When I was in 9th grade, I was monumentally stoked about forming a one-off band and playing covers in my friend’s basement on New Year’s Eve. In contrast, most of Brooklyn metal trio Unlocking The Truth — ages 15, 13, and 12 — hasn’t even reached high school yet, and according to the NY Post, they just signed a $1.8 million contract with Sony. A video of the band shredding their way through a virtuoso instrumental number called “Monster” went viral last year, earning them a spot on the Coachella lineup and lots of industry attention. A year later, they’ve inked a million-dollar deal, pending approval from the New York courts system because they’re minors. Here’s the catch: Other than royalty payments, they won’t see any money beyond a $60,000 advance unless their record sells at least 250,000 copies. Nobody sells 250,000 copies these days! Especially not metal bands! For context, Miranda Lambert’s Platinum, the 20th best selling album of 2014 so far, has moved just over 305,000 copies. Mastodon’s new album debuted at #6 with only 34,000 in first-week sales, and they’re arguably the biggest metal band in the world. So these boys have a long promotional battle in front of them if they expect to unlock those millions. Still, $60,000 is a lot more than I was making at their age for meticulously replicating Pantera and Metallica riffs in my basement.

Watch the performance video that went viral:

[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images.]