Cleopatra

They have had some awesome artists but they aren't afraid to absolutely butcher their sound from time to time.. Along with their 500 compilation cds (which a lot are ittedly great for finding new bands) this is def a greedy record label

Atrocious sound quality on 2024 Melanie Crystal Palace performance. If a mud clot was used as the biscuit to press the record and a size 2 knitting needle used to gouge the groove then it would sound better

One of the worst labels out there. I won’t buy anything this label puts out. No quality control for sure. If the record isn’t scratched, the sound quality is awful.

did they really "release" a KI generated song by junior wells?? Heard it on the radio, and do not know any of the background regarding licenses etc, but this feels sooooo wrong. Ironically the comments on YT are turned of, so maybe they expected a shitstorm :D

Cleopatra Records is a frustrating label.
They will REGULARLY get access to something historically significant or in dire need of re-release, and they'll promise the world to you thrown in as a bonus.
Maybe a holy grail album, something that hasn't seen the light of day in decades, or a rare and usually overpriced release that will finally be available on the cheap again, or the entire main catalog of one of your favorite artists in a convenient box set.

And then you start to examine the quality of the release, and EVERYTHING falls apart.
Often, the artwork is replaced or altered for the worse, the typesetting is ugly and out of place, the bonus tracks are from the wrong recording sessions/year/decade, maybe there's a straight up error (a song replaced with a different one that isn't labeled), the audio quality is inconsistent or subpar (like it was ripped from YouTube, or sourced from a rough vinyl record), the mastering is bad (brickwall limited, bad EQ, heavy handed noise reduction).
It's such a terrible shame, because they'll essentially ruin the first impression many will have for the music they release. Recently, they've done this with Front Line Assembly's "Nerve War", and before that, with Chrome's discography, etc, etc.
I really wish the ownership of the label would get their acts together and actually do these releases right the first time.

Back in the 90's, electronic, goth and underground industrial music were all hard to find, especially if you lived in rural areas of the US. Cleopatra was one of a small handful of labels - along with WaxTrax! and TVT - that were able to change that. They capitalized on the popularity of the Nine Inch Nails / Marilyn Manson / KMFDM camps to introduce the world to lesser-known bands with similar styles. Sometimes they would take bands who had recently been released from their major labels - Information Society comes to mind - and allowed them to make music that they wanted to make, but hadn't been able to because of major label interference.

Their "jump the shark" moment for me came with the plethora of tribute albums that started off in the late-90's and (sadly) continue to this day. I've heard that they had offered $1,000 back in the late-90's for a name artist to do a cover version for a compilation, which even in those days wasn't a lot of money, but maybe enough to pay the bills and/or rent.

After that era, it seemed that they wised up (on the business acumen, at least) and expanded their repertoire. I have little-to-no interest in prog rock, late 90's hip-hop, or most of the bands they've signed since the turn of the millennium. But I'm definitely glad they did, because it gives those artists a home to put out what they want to, and at least we still have something of a chance of seeing some of the good stuff from the 1990's re-released in some form.

Give them hate for their covers albums and whatever it is they're doing now, but the world was truly better for them releasing Switchblade Symphony, Razed In Black, The Wake, and that one goth Information Society album!

Cleopatra gets a lot of hate. and for sure some of it is justified, but they also used to be a reliable place for a good slice of goth and industrial artists back in the late 90s up to early 2000s. They would also try to help new or smaller bands with their Unquiet Grave comps, or putting smaller bands on the Tribute albums. Now they seem to have expanded in 6 billion directions and lost their identity along the way, but to simply write them off is to not look at the positives they have had over the years. They are also releasing things from older artists who cannot find a home with larger labels anymore. That is important too, for the fans of those bands. I just think they are trying to keep up with the times, and while they are not the label I once liked, they are doing what they need to do.

How did they get Humble Pie "live at Winterland" ?

The complaints about this Labels' business practices are hardly unique in the realm of the music industry. A quick dive in the Discogs database will tell you that there are labels who are worse at at least one item of this companies long list of sins.

But Cleopatra seems to have an edge and I think it's the frustration based on the things they did get right: They have legitimate releases that are relatively important and they have been somewhat instrumental in making music accessible that would otherwise not be.

It's just that they're really, really, really sloppy about it and you're left with this feeling of disappointed frustration because of it.
It could've been good, but they didn't pay attention to the parts that would've made it good.

If you were to create a list of everything this label does correctly, the list would definitely not include: art/design, typography, proofreading, or taking care with audio fidelity of source material. Honestly, I'm not sure what's left to be good at. Rakin' in the dollars? I guess.