summer.

The US prodigies SEVEN SPIRES, who started out with SAOL and were able to secure a record deal in no time after our debut album Solveig, finished their first and extremely successful European tour with Twilight Force at the beginning of the year, followed by an US tour with Eluveitie and Omnium Gatherum. To this day, songs from their SAOL debut keep storming to the very top of our SAOL streaming charts.

The otherwise so cozy branches Doom and Southern Metal also let themselves be heard at SAOL: Our Puerto Ricans LEFT-ÖVR won the Wacken Metal Battle with their live performance of the SAOL album Millennium in Darkness and celebrated an amazing show at the WACKEN OPEN AIR 2023. And our Australians RAVEN BLACK NIGHT also headed to Europe for festival appearances this year.

The symphonic proggers EMPRESS (USA), the progressive epic metal award hunters OSYRON (Canada) as well as the still very young and experimental post-metal debutants HEI'AN (Slovenia) excellently managed to touch the audience at 70000TONS OF METAL earlier the year. Enthusiastic critics' comments and last but not least the excellent performances of the three bands should not remain unnoticed: EMPRESS meanwhile completed a brute tour cycle, which let them share the boards with, among others, HAMMERFALL, in order to immediately focus on the pre-production of an upcoming new album. OSYRON continued collecting awards in their usual manner and played LOUD AS HELL festival. Our newcomers of HEI'AN played this year's editions of MetalDays Festival and ProgPower Europe Festival. The bands have told us about their experiences at the 70000TONS OF METAL in a joint report  – enjoy reading!
But SAOL doesn't shine in glorious metal only: Internationally acclaimed Irish blues-rock icon EAMONN MCCORMACK released his self-titled brand new album on SAOL in late winter 2022, garnered rave reviews from blues, rock and even metal media, andhas been thrilling fans with a steadily growing European tour since.
The planning of further high quality SAOL releases for 2023 and beyond is in full swing. The exciting international mix will remain with this collective, as the as the recently released album Sacred & Profane by US-Americans ORYAD already underlines as a critics' favorite.

2022 – A Year in Review

The year that finally gave a glimpse at a post-covid era ended with bigemotions, and our copywriting and creating stories caters to that as could be seen with brands and artists such as EMP, Smith/Kotzen, Iron Maiden, Savatage, Unantastbar or Leatherwolf, April Art or Osyron. Our prior successes have once again proven our firmest belief: Never underestimate the power of a well-written story with strong content and visuals. Here’s our trip in the wayback machine through the remarkable year of 2022.

EMP

As we have entered our third business year as the official press office for our partners and friends EMP, we have once again been through another successful, teaching and invigorating time. It was even more of a pleasure to be able to celebrate our joint accomplishments during a meeting at Wacken’s EMP Backstage Club Area – and we had a lot to be proud of: From press releases for signing sessions and preparation of interviews with artists up to articles about EMP’s fashion brands and sustainability efforts as well as the announcement of a tv show that was presented by EMP – we really did it all. At least that’s what we will believe until our next adventures with EMP come around, which surely won’t take long. We are more than thankful for EMP’s trust and partnership and we will surely rock on together! 

70.000 TONS OF METAL

Due to covid restrictions, there’s been missed opportunities in 2021 and 2022 to attend The Original, The World’s Biggest Heavy Metal Cruise – clearly a frustrating time for all the metalheads out there. However, all that has changed with 70.000 TONS Of METAL coming back again, bigger as ever, as the cruise has set sails Monday, January 30th through Friday, February 3rd, 2023. Destination this time ‘round: Bimini, The Bahamas!

Iron Maiden

After Iron Maiden’s successful release of their 17th studio album Senjutsu (topping the charts in Germany), the metal beasts toured worldwide with bands such as Airbourne, Powerwolf or Lord of the Lost supporting on selected dates. The Legacy Of The Beast Tour 2022 stopped in 5 cities in Germany to deliver an outstanding performance for a crowd that has been waiting for a return of The Beast. CMM did the tour promotion in Germany, and the campaign report showed stellar results: Not only local newspapers, but also big national outlets such as FAZ, mdr or taz have covered the Legacy Of The Beast Tour, providing euphoric feedback. Radio stations like Radio Bob or star fm presented the concerts, which drew more than 160.000 fans in Germany alone to the arenas and stadiums of the country. Raving reviews followed, where the band was being praised for their solid shows by fans and editors alike. And our team had a hell of a time at the sold-out concert in Bremen – Thanks!  ;)

Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) | Consulting

TSO has been a massive institution in the USA for more than 20 years. A million tickets sold, gold and platinum albums under the belt, four generations of fans behind them – this head-turner of the rock musical scene has become a vital part of American Christmas celebration. Over here in Europe, holidays are different: a bit quieter and relatively toned down, focusing on spending a cozy time with the family. The European venues – for the most part – aren’t up to spec for TSO’s gigantic stage and its numerous effects either, so the orchestra gave touring just one shot with a down-scaled show a couple of years ago. However, many fans of Savatage, the root of TSO, visited the tour and brought their families along, bumping the European TSO fan base up. 

Today, the whole catalog of TSO studio albums is digitally available worldwide. With the Christmas season 2022, CMM and TSO helped promote the orchestra’s extensive work that features a huge amount of brilliant Christmas songs to radio stations and playlist editors for the German audience – and we cannot wait to spread some TSO christmas spirit in 2023, too!

BMG

We are more than happy and proud to see how the partnership between BMG and CMM is ever-evolving: After providing online, radio and print promotion in the German-speaking sector for Smith/Kotzen, the debut album of Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith and music icon Richie Kotzen, we once again worked with BMG for the CD release of Better Days …And Nights. Providing translations of press releases, scheduling interviews and making sure to spread the word on the new release of these exceptional guitarists widely has been nothing but a pleasure for the second time around.

BMG has also trusted us with the re-releases of the first four albums by Norwegian prog masters Conception – after taking care of the campaign for their last album State of Deception as well as its Deluxe Edition, not only us but also our media partners from Germany, Austria and Switzerland were more than glad to be able to work with the quartet once again. The successful re-release of the four albums has been another terrific experience for us – which we pleasantly enjoyed with remarkable results and placements in some of the biggest German-speaking news outlets.

It’s been an awesome time once again, BMG, Smith/Kotzen and Conception! We can’t wait to be on board for the upcoming releases of these and more artists yet to come.

Savatage catalog with earMUSIC

From Sirens all the way to The Wake Of Magellan, CMM and earMUSIC continued the fruitful cooperation on the vinyl reissues of Savatage’s whole studio album catalog. All mastered for vinyl and released on heavy duty 12” double-LPs, equipped with gatefold, lyric books and extended artwork, these collector’s items quickly became fan favorites again even decades after their initial releases. 

CMM took care of print and online promotion in the German-speaking territories and lent a hand when it came to copywriting. Resonance was huge and exceptionally positive for re-released catalog material, and we all felt deeply moved seeing beloved masterpieces such as Gutter Ballet and Streets – A Rock Opera take the German Album Charts by storm once again, ranking #7 and #9. And with the whole Savatage reissue cycle wrapped up until late 2022, we’re already looking forward to working on other exciting projects with our friends at earMUSIC in Hamburg.

Unantastbar/Napalm Records/Spinning Goblin Productions

Just before the year was out, we had the pleasure of promoting the latest Unantastbar record “Wir Leben Laut”, entering #2 of the German Album Charts! Following the successful campaign, we dove straight into promoting the band’s 2023 tour. Consulting, copywriting and promotion: We did (and still do) the whole thing. 

April Art | copywriting | worldwide print + online promotion

While we all love and appreciate working with the big names of the industry, accompanying up- and coming artists on their way up the bills of this continent can be just as exciting.

German-based alternative outlet APRIL ART decided to join forces with CMM after completing a successful Europe tour, including gigs with Dark Funeral and Ensiferum as well as appearances at renowned festivals such as Rockharz (Germany) or Alcatraz (Belgium). For the Deluxe Edition of their second full-length effort Pokerface, the band put their trust inour copywriting as well as our worldwide print and online promotion. A placement on Spotify’s carefully curated All New Metal playlist, an impressive amount of airplay and broad media coverage beyond Europe has proven April Art’s ability to rise high – and CMM is very proud to escort the band on their way.

Leatherwolf | copywriting | worldwide print/radio/online promotion

One of the most underrated classic heavy metal bands in the world celebrated a stellar return from a 6 year release hiatus in 2022, and CMM was not only blown away by the sheer musical excellency of both the new LEATHERWOLF line-up and new album, we also took the international promotion to heart, starting with the second album single. And once again, bi-lingual copywriting by CMM paved the way for our own promo team. 

Osyron

Canadian power proggers Osyron entered the European market releasing through CMM/SAOL, but emancipated themselves over the years, going fully independent today. Too good to change, though: CMM promotion is still their top choice, and the band’s gain of recognition in the last year with us marks it a good one. Osyron were nominated for Metal/Hard Rock Artist of the Year at the WCMA (Western Canadian Music Awards) 2022, and took home the Metal Recording of the Year of Canadian YYC Music Awards. 

Spotify was also playing nice with our shooting stars and the campaign: Osyron’s music got featured on the acknowledged All New Metal playlist twice in 2022 alone, even months before the actual album release.

On top of all that, the band's metal version of O Canada (2020) was chosen for a Destination Canada ski video ad to be shown globally to targeted audiences on social media. Osyron had the chance to play at festivals too, e.g. at Loud As Hell Festival in 2021 and 2022. We at CMM are proud of Osyron’s achievements. It’s just great to see when hard work pays off like this – and we are confident that we will see more and more artists who are or once were under the wings of our SAOL family to conquer the big stages of the world.

SAOL – Service For Artist Owned Labels

We’re astounded to see that, despite 2020 and 2021 being difficult for anyone in Europe, our fans were being true to their favorite acts at all times, allowing SAOL CD sales to keep a steady pace during the year. New releases and catalog titles have reached customers via retail, mail order and online shops. Digital sales with the Orchard all solid, too for catalog and new releases. Meanwhile, we’ve grown more into making use of new and advanced marketing and analysis tools offered by The Orchard, which link together and track the activities on social media and online for every product.

But there’s been more, and this is where stuff got crazy: Our vinyl LP sales increased 10-fold due to overwhelming interest from fans, old and new. Find out more about the latest additions to SAOL:

Empress (SAOL)

Philadelphia-based metal outlet Empress has been another great example of a rising artist under our wings: With the debut-album Fateweaver being released on CMM’s label service SAOL, the band has taken the hearts of many lovers of symphonic metal by storm.
With euphoric reviews from instances such as metalinjection.net (“They compose and perform with a unified vision that (...) should immediately take them to the forefront of the modern symphonic metal movement”) or Banger TV, we are beyond proud of Empress’ achievements that they have accomplished with a little of our help. Being a part of their journey is a true delight!

Hei’An + Silent Knight + Figure Of Speechless (all SAOL)

Another member of the SAOL-family, Slovenian-based progressive metal outfit Hei’An, got off to a skyrocketing start as well: Who else could claim that their third single has been covered by iconic drumming machine Raja Meissner? With the advertising and promotional expertise of CMM, Hei’An’s start in the music industry has been backed up bulletproof – and the rise of the newcomers still won’t stop, proving: When you are joining forces with CMM and SAOL, you get a rock solid ladder to climb up on. ;)

Australian-based and well-established power metal band Silent Knight also trusted in the services of SAOL and received top-notch reviews across all promotional fields around the release date, as well as Figure Of Speechless, an allstar combo featuring present and former members of Fates Warning, Guns’N’Roses, Dream Theater and many other acts. 

Seven Spires (SAOL catalog)

Another prime example of an up-and-coming American band to benefit from engaging SAOL as a stepping stone into the European market is Seven Spires. By releasing their debut Solveig (2017) with CMM’s SAOL to critical acclaim, the band received recognition by record labels and entered a deal. Fast forward and Seven Spires completed a 37 date North American tour with Dragonforce, drummer Chris Dovas got to help Testament out on stage, vocalist Adrienne Cowan toured European festivals as a member of Avantasia as well as doing the head-turning Vikings vs. Zombies performance at Wacken Open Air to announce the 2023 line-up. Steep ladder, right?

2021: A Year in Review

Another couple of months of the pandemic are behind us during which the situation seemed to be starting to ease up a bit. Concerts took place (even if on a smaller scale), clubs opened cautiously and there was a general feeling of hope for some semblance of normalcy. We’d like to take advantage of the upcoming break (courtesy of Christmas and the fourth wave) to take a look back at this past year in the CMM network.

Iron Maiden 

We did it again! After a month-long teaser campaign and treasure hunt for clues regarding a possible new Iron Maiden album, German PR powered by CMM continued strong for the band’s 17th album (and the first in 6 years) Senjutsu. After a promising launch on September 3rd, the transatlantic mega team of Parlophone/Warner, Phantom Music and CMM made #1 on the German album charts once more! Better yet: Even this late in the year, Senjutsu took that position with the strongest overall unit sales during launch week. And with the exciting narrative gaining further traction in German television shows Titel, Thesen, Temperamente (ARD)and Volle Kanne! (ZDF) featuring a documentary and thoughtful interviews with Bruce Dickinson, chances are that Senjutsu will follow in the footsteps of every single Maiden album we’ve taken care of for the Germany territory since Brave New World, and bring home gold pretty soon. Congrats everyone, it’s been a real blast once again!

And since at the end of the day we at CMM are fans, too, we’re all the more eager to finally experience all the new songs live. Looking forward to hopefully seeing the band back on tour in 2022!

EMP 

We can hardly believe it’s already been over a year and a half since EMP and CMM have partnered up, but it’s been a great time! With fiscal year 2021 out, the PR and copywriting team at CMM is looking back on more than 19 fast-paced, intense and tremendously exciting months of consulting, story-building and problem solving – all based on a heartfelt partnership with our friends at EMP in Lingen. 

The deep dive into copywriting, copyediting and PR consulting for various collaborations and licensed IPs such as CHIEMSEE X RED, Powerwolf, Disney Princess Collection, Pokémon or EMP’s Stronger Together image film (following the social call of a dedicated collection) in Germany and the UK felt like a copywriter’s dream come true. And with the most diverse and committed narrative team we’ve ever had drawing inspiration and energy from our company’s home base Hanover, from the vibrant, ever-evolving heart of Berlin and even the beautifully rough North Sea cost – all under one firm roof, we’re now more than hyped to continue this collaboration through FY2022. 

Europe’s #1 e-commerce merchandising powerhouse for music, entertainment & gaming and the true network people at CMM: Cheers to another great, adventurous year!

SAOL – Service For Artist Owned Labels

As we all know, 2020 proved to be a difficult year for physical sales with most retailers shut down and supply chains showing weak spots. Numbers have been stagnating in an otherwise declining CD market in 2021 as well but it’s not all doom and gloom. Sneaking up on the tumbling CD format and fueled by quality releases from some of SAOL’s top artists, good old vinyl year over year sales had already quadrupled even 4 months before the end of our FY2021. And to top it all off, digital turnover with SAOL is on a steep trajectory, too, already topping FY2020 by a solid 50% at midsummer. Standing shoulder to shoulder with SAOL veterans such as Zero Theorem, Seven Spires, Striker or Cripper (through their back catalogue), more and more independent artists are closing ranks in 2021 in order to get out of the biggest slump that the cultural industry has faced in recent years. SAOL A&R representative Jay Lansford about making independent deals and the new-found spirit of optimism: “It’s in the air and everybody can smell it. Up and coming artists are more than willing to go out and kick ass again. Work hard and risk going after opportunities. 14 new SAOL deals made in little over half a year just show that they’re back stronger than ever.”

TSO/Savatage consulting deal

North American Night Castle Management and CMM go way back, spanning more than 20 successful years of friendship and close collaboration. We’re happy to announce that just recently, a new consulting deal covering TSO and Savatage strategies for the European market was made. In the meantime and after having to be suspended in 2020, the 2021 TSO christmas tour got rolling in the United States. Despite its shows being subject to elaborate hygiene concepts, the tour is already a tremendous success. 

BMG

With a successful test run for Popol Vuh’s vast back catalogue, CMM is now also standing by to cover BMGs specific copywriting and copyediting needs. This broadens the fruitful relationship that both our companies have, adding to catalogue and the multiple frontline activities we’ve had for Smith/Kotzen throughout the year. We’re now looking forward to more mutual endeavors getting started in early 2022.

Savatage catalog with earMUSIC

We were also sincerely proud to continue our profound friendship with cult metal formation Savatage and long lasting partnership with Edel/earMUSIC. The productive cooperation between our team in Hanover and the label in Hamburg saw the first of many LP reissues from the Savatage catalogue in July and August – with expanded artworks, detailed liner notes and, of course, all music mastered for vinyl to meet the needs of audiophile metalheads.

The first albums and an exclusive 10” Picture Disc of The Hourglass only marked the start of a whole series of re-releases. And what a start it was – with Sirens and The Dungeons Are Calling attaining #15 and #16 of the Official German Album Charts. Quite a feat for nearly 40 year old catalogue products, isn’t it? Suffice to say we are all looking forward to more of these absolute gems to come next year!

If anything, this newsletter underlines the following: Growth is happening and things are looking up. We’ve had some changes on the team, close business partners are returning with new ideas and new topics are keeping us busy with inspiring diversity. While it’s true that a number of projects that are especially dear to our team are still on hold, we’re positive that with combined efforts, getting vaxxed and remaining careful, we’ll be able to break the fourth wave and find ourselves a boat to celebrate great live-music on. We’re also rooting for our friends in the concert and festival sector. Here’s hoping that everyone will be able to get back to the thing they do best in 2022. Until then, let’s make the best of this Christmas season to recharge and relax – hopefully surrounded by loved ones and in good health. Happy Holidays and a wonderful new year full of musical adventures from my team and I!

2020: A Year in Review

At the end of 2019 we expressed our excitement for the upcoming year 2020, but little would we know about the very nature of the thrill and the constant fight against all odds we’d have to put up week by week until today. 2020 started great with a remarkable Round X of our long-time partner 70000TONS OF METAL: the cruise was yet again fully sold out, the weather at sea was splendid and the team’s zest for action a joy to behold. Awesome plans were made for the mother of all metal cruises’ next iteration just as the year in general was filled with all sorts of exciting campaign deals. Back from Miami, we were looking forward to engaging in the PR for an ambitious fair, a new festival and a fresh mix of tours and album releases.

Team CMM in full swing aboard the Independence Of The Seas

Then Covid-19 hit our dear partners and us along with them – hard. In fact, even today we don’t know which sickness it was that shook us one by one, with symptoms ranging from a minor flu up to pneumonia, in the first weeks of 2020. Medical practices wouldn’t even let people in for treatment, when these symptoms occurred. Only one thing became as clear as day: Viruses can and will cancel our plans, our projects and ultimately our culture, whenever we let them spread. So we – and that’s a big We including our friends, families and business partners – had to learn, adapt and overcome. A massive team effort. On the bright side of things: There has always been music, the good stuff that we love, enjoy and support!

Iron Maiden: A Live Album conquering #6 in German Charts

A crisis can bring the good out of people, so driven by a lot of positive thinking, the CMM team has fought back and, despite the hurdles of physical distancing, is now looking at the peak of this pandemic with the confidence of a gang of network people who are welded together even more than before the outbreak, full of vim and vigor to take the new year on and finally leave Corona behind. The ship has a few dents and cracks but the planks are shining and we’re still sailing.

Evanescence's Jen Majura and Axxis' Degi with CMM PR buffs at EMP Store Opening

Our gratitude goes out to everyone – friends, bands, clients and partners – who weathered the storm with us. Let’s take on the year 2021 together and give it the positive spin that we all deserve, Cheers to ‘21!

A huge success: 200.000 people took the chance to witness the traditional TSO Christmas Live Show from home!

2019: A Year in Review

The year started, as usual, with us working aboard 70000TONS OF METAL, The World’s Biggest Heavy Metal Cruise, after preparations over the course of the whole year. Once again, 3000 metalheads from over 70 countries, aged 1-80, had a unique 4-day party between Fort Lauderdale and Labadee, Haiti, on board a sold out luxury liner. Live world premieres, exclusive gigs and meet and greets are just some of the annual highlights when the United Nations Of Heavy Metal At Sea gather. Marketing for Europe, the coordination of press and interview scheduling before and during the cruise as well as looking after our media partners on site were, as always, in the hands of our CMM crew.

As soon as we were back, Irish speedfolk-rockers Fiddler’s Green showed us what happens when you keep true to your course for nearly 30 years and don’t compromise musically or stylistically. The reward for their 14th studio album HEYDAY, for which we did not only the album promo but also the follow-up tour promo in the GSA territories, was #7 in the German Charts. Congratulations!

Besides working with renowned bands one of our all time pleasures is providing promising projects with our years and years of experience in the storytelling and brand building sectors and see awesome ideas grow to fruition. That’s how CMM took part in 2019’s incarnation of the GoatHell Metal Fest in the highly historic city of Pula, Croatia. For the second time, metalheads settled directly between pine trees by the sea to celebrate arts, mythology and nature with 30 bands from all over Europe. 

“Further accompanying” is also a great cue for the next topic: After successfully working together on their 2017 album Bad Blood Rising, Finnish hard rockers Santa Cruz once again placed their faith in us for their new album Katharsis, marking a new chapter in the history of the band after reaching two top-5-spots in their home country, opening for AC/DC as well as playing Download Festival. CMM was responsible for Europe-wide promotion in the sectors print, online and radio.

With their 4th album Zorn, Franconian rockers MAERZFELD proved once more that they’re already firmly established as an independent and autonomous factor in today’s scene. A constant series of positive reviews and the #1 position on the DAC charts months after the release are today’s testament to that. After successfully working the G/S/A-related album and tour promos, we’re eagerly anticipating the continuation of our cooperation next year with the Zorn 2020 tour, again presented by our partners Sonic Seducer and EMP.

Team CMM was present at several events and festivals this year: Reeperbahn Festival, Rockharz, Rock Hard, Wacken and Heavy Montréal. Wolfgang also was invited to musicpark Leipzig, where he held exciting presentations about self-marketing and the special traits of music marketing.

2019 was a bit like a beehive for SAOL. In April, we startet our cooperation with The Orchard as our new digital distributor. The international setup featured the Berlin-based Israeli darkfolkgothpoprock songwriter Moran Magal (Under Your Bed), while Austria put underground thrash heads Uzziel (This Fear) on the track and Canada’s contribution came in the form of Russ Bergquists aptly titled, hard rocking The Russ Bergquist Project. At the same time, Croatian melodic thrashers Arises (System) set out to make their mark on an unsuspecting world, while from the United States, the multicultural four-piece FirstBourne served us a highly energetic portion of melodic metal infused heavy rock (Pick Up The Torch). Already at the beginning of the year, Norway’s apocalyptic preachers Chontaraz had set the bar pretty high not only with their exciting album Speed The Bullet but also as live on board 70000TONS OF METAL 2019! Sunset strip legends Shark Island returned with their album Bloodline, which was released digitally on 11/11 on SAOL. The physical album release date is February 14th, 2020.

In 2020, SAOL is on board 70000TONS OF METAL again - with FirstBourne, Zero Theorem and Striker!

2018: A Year in Review

We were proud to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our label service SAOL in 2018. SAOL was invented to give uprising bands that don’t have a record deal a platform with the goal of empowering them to publish their musical vision autonomously but with professional guidance, and the result should be perceived by media just as well as a regular album release. Back in 2008, this idea was new but gained traction quickly, leading to a fair amount of similar services throughout the world. Ever since, renowned artists as well are walking the SAOL way, just in the opposite direction: They love SAOL as a safe sandbox for extraordinary projects outside the existing record deals with their main acts. One example in 2018 was former Iced Earth vocalist Matt Barlow, teaming up with keyboardist Jonah Weingarten for the European release of WE ARE SENTINELS via SAOL in July. Another example is the Canadian shred ensemble STRIKER who, coming from a big independent label, have put out their third (of their discography of six) albums via SAOL and landed in Europe to play their first ever fully independent dual-headliner tour on this continent in 2018. Their album Play To Win was euphorically welcomed by our media partners and made several editors charts and editors playlists in 2018. Another SAOL topic was MAD DOGS UNCHAINED, original members of Joe Cocker’s band back together as tribute act with the extremely authentic singer and Joe-impersonator Elliott Tuffin on board, releasing their first live album in 2018, along with their first European tour. SAOL was also proud to support the French experimental metal band CEILD going fully instrumental for the first time with A View as well as the innovative instrumental prog of ART AGAINST AGONY (album: Shiva Appreciation Society).

Round 8 of 70000TONS OF METAL in 2018 once more gave over 3000 metalheads the chance to experience 61 bands and 124 shows on 4 stages in 4 days on the high seas. With 75 nations on board the Independence Of The Seas metalheads could also enjoy their time on Turks and Caicos during artist guided tours by Aborted or Meshuggah and share concert experiences with Sabaton, Dark Tranquillity, Kreator, Voivod and many more. SAOL's latest symphonic metal sensation SEVEN SPIRES also made their highly acclaimed debut at sea. And SAOL’s new CHONTARAZ (from Hell, Norway) are already excited for 2019.

The fact that Iron Maiden mastermind BRUCE DICKINSON is a universal genius has been proven again and again this year. The great success of his bestseller What Does This Button Do? led to a subsequently sold out reading tour in several cities and TV appearances in coordination with CMM.

Re-releases of legendary albums by TANKARD and DEATHROW in the ingenious Noise-Revival as well as the SAXON catalog titles received attention (also due to the high quality of the vinyl and CD special editions) with the help of our promo in the German-speaking area. The catalog promo with BMG (e.g. NAZARETH, RUNNING WILD, HELLOWEEN and others) had some very successful months, some of which leading to chart entries.

Australian metalcore heavyweights PARKWAY DRIVE's successful entry into the German charts at position #3 also marks the beginning of the collaboration between CMM and Epitaph Records. Our radio promo brought the album Reverence into the rotation of all rock friendly stations, where it is still strongly represented today, a good seven weeks after the release date. In addition, CMM was responsible for the organization of the German Release Events: In May, Fans in droves were filling clubs throughout Germany just before the festival performances (incl. Rock am Ring and Rock im Park) of the Australian metalcore and celebrating the album release, that was accompanied by international magazine cover stories.

The club parties with KISSIN’ DYNAMITE in July showed similar success, as well as our second cooperation with Epitaph Records for the eighth album of British metalcore highlight ARCHITECTS, resulting in #7 of the German Album Charts. The release event in Ludwigsburg drew 1600 fans into a local club that night.

At the end of May 2018, the title Legacy of the Beast marks a double quake across Europe: Coinciding with the launch of Iron Maiden's eponymous tour, CMM, in collaboration with Nodding Frog, is launching an unprecedented international promo offensive for the epic fantasy mobile game Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast. The release let to enthusiastic response from around the world and an unrelenting interest in the intriguing connection that the game makes between reality and the virtual world.

Sony and KISSIN' DYNAMITE, with persistence and dedication, claim to make stadium rock Made in Germany socially acceptable again. Besides print, online and club promotion, CMM couldn’t help but arrange that, in cooperation with popular meat processor Fleischwaren Wulff and under our brand Meat2Grill, Kissin' Dynamite beamed at thousands of German barbecue sausage buyers from straight out of the grocery store freezers: Our KISSIN’ DYNAMITE branded Whiskey-Bratwurst became a big hit in German supermarkets. And the band’s powerrun continued well into the fall: The annual Metal Hammer Award in the category Best German Act has been presented to the guys by no less a figure than SAOL artist JEN MAJURA.

The CMM team was happy to be able to celebrate the band’s big day with them, as well as Iron Maiden’s remarkable show at Hanover’s famous Expo Plaza in June. Besides the new faces enrichment through new faces, our team could proudly announce the launch of the brand new CMM PressLounge, exclusively for media partners. We thereby offer our media partners a new, carefully sorted database for high-quality photos of all our topics, which can be accessed directly through our website. Working outside the office for Parkway Drive’s radio promotion and the annual European media coordination as part of the amazing 70000TONS OF METAL team were definitely among the team’s internal highlights of 2018.

CMM History before 2018

In order to celebrate the new iteration of our website made available online, we have asked the independent journalist Matthias Mineur (METAL HAMMER, GITARRE & BASS) to tell it in his own words. He succeeded in making it an interesting, enjoyable read for you – Thank you, Mr. Mineur!

So welcome to our world and enjoy the ride!

The ever increasing use of digital media, changes in recreational behavior and economic decline in a substantial number of core markets have left the music industry facing serious global challenges. Challenges CMM GMBH are ready for: hailing from Hanover, Germany, founder Wolfgang Rott and his team offer an all-round approach to music marketing, covering all aspects of public relations from print and web to broadcasting and club – you name it. Other areas of expertise include marketing and development of large events all the way from the conception stage to supervision in action. Consulting for big companies and renowned bands is yet another main service they offer. CMM GMBH also run their own label SAOL, serve as music publishers and have recently established their own booking department for in-house artists. The range of CMM’s services spans all of the European continent and is rooted in their worldwide network.



Wolfgang Rott on CMM’s philosophy: “The traditional distinction between record labels, publishers, management, agents, tour managers and merch companies hardly exists anymore. This has led to a situation in which young artists often find themselves looking for people with the patience and the means to allow them to develop their talents. Instead, reality television casting formats and competitive, soap opera-style talent shows have risen as questionable ready-made substitutes. The number of artists with true character has been sinking dramatically as a result of this. Unique talent not immediately suited for the mainstream barely stands a chance on the market these days. What we’re trying to do is to go against this downward trend.”

CMM take care of all things marketing for a large number of artists, companies and events. CMM count high-profile bands among their clients – such as Iron Maiden or Megadeth as well as spectacular projects like the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, which (after taking on the States) heralded their conquest of Europe with a sensational show at Wacken 2015. On top of that, annual festivals like 70000Tons of Metal, MetalDays and other big events are part of CMM’s agenda. 



The list of frequent collaborators might as well be a list of music’s most influential names – such as Universal, Warner, Sony, Edel, Phantom Management (Iron Maiden, Bruce Dickinson and others), Nightcastle Management (Savatage, TSO), BMG/Noise, Ultimate Music Cruises and Artfest Slovenia. CMM are renowned for their praised international network and trustworthy cooperation with important musicians from across the globe.



CMM has been a success story since its beginnings in the late 1970s. Before that, the company’s founder Wolfgang Rott worked as a clerk in the local town council while playing the drums and singing in various bands. He quit his day job when Frank Bornemann, head of German prog-rock legend Eloy and owner of Horus Sound Studios in Hanover, asked him to start working as his manager. Rott proceeded to become the tour manager for various bands from Hanover and worked with artists like Eruption, Eric Burdon and John Mayall.

In 1983, he founded R + B Production with a partner and started to organize shows for Tina Turner, Joe Cocker, Dieter Hallervorden and Romy Haag, to name a few. This led to him being Joe Cocker’s tour manager and management consultant for three years. Together with Folker Koopmanns, Rott went on to assume music program responsibilities for the Hamburg-based clubs Docks and Große Freiheit 36. Rott: “At some point, the record label EMI asked me to do management and booking for their newcomer Axxis. Thus, in the fall of 1989, CMM was born.”



Following the highly successful partnership with Axxis (whose first record still holds the title of “best-selling hard rock debut in Germany”, having sold more than 100.000 copies), CMM took on promotional duties for The Sweet and Tony Martin, who was Black Sabbath’s singer at the time. From 1991 to 1994, CMM were busy o