Gene Simmons: "Every little college kid, every freshly-scrubbed little kid's face should have been sued off the face of the earth."
Yes, Gene. Filesharing is why there's no market for your shitty music.
Gene Simmons: college kids killed music biz
The record industry is in such a mess. I called for what it was when college kids first started download music for free -- that they were crooks. I told every record label I spoke with that they just lit the fuse to their own bomb that was going to explode from under them and put them on the street...
The record industry doesn't have a f---ing clue how to make money. It's only their fault for letting foxes get into the henhouse and then wondering why there's no eggs or chickens. Every little college kid, every freshly-scrubbed little kid's face should have been sued off the face of the earth. They should have taken their houses and cars and nipped it right there in the beginning. Those kids are putting 100,000 to a million people out of work. How can you pick on them? They've got freckles. That's a crook. He may as well be wearing a bandit's mask.
Doesn't affect me. But imagine being a new band with dreams of getting on stage and putting out your own record. Forget it....
SO WHAT IF MUSIC JUST BECOMES FREE AND ARTISTS MAKE THEIR LIVING OFF OF TOURING AND MERCHANDISE?
Well therein lies the most stupid mistake anybody can make. The most important part is the music. Without that, why would you care? Even the idea that you're considering giving the music away for free makes it easier to give it away for free. The only reason why gold is expensive is because we all agree that it is. There's no real use for it, except we all agree and abide by the idea that gold costs a certain amount per ounce. As soon as you give people the choice to deviate from it, you have chaos and anarchy. And that's what going on.
What do you think of the Gene Simmons Totalitarian Business Model?
Comments
I think Gene is confused about how value is established. It's true that a paper dollar is only valuable because of our social agreement that it has value (we can, after all, always print more), but gold is a discrete, scarce resource; we ain't making more of it. Secondly, gold is useful -- just ask any electrical engineer or chemist: Gold is highly conductive while being naturally corrosion-resistant (in contrast to silver), and generally fairly chemically non-reacitve. Colloidal gold is used in biomedical research, and shows promise in treating rheumatoid arthritis and retarding the mental degradation associated with Alzheimer's.
As for the argument itself, feh. There's a reason Gene is a glam-rocker and not a lawyer: 1) the majority of "sharers" are actually leeches, and thus aren't committing a crime (in that they are not redistributing without a license.) 2) Even if they are "putting 100,000 to a million people out of work" -- which is far from demonstrated -- that also is not a crime. The US DEA puts millions of folks out of work (ask Afghani poppy growers). No crime there. 3) While it can be argued that new KISS albums are scarce -- if Gene and the boys don't make 'em, they don't exist -- music itself is not, because the attributes and skill sets needed to make them are ubiquitous -- the vast majority of humans have hands, feet, and voices, and can learn to use them suitably well to satisfy most other humans. If KISS doesn't make an album, then folks listen to something else. My kid and I spent an hour jamming on synths and guitars last night. Probably no one else in the world wants to hear it (DISCLOSURE: My son is 18 months old and I'm musically retarded), but he liked it a helluva lot more than he likes listening to an album. In fact, I don't think he's ever heard KISS -- which is a failure on my part, as a parent. I'll fix that later today -- anyone got a torrent for Dressed to Kill?
Posted by: dave-o | November 15, 2007 10:48 AM
I kind of agree with him, the artists should be paid for the work they do, thats a given - but - the record companies are greedy, and thats the problem.
Kiss have made millions, they would have made more if they went down the independent model say Radiohead or other independent labels have done. You dont have to give it away, make it cheap - people will buy more. Just look at other things, sales have doubles of playstation 3 this week becasue they have made it cheaper. Buying a CD from a store is expensive, downloading cheaper.
Posted by: Rowley | November 15, 2007 11:20 AM
Well, I wonder what Gene's reaction is to Radiohead's recent generosity to their fans...which, by the way, I heard that as of 10 days ago or so, Radiohead had made something like 2 million dollars on their new album and that, on average, people were paying 6 bucks each for it. That's a hell of a profit margin when you consider they had to put no money into packaging, shipping (and, to a certain extent, promotion).
Sure, it's not a lot of bands that could have pulled it off, and I also heard that it had been downloaded more times on file sharing networks than from the authorized site, but nevertheless, that's a band actually caring about their fans and lover's of art, as opposed to viewing them simply as consumers. Radiohead has, as Gene even, made "the music" the most important part of the equation, not the "payment" for said music.
Posted by: kilian | November 15, 2007 11:23 AM