none of this questions the existence of music as an industry and product. none of this mentions that you are going nowhere unless you are a mason. think: what is music for? what role does music have in society? sure, that seems attractive, but, how are they gonna let anyone up there? uncle al? "t'witch" the ignored statement. go back to with sympathy, see how much negativity is being dumped on you. dysfunctional baggage. this is what masons do. i've been making vst (software instruments) for 19 years. i have a very very bad reputation with other instrument makers.
Musicians are literally a dime a dozen and they don't need you at all. They have marketing divisions that could make the most unpopular, ugliest person popular and famous. They have hundreds of shadow writers and session players at their beck and call and catalogues of songs that they can give to whomever they are promoting that day. The industry is sleazy but so is every industry in the entertainment side of things. Sports is way worse then the music industry in terms of this, tv/movie land is on par with music. They know people will sign because fame and money is what folks want, they also know that very few of them know how to read a contract let alone get a couple of lawyers to look them over so they will throw in all sorts of stuff to see what they can get away with. The funny thing is no one complains while they are making money, starting their careers and riding the fame wave - they only complain about the hand that fed once they are successful and have knowledge and leverage.
@@corail53 this I agree with to some extent. Of course there are cases of abusive companies here and there but sometimes I do find some “complaints” from some famous people that would make me think “well… you did sign a contract and you are providing for a large group of people including the staff that helped you reach this point”. But of course we will never know the real truth behind the scenes but I agree with you when thinking of some cases.
@@corail53 So tell me, which label did Chance the Rapper need in order to win his three Grammy awards? Whose marketing department put Acid Rap at #5 on the Billboard 200?
yeah, but he signed the contract. If you don't like the deal, then don't sign. But going back and complaining about a deal you signed just bc you don't think it's fair anymore...??
Zappa made a profound point. Artists are literally allowing one person ( out of billions) to decide if their music is quality. That is insane and irrational.
@@br.m That's one way to look at it. Another way of looking at it is that we don't just have loads of new good music to listen to, but we still have all the old music too, so we haven't really lost anything, apart from really old stuff that wasn't recorded in the first place, or was on recordings so rare that most people won't be missing them. Have you heard that Lemon Twigs song called: Corner of my eye + seen their tank-tops in the video ? It's worth checking out just for their outfits.
@@br.m "Now there is so much crappy music" yes, i always say to people that say that, Yes but it's because now you have tons of more people making music, more people = more music = more shit music that you need to filter out to find the good stuff. Another reason is computers, the way music is recorded no, no band can sound like Metallica in the 80's, that real hardware hand recorded sound does not exist today in the digital computer recorded sound, unless some band goes very old school, same reason why Michael Jackson still sounds better than any pop artist today.
@@Real_SkyRipper Computers can be ok. I keep an old computer from the 90's with old software. The newer software annoyed me because it has all these "features" to make the process easier. It often messes up the sound though. Newer computers also make it easy to add effects after recording. Like in the past, there wasn't enough memory or processing power. So all or most effects would be "live" and recorded that way. Now, with powerful computers and cheap RAM, people tend to heap effects on after recordings are made. Then the magic or the life is sucked out of the sound With most of the crap music these days, I doubt most people are even recording. Just using digital instruments or samples
Right. Which is why any artist who got "screwed" by the "big bad record companies" only has themselves to blame. Rare cases of real criminality aside, nobody ever had a gun put to their heads to sign a record contract. READ the bloody thing.
@@cranklabexplosion-labcentr8245 Who put the stupid in yours? Clearly I know far more about this than you do. But by all means show me where someone (besides Vanilla Ice) was forced to sign a record contract without reading it.
I've been a musician for 50 years. I can say the best musicians don't care about fame and fortune. They sit on the edge of their bed and just get better and better; you'd be amazed at the talent and skill out there.
If I was seriously making music, I would insist on making money. Otherwise why bother? The so-called music industry isn't in it for fun, so why should I be any different?
Only if they didn’t pay for the recordings If you make the recordings and bring it to them then they are a promoter/distributor delivery service but if you don’t have a pot to piss in making an album is expensive and they have a vested interest in it otherwise they wouldn’t do it so the negotiations begin there
Prince was very very intelligent in music, in business in taking care of himself. He was an advocate for himself and called out those companies like every artist should.
@Stephanie Slayer Michael Jackson had a song "They don't really care about us". A song literally about being the powers that be. They bleeped out 2 words about Jews and soon after is when the mass slander campaign against him started.
I'm a writer. A few years back I met Pat Mills, one of my literary heroes. When I told him I was a writer his first advice was to stay away from publishing houses. He said it's a machine that just takes all of your work and all of the money and treats you as if you don't exist. This was the first advice he gave to me. We no longer need them.
@@pannik_lucas First, gaining money should not be your objective. But self publishing allows to to retain control of your work and gain almost all of the proceeds.
That's true and when you sell your soul to the devil this is what the big companies are doing totally screwing over artist out of money they have NO RIGHT TAKING. Artist need to be making money from THIER music management and labels have no right to own bands material unless the band or artist agreed on it.
Many of them are troubled people and probably have those issues to begin with. Whatever caused them to have those issues are also things that contribute to them being good artists. Couple addiction with piles of money to feed that addiction, it just makes an already existing problem worse.
I loved to see the interview with Alein Jorgensen he is so good! His music really rocks me even now more. ( Ministry Twitch) and what he is saying about recording companies and radio stations defining what music is supposed to sound like.
Prince said it so well. What an icon for independent artists everywhere. I don’t even listen to his music but I think I will after finding out how radical he was to the industry… what a boss
I did listen to Prince's music and still don't like it. But that has nothing to do with the fact that I agree with his thoughts. You don't have to go and listen to him,seems forced.
I think I heard/read somewhere that Matt Heafy is in the same position with live streaming on Twitch as he is making more money on Twitch than on his actual music?!! Again I think it was Matt or some other musician who doing online internet stuff🙂
Worked in music publishing for long time and learned the following things: 1. You don't need a record label, especially now in 2021 2. Own your own publishing, always 3. If you do sign a contract related to your music, take it to a lawyer that specializes in music business contracts specifically, and read the thing!
@@superkatarsis 1) register with a performing rights organization(ascap/Bmi), 2) start a publishing company, really just a name with a business license, 3) register your song with your info and publishing info with the performing rights organization. That is the quick and dirty.
@@timdahl I never ever really understood the mechanics behind publishing deals and still don’t but they have definately given me some decent amounts of money.
#2 is actually more important than any combo of reasons. If you don't own your music.....you own nothing, and not only that, the thieves will profit mightily off of you. Learn this now kids.
@@superkatarsis you thinking you got decent amounts of money, imagine their cut and without working, not only that, they can still gain profits after you're dead, but your family don't.
I've been saying for years the concept of the 'record label' is a dinosaur. With the advances made in recording technology, coupled with costs of said technology getting lower, it's now completely possible to record and release a studio quality level project from home. Not to mention, thanks to various social media platforms and other such creations (RUclips being one), you can now get your name out there better than any agent could have 20 years ago.
The record label is obsolete but the professional recording studio is not. Depends on the kind of music to be honest. With electronic music, I'd say all you need is talent. Even something produced fully in the box can sound great. But not everyone has access to a great sounding room to record real drums or a piano etc. It all depends on where your bar is but a lot of home recordings that have been released sound absolutely terrible. There's a certain polish to the production of a big name artist's music that has been professionally mixed and mastered. Again, it all comes down to skill. But recording and mixing is an art by itself and musicians would greatly benefit from getting that touch from a pro audio engineer. Even getting a fresh objective ear to listen to your music can take it up a notch.
Not to mention that a lot of modern production practices are really lazy and you hear it in a lot of tracks these days. It's very rare that you'll come across a bedroom studio album with real instruments that sounds as good as say, Steely Dan's records. The flip side to accessibility is that everyone starts thinking they know how to do something without the proper practice so you end up with a lot more sub par work. But the democratization of production is a net positive. You can get more music out there more easily. The gatekeepers aren't there anymore. The audience directly decides what they want to listen to.
@@lamenamethefirst With the amazing quality of soundfont libraries, used by the likes of Hans Zimmer and others, I'd argue that a well-treated room for real instruments just isn't needed anymore. I can program drums using live-recorded sample packs I buy online that fool even the most seasoned mix engineers, and the orchestral and choral and instrument soundfonts these days, as I said, are practically indistinguishable from the real thing. I mean, I have quite a few Kontakt libraries myself, and they blew my socks off. A good buddy of mine is a guitar player of 15 years, and I was able to trick him on one of my tracks where I used Ample Guitar, and he legitimately thought (until I told him otherwise) that I had hired a session musician. All you need these days is a laptop, and if you're doing vocals, an interface and a mic. When I went to school, our main studio had an SSL AWS 948, which was an amazing console to get to work on and use. But the honest fact is, I now own the SSL 2 interface in my home studio, and its preamps are LEAGUES better than the SSL 2, in another tier entirely. 70dB of dynamic range vs 130, not to mention my interface's THD is MUCH lower (something like 0.0013% - while SSL is quiet about this stuff, the 948's is likely tens of times higher). And compare the price tags, man. $100k plus for the console, $280 for my interface. It isn't even a competition. Not to mention SSL sells channel strips both in hardware and plugin format that can perfectly replicate the analog saturation that so many engineers miss from the old days, and a good mixing engineer can even replicate that sound using only stock plugins in your DAW, which arguably offers a hundred times more flexibility than ANY mixing console ever produced and at a fraction of a fraction of the cost. Yes, it's true a lot of home recordings are terrible. That comes with the territory. When you make something available to anybody, you wind up with a far larger sample size and thus the chances you'll encounter something that doesn't live up to standards is higher. But what are the odds? Say, 5% of all home recordings don't hold up. There were production errors and mistakes back in the day when engineers were getting the hang of studio gear as it was introduced and a great many tracks made during this pioneering era would also be well below the bar, a good 5% or so. I think the healthy competition that increased as a result of the availability of prosumer gear just guarantees quality will improve for everyone in due time, as long as the artists/engineers are serious. If you want relevance, you need to be competitive, and there's no shortage of video blogs and step by step instructions and guides and advice blogs on RUclips by some of the greatest engineers that have ever lived. You don't even need audio engineering school anymore, which set people like me back a good 30 grand or so. I think it's become like the wild west. Anybody can commit and if they put the work in and overcome the competition, they can become successful and a big studio just isn't relevant anymore. If it were, SSL, Neve, and API wouldn't be reduced to selling channel strips and plugins, they'd be making their money from console sales alone, and that just simply isn't the state of the market anymore and hasn't been for over a decade now. Bedroom studios are quickly becoming the norm and there's no shortage of resources to fine-tune the experience to make the most of it, not to mention the ease of collaboration with skilled individuals in any specialization you could want (recording engineers, mix engineers, mastering engineers, songwriters, producers, session musicians, etc)
Anyone that is still signing a deal with a media company are the biggest fools. I give you a pass if you’ve already made your millions and have a strong fan base. Cause maybe you’re working for a type of legacy u can’t get on YT or IG etc
@@newagain9964 Yet even someone like Billie Eillish signed a deal with Interscope to get even bigger and more famous more quickly. Not to mention "Disney's 'Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter To LA' "... or the heavily photoshopped pictures for Vogue. It is quite hilarious how quick her "self-made" image got turned into a marketable brand by big media.
If you're an artist getting interest from labels, you know you're doing something right, keep doing what you're doing, stay away from labels & be the owner of your music
no artist has ever made it on their own, Fact... they will always have the dream of them in their head being fame, fact stop daydreaming of being a fame artist, Fact... you love music keep to yourself, if you make money of it your no music lover, Fact...just another fame seeker... fact
@Hugs Bunny so who?, a couple guys playing at mom and dad garage, someone a county fair, or that band at a bar... so those guy who have credibility ???no then who
I had a friend who was a producer for RCA. They brought on a new musician who was all excited that they were supplying beer and great food during his recording. I was like "you know you're paying for all this, right? It'll be in your contract." He said "What?" He had no idea.
OH YES FOR SURE ! The Artist is treated like royalty because the crooked execs set up the glit and glamour at the expense ''of the Artist''. The crooked execs even take out a huger chuck of money for service councilor...mice print in THE Contract.
@@MicahElohim - more like artists are taken advantage of bc they are naive and simply just want to create music. Which is how it should be. You give it your best or don’t do it at all.
@@MicahElohim Which is why the vile music industry can see the very gullible music artists. The "Bloodsuckers" know how to say "sweet nothings" to the artists, they know how to "masque" their faces and the hidden agendas (literal contracts of deception & corruption) from the artist, they know how to work the music artists to insanity, and then they "bleed" the artists dry. Period. 💯
@@MicahElohim It's even more amazing how people have the 🖤 to misuse and abuse talented individuals (in ANY industry) for greed and corruption. Simply...AMAZING. God help us, in the Name of Jesus Christ. 💯
Prince said it perfectly and guy was a savage. Recording it yourself hahahahah now that is being a musician to the fullest and holding up a middle finger. Love you prince 💜
As a fully DIY, independent solo artist since 2003, Ive never been more grateful for the choices I made early in my career... especially going into this pandemic. So many of my fellow artists had very few options to financially adapt to once touring went out the window; even that still seems rather bleak. We're already seeing well established acts like Periphery and Times of Grace (to name a few) walk away from labels and still reach notable success. Once you know how the machine works, there's little reason to ever put yourself and your bandmates through that and sign away your creativity. Slowly but surely, the artist will realize his/her power and start strong-arming these labels into getting fair deals that benefit the longevity of the artist. We are the labels' life-source... not the other way around. Labels have their benefits don’t get me wrong, but often times the juice is not worth the squeeze. Just my humble opinion, keep on rockin' on!
"The music industry is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side" Hunter S Thompson
A label wanted to sign me, but I had to pay them, give my rights to MY songs, and at the same time, there were other unspoken expenses. they also said they would broadcast my music on tons of radio stations (non existent), making mailing lists (of which they would end up in the trash or spam section in most cases). in short, a rip-off in every sense. My ex band members (dickheads to be honest) accused me of being a dictator, they left my project and leave alone because they believed about this label and all of the lies they said about this shitty contract, after this I went on my own and I recorded 2 albums without labels ... (you can hear it on youtube and spotify) Do you want some advice? forget the recording labels, make your own albums, unless you bring them a lot of money, then maybe they will help you ...
I always loved listening to Ed Sheeran from England saying his biggest songs were all over the charts and radio for more than a year making the label tens of millions of dollars and Ed was still living on a friend's couch and wondering how he could afford to travel to television shows and radio shows to promote his songs and career. The labels are a bunch of parasites!!! To the fans every bit as much as they are to the artists!
Idon't believe that for one second. Why wouldn't he be touring and making the record label even more money if he was on the charts already? Makes no sense other than him trying to sound like average guy.
Prince was really the King of spreading awareness of how these labels will rip you off, he never took advances, he paid to make his own music, in his own studio and they would still point at the contract and say but look right here, you signed this! Its a beast machine.
It's a shame a lot of this happened to so many "one hit wonders". They were screwed over by the label as soon as thier follow-ups didn't match the initial success.
@Princelawrenz Hamlin Mudvayne had bigger success after Dig. Happy? For instance from 2 albums later is a bigger hit. Dig got a second wind from multiple meme cycles since 2012 making the song bigger than it was in the first place.
That’s why we should be proud of Radiohead. They were supposed to be a one hit wonder. But they made great music and gained a huge following for make weird and different stuff.
@@2isceez Really it's mainstream radio that's terrible. Rock and classic rock radio must appeal to the common denominator which means repitition and homogeny. I find so many great bands on RUclips that radio will never play.
Radio stations in the U.K on a daily basis have a "When you hear three Ed Sheeran songs in a row call in and name the songs to win £10,000" I've got a better idea... let's listen to some better shit? or at least give someone else a chance?
4:18 I liked the way Prince explained it the best. He really had a well known and long, tenuous relationship with the record industry. Billy Corgan and Brett Michaels broke it down very well as well.
Brett Michaels is d-bag, but he did touch on a good point about owning publishing rights. Frank Zappa also understood the importance of owning the publishing right. There’s an interview clip out there of Steve Vai talking about it, which he learned from Zappa.
@@SobrietyandSolace prince is dead because he stuck with the rules of his religion and wouldn't accept blood transfusions or agree to needed procedures that would require blood transfusions. That's why he was in so many heavy narcotics for so long.
Rest In Peace Chester. I grew up on Hybrid Theory, Reanimation and Meteora. LP got me interested in music production, and although I eventually outgrew nu metal and got interested in other genres of music, they were the spark that got me into it in the first place. I ended up graduating with BA (Hons) in Audio Production and finding work as a sound engineer in a local studio. So even if you felt like you had nothing to live for at the end, I hope you knew that you inspired many young people to pursue their passion in life. You and your music left a big impact on the world, and you will always be remembered.
Hi. Just a question since you have pursued the music production path... would you suggest it to someone who wants to go and pursue this field in today's age? I am 22 and after finishing my bachelors I really want to get into producing and maybe even find a program for Masters.... I would appreciate your insight.
@@Veldtian1 Can you express what you really mean here. Billions of us out here feel something went wrong in a sadistic way unknown to us. Something about his ending almost seemed as if some entity out there mocked one for his hit songs " I'm Not Gonna Let The Elevator - Bring Us Down" and you see him in that elevator.
Man, Prince hit the nail on the head with that one. They ARE a delivery service. The companies should only be making a fraction of whatever it's worth to convey the music. Someone like Prince who created the music from itsvery inception to its creation should be entirely deserving of at least 80% of the profits. At least... Like he said, FedEx doesn't OWN what they ship. They charge fees to get it there, that's it. So much needs to be changed about the music industry--and this is a MASSIVE part of it, if not the most important part.
The delivery part has already changed about the music industry; you can pay very little to promote music through CD Baby, for instance. You don't need labels to distribute your music anymore if you don't wanna deal with them. Some problems though are that the recording quality of amateur artists's music is usually not very good compared to that of artists that can record on multi-millionaire studios, with the money they get from the record labels, if they are signed. Nor do most amateur artists have money to promote their music through famous magazines and famous RUclips channels and such, or radio stations, or tv channels... Not to mention most people want to only/mostly consume the music/art that is being published on famous media, and that needs publicity money...
After playing in a few local bands in my late teens/early 20s, by the time I was 24 or 25, I knew I wanted nothing at all to do with the music business. It was always more enjoyable & rewarding just jamming with friends & playing in local bars from time to time.
They are not "living it up" lol. The DIY approach is being widely over-romanticized, it is incredibly difficult and stressful and there are very, very few examples of people who actually became successful doing it. Record Labels can only fuck artists over this bad precisely because what they're offering is very valuable and enticing to upcoming artists. E.g. if you're not so lucky as to go viral somehow (which EVERYBODY wants to do and is therefore extremely unlikely), you on your own or even with a small marketing agency are simply never going to be able to compete with the marketing means and reach of a giant record company, no matter how many FB comments you write with your blue checkmark account or how many Insta stories you post each day.
Correction: POPULAR independent artists are living it up. If you’re independent and not as well known as a big band, you’re going to have a rough time.
So many insights! The "Jedi mind tricks" were priceless, and Zappa's comment about the "new hip young music execs" was so accurate. Maybe it's a rule for anything corporate, not just music. The "let's try it and see" attitude is more innovative than the "I know what the consumers want" attitude. I guess it's hubris.
Absolutely. When corporate America says PROFIT is the only priority, you end up destroying everything else. Music and culture included. But more importantly: food, education, health.
@@JoBisbee The cigar chomping record executives that Frank Zappa said we would be better off with werent boomers, they were record executives born in the Silent Generation giving deals to young baby boomer musicians. Frank is referring to the young hip boomer executives who took over the music industry (and many of which still do to this day)
@@ZemarRed He's not crying, stupid; he's WARNING artists that (1) they'd better not sign that agreement, (2) the record mafia had a monopoly for a century or so and artists could either give away their creative control or sing for tips at the local bar and (3) now that there are viable alternatives artists had better explore them.
FedEx didn't fund the creation of the product being shipped. Another company did. He didn't take an advance yet he did sign the deal regarding money on sales for records and ownership of music. Don't do that.
@@TheTenCentStory Don't indeed, and these days when alternatives exist it's probably best to look at every other option before signing an agreement of any sort.
After almost 10 years in the industry the only thing I can say about music is if you can sell cars or Kirby vacuums or even fake jewelry at the mall, you have a spot in the music industry. It’s not the actual industry it’s the people that make it so fucked up. It’s all about the almighty dollar. Nothing else matters.
The way I see it, is musicians no longer need record labels. With today's tech, anyone with the desire to do so can self publish and grow a tremendous following. At the end of the day, artists want to create and share it with others. Greed need not be a factor.
@@titanicbigship it’s not that easy unfortunately . It’s incredibly hard, sometimes I feel impossible . Too much content. Too much people online trying to get famous. Musicians are no longer competing against each other, we now compete against “influencers”. New artists only break if they go viral. I’ve been trying to put myself out there but growth is extremely slow and people would rather watch cute dogs online.
I really wish we could get more "warnings" about any industry tbh! So many people dreaming to get in, thinking it would be sweet, etc... and then they realized it's completely different. This could open our eyes to how the show is run.
I agree I think if more people spoke up about the corruption behind all these industries a lot of people will think more about what they want to do, so many people dream to be huge but at what cost, a lot of musicians I listened to and bands who were in the industry had lots of problems they were probably young at some point thought they own their own music they put their blood sweat and tears into, to then just have it ripped from you and then have some high person in position taken advantage of you, never shake the shady person's hand, never sign a contract have a lawyer and read it carefully also the label industry in my personal opinion is a scam what's the point in making music if you don't have the rights to you're own song, that you as a creator made. And to make it worse a lot of these bands who been screwed over for decades they end up taken drugs alcohol ect. Then you wonder why so many of these musicians are depressed because they were taken advantage of and I guarentee some of them probably at some point attempted to try to end their own life and regretted signing that damn contract I even heard of some cases were musicians end up committing suicide because it was too much and they were unable to pay royalties which is sad. There's a lesson here never trust Hollywood screw Hollywood and screw the label industry. That's all I'm going to say
You guys haven't seen much. So many artist talk about it and so many get killed too. Did you guys know that labels take out life insurance policies on their artist? Let that sink in. Make sense as to why so many die. Especially in rap.
Zappa was so rad. Missing those days of REAL artists songwriters, who dared to create their own music, even if it sucks or is different. Ie NEIL YOUNG, 70s prog RUSH, bowie. Take a chance and inspire someone. Kids today are getting back into vinyl. I have hope for the future!
Getting back into vinyl probably because stuff can't be as insanely compressed on there yet also it can't have as much dynamics as digital. It's sad that many compress theor mixes a lot just to make em seem louder but all it does is give ppl a headache because everything sounds just like a pile of mush. I mean just listen to the Metallica album hardwired to selfdestruct.. It's just noisy mush with no detail and dynamic.
There are tons of folks that take those kind of risks but they exist on places like SoundCloud or Bandcamp rather than major labels or radio. Due to their being so much of this music curating it to find what you really love is difficult. However like going to the record store some of the fun is in the discovery of not expecting to love something but you end up feeling that way.
I only discovered Zappa a few years ago, but the more I learn about him the more I realize why he is for the most part buried from public knowledge. Hate his music all you want, but the man was a force unlike any other. Standing up to the PRMC, calling out the foolish nature of American politics on both sides, going independent in a time when it was unheard of. He is one of my idols and it’s an utter tragedy we lost him so relatively young.
same here just found out about Zappa a while ago, personally, I love his music and his mustache , and the things he stood for, unfortunately, he was gone too soon, like all the greats
@@aaronbaraiya3692 The funny thing is that I actually love his music. He even realized himself that his music isn’t for everybody and that’s what I made my comment about not liking his music. That seems to be the only criticism about him is that his music was “weird”. Regardless I agree that he was taken far too soon and the world could really use a person like that these days.
30-seconds into this video and I could have stopped watching - it's all exactly why I walked away dead-cold from an album deal back in the late 90's. The contract being offered was so ridiculously lopsided the band would have done just as well financially if we had just given the album we were working on to the label for free. The most insane bit was a clause which stated we would be charged a 7% "vinyl breakage" fee, (against royalties of course), for an album which was only going to be released on CD. Allegedly, that fee was in the contract in case the label decided on it's own to, "also release on vinyl", which we all knew full-well they would never do. 30 years later I still have no regrets about what might have been. I own my own studio, which I built to my exact needs and specs over a decade or so, own all my masters, and while I never got "rock-star" rich the trickle of money that has been coming in over the years is still a nice secondary source of income.
WOW ! That took a lot of guts and heartbreak to walk away from the deal. I have some relatives in the show business field and they have said it is not pretty for most Artists. The Artists are slaves in every way possible to the crooked execs. Pat Benatar fought back but has been punished without a RnR Hall of Fame status induction.
@@wmpetroff2307 It wasn't so much guts as luck. It all happened in the years right after the "Artist Formerly Known as Prince" situation, and the Don Henley legal tangles with Geffen, and a couple of other high-profile artist/record label fights, so the cat was out of the bag so to speak - people were beginning to realize that record deals offered to new groups were not quite as good as the A&R guys made them out to be. If it had happened just a bit earlier, late 80's instead, I have no doubt we all would have signed, and we would have been screwed like so many others have been.
I’m not in the music world but have taken a few classes in music that talked a bit about royalties and the business. Do you think that people who build their own studio on their own terms could still work with other artists in the industry’s or are the artists contracted to work with certain producers?
@@ritaevergreen7234 Any artist can work with whoever they like, contract or not, the problem is can any material recorded then be released without a label screaming all the way to court? That question is a bit more complicated, because you are diving DEEP into contract law, which is mostly beyond my knowledge and experience. What I do know is it's not uncommon for artists signed to one label to to work with someone signed to another as a guest on a song, you can tell when that has happened if you see an artist/group signed to Label (1), "thanking" Label (2) - usually in the album liner notes there would be something like, "So-and-so appears courtesy of..."
This is why I believe it is important for all new artists to secure the copyright and royalties to their songs, wether they’re signed to a label or not. If you have secured the rights to your own songs, nobody can take that away from you.
@@joshuabrown3361 it’s easy! You can sign up with a PRO (Perfomance Rights Organization) like ASCAP or BMI (I personally use BMI) and you can register your own songs!
I wish I could've met Chester he was and still is so influential to me. He will always be one of my favorite vocalists of all time. Rest in peace to Chester Bennington Frank Zappa and Prince.🙏❤️🙏
@angel paige Prince was referring to how FedEx don’t claim the rights to the products they deliver to people, and he said how the music industry try to use people’s music as their own
Exactly! I can understand a label wanting money back for the cost of manufacturing and distributing and even advertising the product and taking a LITTLE for themselves, as well. but it's the ARTIST that should get the lion's share of the income from it!! The labels SHOULD be there just to do the job of getting the stuff out into the hands of the public and alerting them of its existence! The ARTISTS are the ones doing all the hard work writing, recording and performing this stuff! (Not including the pop princesses who have al their stuff written and recorded FOR them!! They're nothing more than the decorations on the plastic cake the labels are trying to sell.)
I never was a Frank Zappa fan but he’s exactly right about the music executives only releasing music they think we will like. That’s wrong! We won’t know if we like it until we hear it! 🤦🏻♀️
@@truthhandler6828 , Uncle Remus! Yes that is a great tune and I think I’ll play it right now! So thank you kindly for putting the song into my head. That song goes out to you Truthhandler.
Jewel got a good deal, she read a book on it, turned down the advance, asked for $2K a month, and went on tour. She made all her money on one hit and that was enough. At 18 she negotiated the best back end deal anyone ever had.
@@WoockerSocket no. I was referring to how Spotify doesn't pay anyone and everyone decided to let them own the industry. $.004 per play... Better hope you get a billion plays. You get $1 for 250 plays. Nobody makes money except Spotify. Sad world.
“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.” ― Nikola Tesla The industry promotes low vibrational music
I am lucky to play and sing Irish folk ballads which do not require a low end sound ( bass) to be authentic. I do occasional amplified gigs ( not many). I am amazed at the size of the loudspeakers required by rock bands who I occasionally meet up with. These guys require several kilowatts of audio power to drive enormous speakers where I can get by on 100 or 200 watts in even a large hall. I am a solo act and can easily pack all my modest gear in the back of a car. The rockers require a full size van for the gear alone and some require a HGV to carry all their stuff and a day ahead to set it all up. Not easy but great to listen to if I had the nerve and the skill to do it.
And satan is the principality of the AIRwaves. Our mind functions on airwaves. Most people dont know that satan majored in singing, music and poetry. Most people have not connected the dots. Its mindblowing.
So good that in this internet era literally ANYONE can blow up and make money without any label. Or at least you can become famous and then get a deal on YOUR terms to get more money. But really, right now is the easiest time to blow up, not only in music but in anything. Back then you had to be REALLY talented to make it. If you complain today, you wouldn't have had a chance back in the day. Just work.
It's still controlled though. Who do you think controls youtube n all the streaming stuff? Same types of people and if you wana get on the right algorithms and really make big money you gotta get in bed with the same psychopaths. Prime example, K Rino. Considered a Legend ,by Legends ,never signed a single deal tho n his shit has like 10k views.... his videos never pop up, and he's never promoted anywhere at all. A true legend that Never sold out tho not even a Tiny bit. I think the biggest u can possibly get without working with any of the shitty ppl, is someone like Z Ro. 10-15k a show, he Is a millionaire but he had to grind his ass off for like 20 years. If u wana blow up, you pretty much have to work with the psychos who fuk u over...
@@solarpanel8195 Bingo. The machine has got its fingers in a LOT of pies, including the furry and creamy variety. Look to the people that prefer to linger in the shadow of the nooks and crannies behind the scenes. The fact that Billy Corgan is cited here is pretty telling.. he's discussed shapeshifting and the like with Joe Rogan. Babylon, Egypt, Phoenicia.. all still there, and Svali pointed out well there are plenty of Left Hand players who disavow religious belief.
To think I used to obsess about being in a band as a teenager . After I started to really analyze and listen to interviews like in this video from those who have made it , to also realize what bands go through traveling the road , the trainwreck livestyles and relationships . substance abuse etc which they unwittingly can end up in
That's pretty much the attraction of it. Sex drugs rock n roll lifestyle. It's fun when young. Pointless in your late 30s when your body can't handle it and the girls aren't there anymore. Getting laid by a new girl every weekend was fun. Being known in the city was really fun, especially since nobody else around 20 really had that. Travel was fun the first time, after that it was the worst part. It's hard to do emotionally because everyone you meet you never see again.
@Gottes God How many live shows have you done? What kind of crowd are you getting where you are really reaching people? I always played dumps to a small crowd of drunks who weren't listening anyways. For me the reward of the road was the free booze, dope, and sex. Otherwise I wouldn't be sleeping cramped up and revolving my entire day around when I can take a dump in a toilet with a stall door.
It seems like the music industry, more than any other industry, is particularly sleazy. I have heard so many artists complain about it over the years. It seems like it all comes back to ownership of intellectual property. The artist is the one who brings the art to fruition. Like Prince said, distribution is one thing, but attempting to steal an artist's intellectual property through unfair contracts is something else entirely.
@@EmiliaJay Every entertainment industry is filled with sleazeballs. I worked in the video game industry, that industry is the modern equivalent of slavery for creative people. Glad I got out.
@@G33KSPALACEdotCOM I guess it’s good you got away if it’s like that. Seeing a trend here - liberal arts type positions seem to have bad reputations. Sad because art and entertainment is truly one of life’s pleasures
@@EmiliaJay The video game industry thrives on people like me, people who love video games and would love to create them. Then they take that passion and make you work 80 hour work weeks, pay you a crap salary and in the end they butcher your game by forcing in micro transactions and other mechanics to nudge the player into spending more money. From what I gather, the music industry and movie industry is very much the same, bleed their artists dry to make extra money, none of which goes to the people who created it in the first place.
Spot on! ... its one massive brainwashing machine. UNLESS, you're listening to an independent Artist. But even most of them "keep it clean" and toe the line. 😉
seems so weird that musicians even feel like a record label is necessary today... do everything yourself. empower yourself and keep your power and keep your artistic freedom and grow your audience yourself. period. having a record label is like getting married. you don't need to a contract to be in love. skip that shit.
That's why K-pop is creepy trash. It's like a cult. That whole genre is basically all formulated by the industry, there is no talent there. They all have to sound and look a certain way. God I hate K-pop, the most manufactured genre imo.
ive never understood why its so difficult to get into the music industry , you have to take someone to recommend you . if you was a talented sportsperson you would make a good living , you would have thought politicians would step in there all weak ! peace and love to all singers , musicians , and songwriters like myself . ❤❤❤❤❤❤
@@UBeesh10 ok. Groups of musicians should get together to create several musician friendly distribution companies. The point is to revamp the music industry do that the artists own their own work.
lol...that STILL is a BAD IDEA. There are musicians who own a record label and still took their artists money & HAD THEM KILLED: TLC, Tupac, Biggie Smalls (Notorious BIG), Prince, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, DMX...the list goes on and on.
I was in a situation in the late 90s in which a terrible song writer had been contacted, after hearing my voice, by an investor to have her record a demo. She didn't tell me the A&R rep was after the voice and she also didn't tell him that she was writing background piano and lyrics that didn't go with the timing, and I was writing the melodies and rearranging the lyrics to be "singable," or that I was the daughter of a maestro who had been writing songs since the age of 5. After two weeks of writing all of her melodies and even writing a rhythm guitar part over the piano on one tune because it was so boring, I could smell the bulls***. I hated her music and this distinct feeling that I was being conned and decided to walk out of this multi-million dollar studio during the height of that cities booming music craze. That's when I found out I was being ripped off and not given credit for writing the most important part of the songs; the melody. And remember, the music sucked so writing melodies was a chore. I told the woman, who was now screaming and cussing at me because I was her ticket and she hid that from me, that she needed to get another "singer." I told her that she better not use my voice or my melodies or I'd sue her into a coma, and that all of the hired musicians were witnesses to who wrote the melodies. I think a lot of people would have done it anyway to get their foot in the door even though their sound and name would be tied to crappy music. But I was a rock musician, played piano, acoustic and electric guitar, mandolin, and could pretty much pick up any instrument and write a song with it in different genres. It felt great leaving that studio even though everyone said I was crazy. I watch this video and realize I did the right thing back then. I make music for the my own reasons and to me, my music is not a commodity. I do my own recording, production, and perform the entire thing, usually in a few hours, except for the drums. I don't play drums and give the drummer credit. I started a RUclips and rumble channel and I stick my homemade stuff up there for free because I have something to say. Sure. I'm virtually unknown and have a tiny following, but I don't have anyone telling me what to do or saying they own my creations. Is it crazier to be the artist you were born to be, or to be some entities little b**** who dresses you, tells you what your image is, and tells you what kind of art you are going to make to fit a target market? I'd rather be a starving artist than a fat prostitute.
Rest Easy Chester as a fan of your music I miss you and your voice you were incredible I cannot imagine what you went thru Fame actually ruins and kills our favourite artist the amount of abuse
I can only imagine it would be near impossible to rest easy if I were murdered and framed to seem I killed myself. Such a tragedy with him, Chris Cornell, and Aviici all being involved in exposing things such as human trafficking. Hopefully all that has been hidden in the dark will be revealed in the light
I 3rd that, went back n' forth about posting this, but the more I look at Chester the more I see Podesta, can't imagine his childhood, and I can't unseen what I saw. 🙏 😢... Everything in darkness, always comes to light in God's time not ours. The youth of this County must realize the price of fame, is not worth it. This is all fake, the wealth is in love and integrity. When I listen to his music now, it's painful, knowing the truth. May he rest in God's safety. Away from the monsters of this place. The same goes for Chris Cornell... we know the truth, it may not be as you wanted it, but you did it. Rest in peace, knowing we got your back. Even if we don't know everything, the corrupt pedophiles & trafficking is real, and they won't be able to walk down the street or show their faces! It's already happening.
There are those out there that want too believe Chester and Chris killed themselves I don’t believe that it’s so simple to see his father who is in politics had something to do with him death even Chester’s wife knows this they both were going to expose sex trafficking but corrupt officials in high ranking positions
I interned at a label & the stuff I learned backs up EVERYTHING on this video! Every upcoming artist should literally start their OWN label so They own the masters & control the publishing of their music 24/7! Have strong legal team too!
Most ppl can't afford that route so they take any route they can. It's a shame really that our society is so driven by money because that makes some ppl willing to do anything for money
@@solarpanel8195 or dependant for money to reach their dreamjob. its no different than going to school the fees ae huge. its sad that people still bring babies in to this cruel world
The irony of Billy Corgan exposing the inherent inequality of digital streaming services on the Joe Roegan podcast, which is now exclusively available to listen to through Spotify.
Jre is still free to listen to? And as if you wouldn't take that kind of money to simply move it to another platform. Everyone would make that deal in a heartbeat.
I've been a fan of a band called In This Moment since their MySpace days and they were amazing. The lead singer Maria Brink would scream, dance/headbang and just have so much energy on stage. After their third album they were on the verge of breaking up completely. Then in 2012 their album 'Blood' came out and they turned a complete 180. Now the band focuses on witchcraft and Satanic shit, no energy on stage, backup dancers, changes costumes after every single song. It was bad. Now I turn off the radio when they play
She's from Schenectady which isn't too far from where I live i saw them preform as a headliner band back in 2008 at the least edgefest they ever held. And yeah clearly she sold her soul
Zappa is on point. The "Hip, young" record exec mentality is essentially the Spotify algorithm. All Spotify does is suggest music that sounds like the music you already like. It's a complete shit show. No one doing anything remotely different or outside of the established algo genres has a chance to be heard. Unfortunately, the kids coming up on this stuff are becoming programmed robots. Nothing outside of the suggested, homogenized clown music will sound right. Who would have thought that the cigar chomping, out of touch executives were what kept the music fresh and innovative. These are dark times for music.
most people blindly believe what the TV set or the government and so-called education ie Marxist indoctrinations tells them to believe. So whatever they're told to like in terms of music is what people are going to like
It's really boring. My Spotify recommends the same 5 or 6 albums that were released around the same date in the 90s. Like I just want to listen to some metal while lifting and now I'm having to do the work.
I had that feeling til up recently. That algorithm has to struggle a lot on achieve my taste in music (wich of course is hard already), it finally did and found a lot really Nice music on my daily random playlist. Now i can see the optimistic side on this by hearing people we admire and knows it better that us. The sense of adventure by searching and hearing interesting stuff from the underground is still there yet. If your'e interested in making a decent life out of it though, it is a view that might can change by the pass of time even if you are astonighing good at it. This might be for the better, i dont really know. Forgive my english please.
That's why you research different music genres when you feel like It. I like to predominately 70s music but when I feel like going back to my roots and listening to some NIN then spotify suggests 90s industrial and the like that correlate with my music taste in that given moment of time. I don't really understand how it's a shit show. . . Maybe you are just sick and tired of the genre you've been listening to which means you need to expand your mind.
When Frank got sick,he told his wife to sell all his gear and get out of the music business because it's garbage. As evil and malignant as the fk'ng cancer that robbed us of his genius IMO. RIP FZ. You are sorely missed!
Anyone see Dave Lombardo video where he talks why he left? Slayer tour made $4 million. Tom/Kerry got around $250k, manager got $1.5 million! Dave after busting his ass on drums show after show got $60k. That's so messed up
The manager GOT or EARNED that money? Someone needs to set it all up and take the risk. Dave left Slayer for several years, so he is not cut the deal as he would if he stayed. I m NOT disagreeing with you, but there's more sides to the story and investing.
@@CarnagiAngelo Those were his words, he also stated Tom took a side cut not to press charges or something like that. Don’t understand why a legendary band like Slayer even needs a manager
Drummers always get shafted for the simple reason you can copyright a melody (vocal or guitar) but you cannot copyright a percussive rhythm (drums). Check the liner notes of the pre-recorded music you own and see who gets the writing credits. Some bands give equal shares to all members if they have a prior agreement AS A BAND.
@@SerpentStar_ Do You imagine Kerry King in a Cellphone 8A.M in a sunday cold brezze trying to convence somone to buy his band's show? NO That's why they have a manneger
I knew a guy who had been an agent in the music industry back in the 70s and 80s. He said that any big time label will invariably find a struggling but promising band and then try to push a contract on them that amounts to indentured servitude.
True. Saw my friends' band get signed onto Geffen in the early 2000s & get bent over & screwed. Completely changed my perception of the professional music industry I previously was laser focused to be part of. An entertainment lawyer that knows the industry, is invested in your success & actually cares about your goals is worth their weight in gold. At least back then. Nowadays probably a wise investment still.
@@Chatchann actually yeah, wth? Wtf does race have to do with it? Omg, there's smart and dumb in every color. Good God you people, all you do is twist shit from a preconceived notion.
“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.” - Hunter S Thompson
One of Hunter S. Thompson’s most famous quotes isn’t - a quotation, that is. The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side. It turns out that Mr Thompson wasn’t even describing the “music business.” His actual lines, first published in 1985 in the San Francisco Examiner and later in Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the ’80s by Hunter S. Thompson (New York: Summit Books, 1988), follow: The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason. Which is more or less true. For the most part, they are dirty little animals with huge brains and no pulse.
“This is: ‘The Music Business’. You want: ‘Loyalty’? Get: a dog.” - Dave Mason. Musician. (Traffic. Jimi Hendrix. The Rolling Stones. Delaney and Bonnie. Paul McCartney and Wings. Fleetwood Mac.)
@Jason Thompson no we don't? What do those old turds know about music back then? WE know what we want to promote or push as fans and musicians of these genres.
@Jason Thompson and we also need the upbeat big booming voices back announcing the radio stations and contests. Also the funny morning shows and the request Rush hour shows.
I liked his video the most, because it's on point: open-mindedness is the key to success. Instead of thinking you know, find out for real. The result(s) may surprise you...🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
Agreed. He is another counter culture icon who just happened to come from a high ranking military/CIA background. Check out Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon and Mark Devlin’s Musical Truth.
Perhaps the easiest way to avoid most of the problems being mentioned in this video: sign with a medium-sized independent record label. You might not achieve major success, but you'll have far more control and ownership of your career and life.
I didn’t take any of this video as a warning to “fans” at all. It was more of exposing the industry to other artists to take heed of what you are getting yourself in to. Fans don’t care what artists get paid or the lucrative business behind it, they just love the music.
I knew Chester Bennington personally, and I can tell you that aside from being a tortured soul, he was very conflicted with how he felt about the people controlling his music. When I first met him at his house in Newport Beach, California, he had been working on some independent solo stuff that he had taken myself and my DJ partner into his Range Rover to listen to. Away from the house, and our phones that were left in it. He said we couldn't mention it to anyone because it would cause inevitable backlash. Then ten years later, he's dead. And I still can't believe it, but I can imagine why. I pray his son doesn't fall victim to the industry.
The movie "Michael Clayton", although not about the music industry per se, is an excellent movie and gives a good 'overview' of how this kind of thing works. It's hands-down George Clooney's best work, imo.
@@debbiecurtis4021 yes. he and chris cornell were making a documentary about the sexual abuse, torture and murder of children in Hollywood and they were killed at about the same time.
@Joe R the story of Faust is still a allegory for making horrible deals for quick cheap success that will ultimately ruin your life for the gain of a bigger 'entity' satan or corporate its one in the same
Frank Zappa is the only one that really hit it on the head as to why we have the junk we do now, nothing stands out, nobody takes chances anymore on something different and new.
In part of that Billy Corgan interview, he talked about how the record label actually warned him about how him being the only songwriter was going to cause a big money difference between him & the other members. He said they told him they’d seen it get bad to the point where bands broke up over the big difference in earnings, because of songwriting credits.
Billy Corgan thinks he's some sort of thought leader. In reality, he's a deeply twisted fuck. Most of what he says doesn't make sense beneath the surface. Super talented, though.
Being a musician is often glorified, but the truth is, it's not really financially sustainable and it's only fun when you're on stage, which is a small percent of the time. I used to play at local bars 4 nights a week with a band as the bass player and singer (in certain songs.) It started off with just me playing bass with them as a guest on open mic nights and then eventually becoming their permanent bass player as theirs moved out of state. While it seemed great getting paid to play music for people, it wasn't financially sustainable especially since I have two kids, so continued working my full-time job. Our lead singer/guitarist played for two bands, 6 nights a week. He was nearly 50, with over 20 years of experience, yet he made barely enough to live comfortably. It all came to an abrupt end, though, when the pandemic forced everyone to quarantine. Bars closed down, making us go on indefinite hiatus. When I was in my early 20s, I had always wanted to make music my career, but now that I'm older with kids and have more responsibilities, I wouldn't want to resent the one thing I love doing on the little free time I have by making it my job. When bars opened back up, I had decided not to rejoin the band and quietly faded from that whole scene. Even though I was playing with them as an official band member for about only 6 months, I had gotten fatigued and started losing interest and motivation. Playing the same songs, constantly drinking, not having time for other interests, no social life. I just couldn't see myself doing this for another 20 years. I now just play and create music for myself and at times collab with others and simply share it with people on RUclips or social media. I can now play whatever I want, whenever I want to and I'm not obligated to do it.
Pink floyd is a good example of a band that has kept getting jerked around by the music industry. 2 songs that describe it perfectly are Welcome to the machine and Have a Cigar.
I think its more like "We will own Everything, And you damn Well better not Grouse about it, and Put on a Facade of Nice when you are asked!!"" Doesn't it seem That Way?
Does anyone here even remember when a new album dropped and you had to rush to the record store before they sold out? Not many people get to experience that kind of excitement these days. I remember putting it on while going through the album cover. We all lost something with this point and click shift in society that we need to bring back
I wasn't around for that, but at least I had movie rentals. Man, now THAT needs to make a comeback. It's so damn hard to find the movie you want with every company locking their stuff away behind a subscription fee.
With stuff being downloaded now you do not have the same control of music and payments for sales that once existed in the music industry. It is my belief that you will never see the big money artists used to get in former times. Most modern artists now have to be brand ambassadors for perfume, clothimg and other such merchandise. There is little money in music nowadays for most artists.
I remember when I was 10 my older brother bought me the "Lil troy" album for my birthday I loved the song "wanna be a balla" and it was the greatest joy. I've been making music since I was 12. I'm 32 now... And my first album releases everywhere February 1st produced entirely by myself. I literally spent the last two years learning to professionally engineer my own music because the local studios were eating all of my money with half-assed mixes (so I would come back for more mixing). Advice for artists, learn how to engineer your own sound, don't pay for excessive studio mixing, these studios are no different than the old school record labels, they will suck you dry
In today's music industry record labels are obsolete. Social media and digital platforms have made it possible to get your music to the world. Which should be the goal of any musician. If you want to record, play, perform, it's all up to you. Just don't quit on your music and it will happen.
Chester Bennington had it pretty rough and he hated the civilian life he had growing up. He also discovered his talent but he kept getting rejected by other bands and labels. But by the time he finally made it he found out about the DOWN side to being a celebrity and that he should have known. Poor guy has been struggling since Hybrid Theory 💿
Having a Satanic biological father (Podesta) would have been a struggle. Him Avicii, & Chris Cornell spoke out *and in Music Videos) of the Child Traffiking and the satan agenda, pizza gate in connection to Podesta! They were all killed, after they started a documentary about it, to expose it to the public! Last music video from Avicii, (that was released) was a Child Trafficking Video 'for a better day' bless them all
I’ve often wondered why the musicians have not gotten together, forming artists-friendly companies that solve all of the evilness that the hipster corporate critters come up with.
Sinatra started Reprise because Capital wasn't treating him right. Then treated Reprise artists like Capital treated him!! I think the lure of the "easy money" washes away the good intentions.
Billy Corgan: ruclips.net/video/8ipj7FLS7FQ/видео.html
Frank Zappa: ruclips.net/video/KZazEM8cgt0/видео.html
Chester Bennington / Serj Tankian: ruclips.net/video/6fa8lJKTy0I/видео.html
Alex Skolnick: ruclips.net/video/LgqhWotB2tk/видео.html
David Draiman: ruclips.net/video/cokL-fU9ONQ/видео.html
Prince: ruclips.net/video/jXawTbQFGjQ/видео.html
Devin Townsend: ruclips.net/video/RDsoXJX4GPY/видео.html
Bret Michaels: ruclips.net/video/ZHYu7SIzkgU/видео.html
Al Jourgensen: ruclips.net/video/f3WNCXPqmbI/видео.html
Keep this series coming! Musicians talking about stuff 😁
Glad you included Uncle Al!
none of this questions the existence of music as an industry and product. none of this mentions that you are going nowhere unless you are a mason. think: what is music for? what role does music have in society? sure, that seems attractive, but, how are they gonna let anyone up there? uncle al? "t'witch" the ignored statement. go back to with sympathy, see how much negativity is being dumped on you. dysfunctional baggage. this is what masons do. i've been making vst (software instruments) for 19 years. i have a very very bad reputation with other instrument makers.
Thank you for posting this
TLC talked about being award winning, multi-platinum and broke in Behind the Music back in 1998
What Prince said was so on point and just as brilliant as I'd expect from him. Record labels are a delivery service and should NOT own the music.
That's exactly what stood out to me too. 100%
Prince was b4 his time
Formerly known as Prince. 🙌😝
He exposed chemtrails on live TV!
@@mosaicskulls8071 the symbol for love
Don't forget: a musician can make an album without a label, but a label can't make an album without a musician. They need us more than we need them.
Musicians are literally a dime a dozen and they don't need you at all. They have marketing divisions that could make the most unpopular, ugliest person popular and famous. They have hundreds of shadow writers and session players at their beck and call and catalogues of songs that they can give to whomever they are promoting that day. The industry is sleazy but so is every industry in the entertainment side of things. Sports is way worse then the music industry in terms of this, tv/movie land is on par with music. They know people will sign because fame and money is what folks want, they also know that very few of them know how to read a contract let alone get a couple of lawyers to look them over so they will throw in all sorts of stuff to see what they can get away with. The funny thing is no one complains while they are making money, starting their careers and riding the fame wave - they only complain about the hand that fed once they are successful and have knowledge and leverage.
Think of Macklemore he's definitely great. Did it on his own hope he's doing good
@@corail53 this I agree with to some extent. Of course there are cases of abusive companies here and there but sometimes I do find some “complaints” from some famous people that would make me think “well… you did sign a contract and you are providing for a large group of people including the staff that helped you reach this point”. But of course we will never know the real truth behind the scenes but I agree with you when thinking of some cases.
Yeah sorry bud. They have an exponential amount of money musicians dont
@@corail53 So tell me, which label did Chance the Rapper need in order to win his three Grammy awards? Whose marketing department put Acid Rap at #5 on the Billboard 200?
“Even FedEx doesn’t say they own the thing they ship…….”
We miss you, brother
100%
R.I.P Prince
Did FedEx subsidize the package you are shipping?
For real.
yeah, but he signed the contract. If you don't like the deal, then don't sign. But going back and complaining about a deal you signed just bc you don't think it's fair anymore...??
Zappa made a profound point. Artists are literally allowing one person ( out of billions) to decide if their music is quality. That is insane and irrational.
But now artists can record and produce their own music at home and release it themselves via the Internet though, so it's not so relevant today.
@@robambrose4199 Now there is so much crappy music
@@br.m That's one way to look at it. Another way of looking at it is that we don't just have loads of new good music to listen to, but we still have all the old music too, so we haven't really lost anything, apart from really old stuff that wasn't recorded in the first place, or was on recordings so rare that most people won't be missing them. Have you heard that Lemon Twigs song called: Corner of my eye + seen their tank-tops in the video ? It's worth checking out just for their outfits.
@@br.m "Now there is so much crappy music" yes, i always say to people that say that, Yes but it's because now you have tons of more people making music, more people = more music = more shit music that you need to filter out to find the good stuff. Another reason is computers, the way music is recorded no, no band can sound like Metallica in the 80's, that real hardware hand recorded sound does not exist today in the digital computer recorded sound, unless some band goes very old school, same reason why Michael Jackson still sounds better than any pop artist today.
@@Real_SkyRipper Computers can be ok. I keep an old computer from the 90's with old software.
The newer software annoyed me because it has all these "features" to make the process easier. It often messes up the sound though.
Newer computers also make it easy to add effects after recording. Like in the past, there wasn't enough memory or processing power. So all or most effects would be "live" and recorded that way.
Now, with powerful computers and cheap RAM, people tend to heap effects on after recordings are made. Then the magic or the life is sucked out of the sound
With most of the crap music these days, I doubt most people are even recording. Just using digital instruments or samples
“The system isn’t broken, it’s designed this way…”
Hell Yeah
the ADL will come for you. such antisemetism!
Right. Which is why any artist who got "screwed" by the "big bad record companies" only has themselves to blame. Rare cases of real criminality aside, nobody ever had a gun put to their heads to sign a record contract. READ the bloody thing.
@@doublestrokeroll Who took a dump in your cereal this morning? Clearly you haven’t watched the video, or done your own research.
@@cranklabexplosion-labcentr8245 Who put the stupid in yours? Clearly I know far more about this than you do. But by all means show me where someone (besides Vanilla Ice) was forced to sign a record contract without reading it.
I've been a musician for 50 years. I can say the best musicians don't care about fame and fortune. They sit on the edge of their bed and just get better and better; you'd be amazed at the talent and skill out there.
Not MUCH point if you DON'T play in FRONT of people!
What do you play? We could jam!
If I was seriously making music, I would insist on making money. Otherwise why bother? The so-called music industry isn't in it for fun, so why should I be any different?
@@thomasrobinson182 GOOD call!
So what do they do for money?
"Even FedEx doesn't say they own the thing that they ship"
Such a great analogy,
Prince summed it up, simply and beautifully.
Only if they didn’t pay for the recordings
If you make the recordings and bring it to them
then they are a promoter/distributor delivery service
but if you don’t have a pot to piss in
making an album is expensive and they have a vested interest in it
otherwise they wouldn’t do it
so the negotiations begin there
If a musician signs it away... record excs DO own it... they own it all.
Doesn't matter...they killed him for opening people's eyes to the truth.
Too much, he said it well
@@annreiter284 He was a drug addict...
Prince was very very intelligent in music, in business in taking care of himself. He was an advocate for himself and called out those companies like every artist should.
As big as Prince or Michael Jackson were they couldn’t really fight the Jewish music “industry”.
@@dambigfoot6844 And so they died.
@Stephanie Slayer Michael Jackson had a song "They don't really care about us". A song literally about being the powers that be. They bleeped out 2 words about Jews and soon after is when the mass slander campaign against him started.
bullshit
@Stephanie Slayer no he called out Sony and Sony killed him
I'm a writer. A few years back I met Pat Mills, one of my literary heroes. When I told him I was a writer his first advice was to stay away from publishing houses. He said it's a machine that just takes all of your work and all of the money and treats you as if you don't exist. This was the first advice he gave to me. We no longer need them.
Any advice then on how to gain money from our own writing, without contacting them?
@@pannik_lucas some don't realize a competitor would say something like this to snuff out future competition.
@@fyodordostoevsky2861 A fun thought, albeit those would be some low chances for a RUclips comment
@@pannik_lucas First, gaining money should not be your objective. But self publishing allows to to retain control of your work and gain almost all of the proceeds.
@@fyodordostoevsky2861 You clearly don't have a clue what you are talking about.
People wonder why so many rock stars are depressed and struggle with addiction.
That's true and when you sell your soul to the devil this is what the big companies are doing totally screwing over artist out of money they have NO RIGHT TAKING. Artist need to be making money from THIER music management and labels have no right to own bands material unless the band or artist agreed on it.
I don't wonder. I don't care. Just entertain me.
Oh cry me a river
Many of them are troubled people and probably have those issues to begin with. Whatever caused them to have those issues are also things that contribute to them being good artists. Couple addiction with piles of money to feed that addiction, it just makes an already existing problem worse.
@@JM-fo1te Nah, nobody cares about you.
“Even Fed Ex doesn’t own the things that they ship.” ~prince
I loved to see the interview with Alein Jorgensen he is so good! His music really rocks me even now more. ( Ministry Twitch) and what he is saying about recording companies and radio stations defining what music is supposed to sound like.
Prince hit nail perfectly on the head with that statement!
“Even Prince doesn’t own the things that they ship.” ~Fed Ex
"You will own nothing and be happy" -World Economic Forum
Prince said it so well. What an icon for independent artists everywhere. I don’t even listen to his music but I think I will after finding out how radical he was to the industry… what a boss
i dont get this praise for prince,all the time,when its known allegedly he was a drug user and beat up certain women ...
He was a musical Genius... In the realm of Mozart or Hank Williams... Give him a chance...
I was an 80’s teen Prince is one of the greatest! Listen to Raspberry beret I used to love that song as a kid
I did listen to Prince's music and still don't like it. But that has nothing to do with the fact that I agree with his thoughts. You don't have to go and listen to him,seems forced.
@@jordesign What? You're tripping... MJ is more important than him.
RUclips Guitar player Jared Dines jokes that he is better off on RUclips then with a label because he gets to keep 100% of all the profit he makes.
@@NCA0896 RUclips Guitar player Jared Dines.
He's not lying.
I think I heard/read somewhere that Matt Heafy is in the same position with live streaming on Twitch as he is making more money on Twitch than on his actual music?!! Again I think it was Matt or some other musician who doing online internet stuff🙂
@@Luke_Person1234 Not surprised, Matt Heafy is a personal friend of Jared Dines.
Yeah, unfortunately.
"Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage." That lyric makes sense now more than ever.
that was always what it was about anyway. in a mocking way.
Just take the shots.
Dude I was just singing that part at work 😂
@Judge Steve 😝
Despite all my rage I am still just phineas cage!
Worked in music publishing for long time and learned the following things:
1. You don't need a record label, especially now in 2021
2. Own your own publishing, always
3. If you do sign a contract related to your music, take it to a lawyer that specializes in music business contracts specifically, and read the thing!
How do you do your own publishing?
@@superkatarsis 1) register with a performing rights organization(ascap/Bmi), 2) start a publishing company, really just a name with a business license, 3) register your song with your info and publishing info with the performing rights organization. That is the quick and dirty.
@@timdahl I never ever really understood the mechanics behind publishing deals and still don’t but they have definately given me some decent amounts of money.
#2 is actually more important than any combo of reasons.
If you don't own your music.....you own nothing, and not only that, the thieves will profit mightily off of you.
Learn this now kids.
@@superkatarsis you thinking you got decent amounts of money, imagine their cut and without working, not only that, they can still gain profits after you're dead, but your family don't.
Prince was a very intellectual dude. Always spoke very concise, intelligently and eloquent.
Sam Cooke, Michael Jackson, Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin..Whitney Houston wanted out of it and creative control…
explains his early demise
Don't forget he was a very sick drug addict. Take what he said with a grain of salt
I've been saying for years the concept of the 'record label' is a dinosaur. With the advances made in recording technology, coupled with costs of said technology getting lower, it's now completely possible to record and release a studio quality level project from home. Not to mention, thanks to various social media platforms and other such creations (RUclips being one), you can now get your name out there better than any agent could have 20 years ago.
The record label is obsolete but the professional recording studio is not. Depends on the kind of music to be honest. With electronic music, I'd say all you need is talent. Even something produced fully in the box can sound great. But not everyone has access to a great sounding room to record real drums or a piano etc. It all depends on where your bar is but a lot of home recordings that have been released sound absolutely terrible. There's a certain polish to the production of a big name artist's music that has been professionally mixed and mastered. Again, it all comes down to skill. But recording and mixing is an art by itself and musicians would greatly benefit from getting that touch from a pro audio engineer. Even getting a fresh objective ear to listen to your music can take it up a notch.
Not to mention that a lot of modern production practices are really lazy and you hear it in a lot of tracks these days. It's very rare that you'll come across a bedroom studio album with real instruments that sounds as good as say, Steely Dan's records. The flip side to accessibility is that everyone starts thinking they know how to do something without the proper practice so you end up with a lot more sub par work. But the democratization of production is a net positive. You can get more music out there more easily. The gatekeepers aren't there anymore. The audience directly decides what they want to listen to.
@@lamenamethefirst With the amazing quality of soundfont libraries, used by the likes of Hans Zimmer and others, I'd argue that a well-treated room for real instruments just isn't needed anymore. I can program drums using live-recorded sample packs I buy online that fool even the most seasoned mix engineers, and the orchestral and choral and instrument soundfonts these days, as I said, are practically indistinguishable from the real thing.
I mean, I have quite a few Kontakt libraries myself, and they blew my socks off.
A good buddy of mine is a guitar player of 15 years, and I was able to trick him on one of my tracks where I used Ample Guitar, and he legitimately thought (until I told him otherwise) that I had hired a session musician.
All you need these days is a laptop, and if you're doing vocals, an interface and a mic.
When I went to school, our main studio had an SSL AWS 948, which was an amazing console to get to work on and use.
But the honest fact is, I now own the SSL 2 interface in my home studio, and its preamps are LEAGUES better than the SSL 2, in another tier entirely. 70dB of dynamic range vs 130, not to mention my interface's THD is MUCH lower (something like 0.0013% - while SSL is quiet about this stuff, the 948's is likely tens of times higher).
And compare the price tags, man. $100k plus for the console, $280 for my interface. It isn't even a competition. Not to mention SSL sells channel strips both in hardware and plugin format that can perfectly replicate the analog saturation that so many engineers miss from the old days, and a good mixing engineer can even replicate that sound using only stock plugins in your DAW, which arguably offers a hundred times more flexibility than ANY mixing console ever produced and at a fraction of a fraction of the cost.
Yes, it's true a lot of home recordings are terrible. That comes with the territory. When you make something available to anybody, you wind up with a far larger sample size and thus the chances you'll encounter something that doesn't live up to standards is higher.
But what are the odds? Say, 5% of all home recordings don't hold up. There were production errors and mistakes back in the day when engineers were getting the hang of studio gear as it was introduced and a great many tracks made during this pioneering era would also be well below the bar, a good 5% or so.
I think the healthy competition that increased as a result of the availability of prosumer gear just guarantees quality will improve for everyone in due time, as long as the artists/engineers are serious.
If you want relevance, you need to be competitive, and there's no shortage of video blogs and step by step instructions and guides and advice blogs on RUclips by some of the greatest engineers that have ever lived. You don't even need audio engineering school anymore, which set people like me back a good 30 grand or so.
I think it's become like the wild west. Anybody can commit and if they put the work in and overcome the competition, they can become successful and a big studio just isn't relevant anymore.
If it were, SSL, Neve, and API wouldn't be reduced to selling channel strips and plugins, they'd be making their money from console sales alone, and that just simply isn't the state of the market anymore and hasn't been for over a decade now. Bedroom studios are quickly becoming the norm and there's no shortage of resources to fine-tune the experience to make the most of it, not to mention the ease of collaboration with skilled individuals in any specialization you could want (recording engineers, mix engineers, mastering engineers, songwriters, producers, session musicians, etc)
Anyone that is still signing a deal with a media company are the biggest fools. I give you a pass if you’ve already made your millions and have a strong fan base. Cause maybe you’re working for a type of legacy u can’t get on YT or IG etc
@@newagain9964
Yet even someone like Billie Eillish signed a deal with Interscope to get even bigger and more famous more quickly.
Not to mention "Disney's 'Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter To LA' "... or the heavily photoshopped pictures for Vogue.
It is quite hilarious how quick her "self-made" image got turned into a marketable brand by big media.
If you're an artist getting interest from labels, you know you're doing something right, keep doing what you're doing, stay away from labels & be the owner of your music
@Hugs Bunny or, run your indie band like a business, that's why a chunk of indie bands are making bank. They learned from the older artists.
no artist has ever made it on their own, Fact... they will always have the dream of them in their head being fame, fact
stop daydreaming of being a fame artist, Fact... you love music keep to yourself, if you make money of it your no music lover, Fact...just another fame seeker... fact
call snoop dog, call Eminem, call Taylor swift, call famous, and they know who i am..GMIX, G-unit..
@Hugs Bunny so who?, a couple guys playing at mom and dad garage, someone a county fair, or that band at a bar... so those guy who have credibility ???no then who
@Hugs Bunny here is a band that wrights their own music and lyric
they just needed the money and the push
Bring Me The Horizon - Shadow Moses
I had a friend who was a producer for RCA. They brought on a new musician who was all excited that they were supplying beer and great food during his recording. I was like "you know you're paying for all this, right? It'll be in your contract." He said "What?" He had no idea.
OH YES FOR SURE ! The Artist is treated like royalty because the crooked execs set up the glit and glamour at the expense ''of the Artist''. The crooked execs even take out a huger chuck of money for service councilor...mice print in THE Contract.
Artist ignorance is amazing.
@@MicahElohim - more like artists are taken advantage of bc they are naive and simply just want to create music.
Which is how it should be. You give it your best or don’t do it at all.
@@MicahElohim Which is why the vile music industry can see the very gullible music artists. The "Bloodsuckers" know how to say "sweet nothings" to the artists, they know how to "masque" their faces and the hidden agendas (literal contracts of deception & corruption) from the artist, they know how to work the music artists to insanity, and then they "bleed" the artists dry. Period. 💯
@@MicahElohim It's even more amazing how people have the 🖤 to misuse and abuse talented individuals (in ANY industry) for greed and corruption. Simply...AMAZING. God help us, in the Name of Jesus Christ. 💯
Prince said it perfectly and guy was a savage. Recording it yourself hahahahah now that is being a musician to the fullest and holding up a middle finger. Love you prince 💜
most people do/are and put it on the internet. 60 000 new songs come out every day on spotify alone. good luck mr./mrs independent artist.
As a fully DIY, independent solo artist since 2003, Ive never been more grateful for the choices I made early in my career... especially going into this pandemic. So many of my fellow artists had very few options to financially adapt to once touring went out the window; even that still seems rather bleak.
We're already seeing well established acts like Periphery and Times of Grace (to name a few) walk away from labels and still reach notable success. Once you know how the machine works, there's little reason to ever put yourself and your bandmates through that and sign away your creativity. Slowly but surely, the artist will realize his/her power and start strong-arming these labels into getting fair deals that benefit the longevity of the artist. We are the labels' life-source... not the other way around.
Labels have their benefits don’t get me wrong, but often times the juice is not worth the squeeze.
Just my humble opinion, keep on rockin' on!
I love your music! I’m striving to be half the musician you are man
@@thetacticaltildo1139 Much obliged my friend, appreciate the kind words!
honestly I've only ever heard how you play in the shred collabs, but what you've said in this is some really great advice on how everything works
Hey, will The Juice Is Not Worth The Squeeze be a future song title?? Cause that would be rad AF😎🤟
True words, especially from a shred maestro.
"The music industry is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side" Hunter S Thompson
FACTS
think you can literally take out the "music" and just put in "creative"
"There's also a negative side" sounds like he implied what he said about the music industry is good 😭
@@Sumkneegrow I think he meant there were worst things
A label wanted to sign me, but I had to pay them, give my rights to MY songs, and at the same time, there were other unspoken expenses. they also said they would broadcast my music on tons of radio stations (non existent), making mailing lists (of which they would end up in the trash or spam section in most cases). in short, a rip-off in every sense. My ex band members (dickheads to be honest) accused me of being a dictator, they left my project and leave alone because they believed about this label and all of the lies they said about this shitty contract, after this I went on my own and I recorded 2 albums without labels ... (you can hear it on youtube and spotify)
Do you want some advice?
forget the recording labels, make your own albums, unless you bring them a lot of money, then maybe they will help you ...
I always loved listening to Ed Sheeran from England saying his biggest songs were all over the charts and radio for more than a year making the label tens of millions of dollars and Ed was still living on a friend's couch and wondering how he could afford to travel to television shows and radio shows to promote his songs and career. The labels are a bunch of parasites!!! To the fans every bit as much as they are to the artists!
100%
Not a fan but damn that's.. sad..
Idon't believe that for one second. Why wouldn't he be touring and making the record label even more money if he was on the charts already? Makes no sense other than him trying to sound like average guy.
@@richardb8104 Ed is one of hundreds of artists who have said this in the last 40 years! It's the tale of the industry, not "his story".
tbh thats mostly just Ed doing his stuff. He is loaded, he just dont wanna spent too much money on something.
Prince was really the King of spreading awareness of how these labels will rip you off, he never took advances, he paid to make his own music, in his own studio and they would still point at the contract and say but look right here, you signed this! Its a beast machine.
It's a shame a lot of this happened to so many "one hit wonders". They were screwed over by the label as soon as thier follow-ups didn't match the initial success.
@Princelawrenz Hamlin Mudvayne had bigger success after Dig. Happy? For instance from 2 albums later is a bigger hit. Dig got a second wind from multiple meme cycles since 2012 making the song bigger than it was in the first place.
That’s why we should be proud of Radiohead. They were supposed to be a one hit wonder. But they made great music and gained a huge following for make weird and different stuff.
Rock ain't dead. You just can't find it on the radio.
yup. mainstream music today is just shit
95.5 KLOS still plays actual rocknroll. Even some new stuff too.
@@2isceez Really it's mainstream radio that's terrible. Rock and classic rock radio must appeal to the common denominator which means repitition and homogeny. I find so many great bands on RUclips that radio will never play.
Radio stations in the U.K on a daily basis have a "When you hear three Ed Sheeran songs in a row call in and name the songs to win £10,000" I've got a better idea... let's listen to some better shit? or at least give someone else a chance?
@@somethingsomeonesaid6455 Sweet. I'll check it out. Thanks and rock on.
4:18 I liked the way Prince explained it the best. He really had a well known and long, tenuous relationship with the record industry. Billy Corgan and Brett Michaels broke it down very well as well.
And that's why he's dead, sadly
He knew he was a slave
Prince was the most self absorbed, egotistical narcissist in music history
Brett Michaels is d-bag, but he did touch on a good point about owning publishing rights. Frank Zappa also understood the importance of owning the publishing right. There’s an interview clip out there of Steve Vai talking about it, which he learned from Zappa.
@@SobrietyandSolace prince is dead because he stuck with the rules of his religion and wouldn't accept blood transfusions or agree to needed procedures that would require blood transfusions. That's why he was in so many heavy narcotics for so long.
Rest In Peace Chester. I grew up on Hybrid Theory, Reanimation and Meteora. LP got me interested in music production, and although I eventually outgrew nu metal and got interested in other genres of music, they were the spark that got me into it in the first place. I ended up graduating with BA (Hons) in Audio Production and finding work as a sound engineer in a local studio. So even if you felt like you had nothing to live for at the end, I hope you knew that you inspired many young people to pursue their passion in life. You and your music left a big impact on the world, and you will always be remembered.
I believe he was “suicided”
@@Amethyst12thheaven
No doubt about it
Yes rest in peace Chester 🕊️
Hi. Just a question since you have pursued the music production path... would you suggest it to someone who wants to go and pursue this field in today's age? I am 22 and after finishing my bachelors I really want to get into producing and maybe even find a program for Masters.... I would appreciate your insight.
Every artist said the same thing, but Prince simply nailed it.
Not really. He owned his own studio, but different than the rest who rented 200k in studio time.
Prince was a true genius in every way, and paid dearly for it in the end, they make you pay the ultimate price for rebelling.
@@Veldtian1 Can you express what you really mean here. Billions of us out here feel something went wrong in a sadistic way unknown to us. Something about his ending almost seemed as if some entity out there mocked one for his hit songs " I'm Not Gonna Let The Elevator - Bring Us Down" and you see him in that elevator.
Man, Prince hit the nail on the head with that one. They ARE a delivery service. The companies should only be making a fraction of whatever it's worth to convey the music. Someone like Prince who created the music from itsvery inception to its creation should be entirely deserving of at least 80% of the profits. At least... Like he said, FedEx doesn't OWN what they ship. They charge fees to get it there, that's it.
So much needs to be changed about the music industry--and this is a MASSIVE part of it, if not the most important part.
Fed Ex doesn't have to promote songs from their packages to radio stations & the public at large. It's a specious argument.
Too bad thats NOT gonna change.
The delivery part has already changed about the music industry; you can pay very little to promote music through CD Baby, for instance. You don't need labels to distribute your music anymore if you don't wanna deal with them.
Some problems though are that the recording quality of amateur artists's music is usually not very good compared to that of artists that can record on multi-millionaire studios, with the money they get from the record labels, if they are signed.
Nor do most amateur artists have money to promote their music through famous magazines and famous RUclips channels and such, or radio stations, or tv channels...
Not to mention most people want to only/mostly consume the music/art that is being published on famous media, and that needs publicity money...
@@edwardlagrossa1246 Great point there.
The harsh truth from musicians that have been doing music for much of their lives RIP Chester
The full Zappa interview is priceless.
@@cblackburn81 I should watch it it's very insightful
He gave us some great music with Lincoln Park. He also shared the ugly truth behind the industry. Thank you Chester. Gone but not forgotten
@@ellev9374 Linkin
@@DSchea My bad. Llinkin not Lincoln
After playing in a few local bands in my late teens/early 20s, by the time I was 24 or 25, I knew I wanted nothing at all to do with the music business. It was always more enjoyable & rewarding just jamming with friends & playing in local bars from time to time.
Independent artists are living it up. Don't sell your soul to a record company.
They are not "living it up" lol. The DIY approach is being widely over-romanticized, it is incredibly difficult and stressful and there are very, very few examples of people who actually became successful doing it. Record Labels can only fuck artists over this bad precisely because what they're offering is very valuable and enticing to upcoming artists. E.g. if you're not so lucky as to go viral somehow (which EVERYBODY wants to do and is therefore extremely unlikely), you on your own or even with a small marketing agency are simply never going to be able to compete with the marketing means and reach of a giant record company, no matter how many FB comments you write with your blue checkmark account or how many Insta stories you post each day.
Most of them influenced by vile "artists"
@@Christopher-md7tf So THAT'S how those dumb comments get hundreds of THOUSANDS of likes. You've edified me.
@@Christopher-md7tf tell that to Young Dolph. Never signed anything. Started his own label.
Correction: POPULAR independent artists are living it up. If you’re independent and not as well known as a big band, you’re going to have a rough time.
So many insights! The "Jedi mind tricks" were priceless, and Zappa's comment about the "new hip young music execs" was so accurate. Maybe it's a rule for anything corporate, not just music. The "let's try it and see" attitude is more innovative than the "I know what the consumers want" attitude. I guess it's hubris.
not hubris. control.
I'm a baby boomer, big fan of Frank Zappa. I never liked hype young men, they are 90% phony.
That's why music sucks nowadays
Absolutely. When corporate America says PROFIT is the only priority, you end up destroying everything else. Music and culture included. But more importantly: food, education, health.
@@JoBisbee The cigar chomping record executives that Frank Zappa said we would be better off with werent boomers, they were record executives born in the Silent Generation giving deals to young baby boomer musicians. Frank is referring to the young hip boomer executives who took over the music industry (and many of which still do to this day)
"FedEx doesn't say that they own the thing that they ship."
Great point. Spot on.
yeah but he didn't sign an exclusive contract with FedEx either. Can't agree to something then go back and cry about how it's not fair 🤷🏾♂️
@@ZemarRed He's not crying, stupid; he's WARNING artists that (1) they'd better not sign that agreement, (2) the record mafia had a monopoly for a century or so and artists could either give away their creative control or sing for tips at the local bar and (3) now that there are viable alternatives artists had better explore them.
@@dontaylor7315 Good point.
FedEx didn't fund the creation of the product being shipped. Another company did. He didn't take an advance yet he did sign the deal regarding money on sales for records and ownership of music. Don't do that.
@@TheTenCentStory Don't indeed, and these days when alternatives exist it's probably best to look at every other option before signing an agreement of any sort.
After almost 10 years in the industry the only thing I can say about music is if you can sell cars or Kirby vacuums or even fake jewelry at the mall, you have a spot in the music industry. It’s not the actual industry it’s the people that make it so fucked up. It’s all about the almighty dollar. Nothing else matters.
Right. True talent means nothing.
The way I see it, is musicians no longer need record labels. With today's tech, anyone with the desire to do so can self publish and grow a tremendous following. At the end of the day, artists want to create and share it with others. Greed need not be a factor.
"With today's tech, anyone with the desire to do so can self publish and grow a tremendous following."
Hmmm.. how would one do that?
You made it in life bro keep going 🤞🏾
@@AndreasDevig make music and upload it to RUclips
@@titanicbigship it’s not that easy unfortunately . It’s incredibly hard, sometimes I feel impossible . Too much content. Too much people online trying to get famous. Musicians are no longer competing against each other, we now compete against “influencers”. New artists only break if they go viral. I’ve been trying to put myself out there but growth is extremely slow and people would rather watch cute dogs online.
@@AndreasDevig Through distrokid for example (for distribution)
There's also bandcamp, soundcloud, youtube (music)...
I really wish we could get more "warnings" about any industry tbh! So many people dreaming to get in, thinking it would be sweet, etc... and then they realized it's completely different. This could open our eyes to how the show is run.
Very well stated. You are spot on/"on point."
Do it yourself thats the problem waiting for someone to do research for you
I agree I think if more people spoke up about the corruption behind all these industries a lot of people will think more about what they want to do, so many people dream to be huge but at what cost, a lot of musicians I listened to and bands who were in the industry had lots of problems they were probably young at some point thought they own their own music they put their blood sweat and tears into, to then just have it ripped from you and then have some high person in position taken advantage of you, never shake the shady person's hand, never sign a contract have a lawyer and read it carefully also the label industry in my personal opinion is a scam what's the point in making music if you don't have the rights to you're own song, that you as a creator made.
And to make it worse a lot of these bands who been screwed over for decades they end up taken drugs alcohol ect. Then you wonder why so many of these musicians are depressed because they were taken advantage of and I guarentee some of them probably at some point attempted to try to end their own life and regretted signing that damn contract I even heard of some cases were musicians end up committing suicide because it was too much and they were unable to pay royalties which is sad.
There's a lesson here never trust Hollywood screw Hollywood and screw the label industry. That's all I'm going to say
You guys haven't seen much. So many artist talk about it and so many get killed too. Did you guys know that labels take out life insurance policies on their artist? Let that sink in. Make sense as to why so many die. Especially in rap.
One of the most important processes in the human lifespan is to become "disillusioned."
Best of luck to all discovering the truth.
Zappa was so rad. Missing those days of REAL artists songwriters, who dared to create their own music, even if it sucks or is different. Ie NEIL YOUNG, 70s prog RUSH, bowie. Take a chance and inspire someone. Kids today are getting back into vinyl. I have hope for the future!
Getting back into vinyl probably because stuff can't be as insanely compressed on there yet also it can't have as much dynamics as digital.
It's sad that many compress theor mixes a lot just to make em seem louder but all it does is give ppl a headache because everything sounds just like a pile of mush. I mean just listen to the Metallica album hardwired to selfdestruct.. It's just noisy mush with no detail and dynamic.
Ok Boomer
@@RlotttHD lol im a gen ‘xer but hell i feel old we all gonna get there someday
There are tons of folks that take those kind of risks but they exist on places like SoundCloud or Bandcamp rather than major labels or radio. Due to their being so much of this music curating it to find what you really love is difficult. However like going to the record store some of the fun is in the discovery of not expecting to love something but you end up feeling that way.
Thrash Metal in the 80's was rad I'm 17 years old and Thrash Metal got me into playing bass and collecting cassette tapes.
thank god for those musicians, I was this close to joining the music industry
I only discovered Zappa a few years ago, but the more I learn about him the more I realize why he is for the most part buried from public knowledge. Hate his music all you want, but the man was a force unlike any other. Standing up to the PRMC, calling out the foolish nature of American politics on both sides, going independent in a time when it was unheard of. He is one of my idols and it’s an utter tragedy we lost him so relatively young.
Hate Frank Zappas music😲?Why I never heard of such a thing.
No one hates Frank Zappa. You however...
@@edwardlagrossa1246 lol is that right?
same here just found out about Zappa a while ago, personally, I love his music and his mustache , and the things he stood for, unfortunately, he was gone too soon, like all the greats
@@aaronbaraiya3692 The funny thing is that I actually love his music. He even realized himself that his music isn’t for everybody and that’s what I made my comment about not liking his music. That seems to be the only criticism about him is that his music was “weird”. Regardless I agree that he was taken far too soon and the world could really use a person like that these days.
30-seconds into this video and I could have stopped watching - it's all exactly why I walked away dead-cold from an album deal back in the late 90's. The contract being offered was so ridiculously lopsided the band would have done just as well financially if we had just given the album we were working on to the label for free. The most insane bit was a clause which stated we would be charged a 7% "vinyl breakage" fee, (against royalties of course), for an album which was only going to be released on CD. Allegedly, that fee was in the contract in case the label decided on it's own to, "also release on vinyl", which we all knew full-well they would never do.
30 years later I still have no regrets about what might have been. I own my own studio, which I built to my exact needs and specs over a decade or so, own all my masters, and while I never got "rock-star" rich the trickle of money that has been coming in over the years is still a nice secondary source of income.
Very impressive , smart move !
You. ROCK !
WOW ! That took a lot of guts and heartbreak to walk away from the deal. I have some relatives in the show business field and they have said it is not pretty for most Artists. The Artists are slaves in every way possible to the crooked execs. Pat Benatar fought back but has been punished without a RnR Hall of Fame status induction.
@@wmpetroff2307 It wasn't so much guts as luck. It all happened in the years right after the "Artist Formerly Known as Prince" situation, and the Don Henley legal tangles with Geffen, and a couple of other high-profile artist/record label fights, so the cat was out of the bag so to speak - people were beginning to realize that record deals offered to new groups were not quite as good as the A&R guys made them out to be.
If it had happened just a bit earlier, late 80's instead, I have no doubt we all would have signed, and we would have been screwed like so many others have been.
I’m not in the music world but have taken a few classes in music that talked a bit about royalties and the business. Do you think that people who build their own studio on their own terms could still work with other artists in the industry’s or are the artists contracted to work with certain producers?
@@ritaevergreen7234 Any artist can work with whoever they like, contract or not, the problem is can any material recorded then be released without a label screaming all the way to court?
That question is a bit more complicated, because you are diving DEEP into contract law, which is mostly beyond my knowledge and experience. What I do know is it's not uncommon for artists signed to one label to to work with someone signed to another as a guest on a song, you can tell when that has happened if you see an artist/group signed to Label (1), "thanking" Label (2) - usually in the album liner notes there would be something like, "So-and-so appears courtesy of..."
This is why I believe it is important for all new artists to secure the copyright and royalties to their songs, wether they’re signed to a label or not. If you have secured the rights to your own songs, nobody can take that away from you.
All my songs in spotify and my RUclips page are copywritten we don't play day and I got two lawyers on deck lmao
The music industry is beyond evil
How would you go about doing so? I abhor what record labels do and really don't want to get into that myself.
@@joshuabrown3361 it’s easy! You can sign up with a PRO (Perfomance Rights Organization) like ASCAP or BMI (I personally use BMI) and you can register your own songs!
@@leesorro how much are you being paid for 100 views and how are you paying the lawyers 🤣🤣
I wish I could've met Chester he was and still is so influential to me. He will always be one of my favorite vocalists of all time. Rest in peace to Chester Bennington Frank Zappa and Prince.🙏❤️🙏
He's believed to be the illegitimate son of John Podesta is a pedophile. Very strange circumstances surrounding his death.
What Prince said about FedEx really hit home, damn right.
@angel paige Prince was referring to how FedEx don’t claim the rights to the products they deliver to people, and he said how the music industry try to use people’s music as their own
@@DannoAviation Exactly, it is control to the Nth degree, like a communist nation, CCP.
Exactly! I can understand a label wanting money back for the cost of manufacturing and distributing and even advertising the product and taking a LITTLE for themselves, as well. but it's the ARTIST that should get the lion's share of the income from it!! The labels SHOULD be there just to do the job of getting the stuff out into the hands of the public and alerting them of its existence! The ARTISTS are the ones doing all the hard work writing, recording and performing this stuff! (Not including the pop princesses who have al their stuff written and recorded FOR them!! They're nothing more than the decorations on the plastic cake the labels are trying to sell.)
I never was a Frank Zappa fan but he’s exactly right about the music executives only releasing music they think we will like. That’s wrong! We won’t know if we like it until we hear it! 🤦🏻♀️
I don't like Zappa's music and can't listen to it. But I do like the guy and he's very intelligent.
I love Frank! Yes, it’s weird, but I think that’s why I like it. A lot of comedy in there also.
@@truthhandler6828 no I can’t handle that one either 😆 but the guitar and drums are awesome.
@@truthhandler6828 , Uncle Remus! Yes that is a great tune and I think I’ll play it right now! So thank you kindly for putting the song into my head. That song goes out to you Truthhandler.
You need to dive into the world of Frank Zappa's music . There truly is something for everybody there.
Jewel got a good deal, she read a book on it, turned down the advance, asked for $2K a month, and went on tour. She made all her money on one hit and that was enough. At 18 she negotiated the best back end deal anyone ever had.
Boom 🏆
Very very smart girl. And everyone knows who Jewel is💖
Who's Jewel?
@@lordzeuscannon6400 Look up Foolish Games by Jewel if you feel like crying
@@giggiesurge why would I do that? No sense in crying over someone who doesn't matter
Damn, I miss Frank Zappa. We need him now more than ever.
The great thing about this era is that we don't need major labels anymore, literally anyone can be famous overnight.
They just need a sex tape.
And music isn't worth anything! GREAT!
@@Banana_Split_Cream_Buns for people that wanna be world famous, yup , but not necessarily for musicians
@@SparkySINN music will always be worth something, it's just that CDs aren't worth buying anymore in the era of downloading
@@WoockerSocket no. I was referring to how Spotify doesn't pay anyone and everyone decided to let them own the industry. $.004 per play...
Better hope you get a billion plays.
You get $1 for 250 plays. Nobody makes money except Spotify. Sad world.
“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.”
― Nikola Tesla
The industry promotes low vibrational music
I am lucky to play and sing Irish folk ballads which do not require a low end sound ( bass) to be authentic. I do occasional amplified gigs ( not many). I am amazed at the size of the loudspeakers required by rock bands who I occasionally meet up with. These guys require several kilowatts of audio power to drive enormous speakers where I can get by on 100 or 200 watts in even a large hall.
I am a solo act and can easily pack all my modest gear in the back of a car. The rockers require a full size van for the gear alone and some require a HGV to carry all their stuff and a day ahead to set it all up.
Not easy but great to listen to if I had the nerve and the skill to do it.
And satan is the principality of the AIRwaves. Our mind functions on airwaves. Most people dont know that satan majored in singing, music and poetry. Most people have not connected the dots. Its mindblowing.
@@amandafight7627 darn it, you got in first. 😄
I love how algorithms have recently started pushing vibrations and now everyone's an expert lol
yeah and internet also "promotes low vibrations" so please go
So good that in this internet era literally ANYONE can blow up and make money without any label. Or at least you can become famous and then get a deal on YOUR terms to get more money. But really, right now is the easiest time to blow up, not only in music but in anything. Back then you had to be REALLY talented to make it. If you complain today, you wouldn't have had a chance back in the day. Just work.
Fame is easy now, not necessarily rich though.
It's still controlled though. Who do you think controls youtube n all the streaming stuff? Same types of people and if you wana get on the right algorithms and really make big money you gotta get in bed with the same psychopaths. Prime example, K Rino. Considered a Legend ,by Legends ,never signed a single deal tho n his shit has like 10k views.... his videos never pop up, and he's never promoted anywhere at all. A true legend that Never sold out tho not even a Tiny bit. I think the biggest u can possibly get without working with any of the shitty ppl, is someone like Z Ro. 10-15k a show, he Is a millionaire but he had to grind his ass off for like 20 years. If u wana blow up, you pretty much have to work with the psychos who fuk u over...
@@culwin exactly. You can become "famous" and still be broke if u never sign up with the psychos in power
@@solarpanel8195 Bingo. The machine has got its fingers in a LOT of pies, including the furry and creamy variety. Look to the people that prefer to linger in the shadow of the nooks and crannies behind the scenes.
The fact that Billy Corgan is cited here is pretty telling.. he's discussed shapeshifting and the like with Joe Rogan. Babylon, Egypt, Phoenicia.. all still there, and Svali pointed out well there are plenty of Left Hand players who disavow religious belief.
The problem is everyone has their own price tag so they sell out and it keeps the record company's rich and powerful.
RIP Chester. We all love and miss you!!!
To think I used to obsess about being in a band as a teenager . After I started to really analyze and listen to interviews like in this video from those who have made it , to also realize what bands go through traveling the road , the trainwreck livestyles and relationships . substance abuse etc which they unwittingly can end up in
That's pretty much the attraction of it. Sex drugs rock n roll lifestyle. It's fun when young. Pointless in your late 30s when your body can't handle it and the girls aren't there anymore. Getting laid by a new girl every weekend was fun. Being known in the city was really fun, especially since nobody else around 20 really had that. Travel was fun the first time, after that it was the worst part. It's hard to do emotionally because everyone you meet you never see again.
@Gottes God How many live shows have you done? What kind of crowd are you getting where you are really reaching people? I always played dumps to a small crowd of drunks who weren't listening anyways. For me the reward of the road was the free booze, dope, and sex. Otherwise I wouldn't be sleeping cramped up and revolving my entire day around when I can take a dump in a toilet with a stall door.
I always wanted to sing, but I'd have been a casually, I know myself too well.
And all the sycophantics... I couldn't stand that. I can't stand that, and im a nobody.. i don't see how that would be good..
It seems like the music industry, more than any other industry, is particularly sleazy. I have heard so many artists complain about it over the years. It seems like it all comes back to ownership of intellectual property. The artist is the one who brings the art to fruition. Like Prince said, distribution is one thing, but attempting to steal an artist's intellectual property through unfair contracts is something else entirely.
Britney Spears father tried protecting her from the label. Bow that she's on her own watch the music industry take her money. Britney Britney
Agreed. Would put Hollywood at the top spot for sleazy, underhanded, and corrupt
@@EmiliaJay Every entertainment industry is filled with sleazeballs. I worked in the video game industry, that industry is the modern equivalent of slavery for creative people. Glad I got out.
@@G33KSPALACEdotCOM I guess it’s good you got away if it’s like that. Seeing a trend here - liberal arts type positions seem to have bad reputations. Sad because art and entertainment is truly one of life’s pleasures
@@EmiliaJay The video game industry thrives on people like me, people who love video games and would love to create them. Then they take that passion and make you work 80 hour work weeks, pay you a crap salary and in the end they butcher your game by forcing in micro transactions and other mechanics to nudge the player into spending more money. From what I gather, the music industry and movie industry is very much the same, bleed their artists dry to make extra money, none of which goes to the people who created it in the first place.
The executives aren’t pushing what they think the kids want they’re pushing what they want the kids to think
Spot on! ... its one massive brainwashing machine. UNLESS, you're listening to an independent Artist.
But even most of them "keep it clean" and toe the line. 😉
R.I.P. Chester Bennington
I've run into Billy a few times. Even back in ~2000 I remember him warning people about how broken and awful the industry is.
seems so weird that musicians even feel like a record label is necessary today... do everything yourself. empower yourself and keep your power and keep your artistic freedom and grow your audience yourself. period. having a record label is like getting married. you don't need to a contract to be in love. skip that shit.
More musicians are going independent, Metallica included.
Sadly, K-pop artists are way too closely tied to the industry.
I dont listen to k pop music but I have heard so many stories of ill treatment and dirty politics going on behind the scenes
That's why K-pop is creepy trash. It's like a cult. That whole genre is basically all formulated by the industry, there is no talent there. They all have to sound and look a certain way. God I hate K-pop, the most manufactured genre imo.
Look at where they are from then you won’t have to wonder why, that’s straight up government indoctrination son
K PoP also has a high suicide rate.
K pop is literally garbage compared to everything out there
ive never understood why its so difficult
to get into the music industry , you have
to take someone to recommend you .
if you was a talented sportsperson
you would make a good living ,
you would have thought politicians would
step in there all weak !
peace and love
to all singers , musicians , and songwriters
like myself .
❤❤❤❤❤❤
Zappa's point and comment is fucking deep but unfortunately it will be misunderstood or glossed over: it explains everything shit about the world
Yeah 😔
My appreciation for Zappa is still ever evolving...he had so much more to share.
Absolutely
They interviewed the right people in this video.
At the right time too.
RIP Frank Zappa \m/
Musicians should get together and form a label that works to the artist's advantage and put the rest of the labels out of business.
That would be creating a monopoly. That would violate anti-trust laws.
@@UBeesh10 ok. Groups of musicians should get together to create several musician friendly distribution companies. The point is to revamp the music industry do that the artists own their own work.
lol...that STILL is a BAD IDEA. There are musicians who own a record label and still took their artists money & HAD THEM KILLED: TLC, Tupac, Biggie Smalls (Notorious BIG), Prince, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, DMX...the list goes on and on.
I can't remember the name of it but Dave Mathews is one of the founders of a record label that operates on the older model.
I think you mean similar to a union
I was in a situation in the late 90s in which a terrible song writer had been contacted, after hearing my voice, by an investor to have her record a demo. She didn't tell me the A&R rep was after the voice and she also didn't tell him that she was writing background piano and lyrics that didn't go with the timing, and I was writing the melodies and rearranging the lyrics to be "singable," or that I was the daughter of a maestro who had been writing songs since the age of 5. After two weeks of writing all of her melodies and even writing a rhythm guitar part over the piano on one tune because it was so boring, I could smell the bulls***. I hated her music and this distinct feeling that I was being conned and decided to walk out of this multi-million dollar studio during the height of that cities booming music craze. That's when I found out I was being ripped off and not given credit for writing the most important part of the songs; the melody. And remember, the music sucked so writing melodies was a chore. I told the woman, who was now screaming and cussing at me because I was her ticket and she hid that from me, that she needed to get another "singer." I told her that she better not use my voice or my melodies or I'd sue her into a coma, and that all of the hired musicians were witnesses to who wrote the melodies. I think a lot of people would have done it anyway to get their foot in the door even though their sound and name would be tied to crappy music. But I was a rock musician, played piano, acoustic and electric guitar, mandolin, and could pretty much pick up any instrument and write a song with it in different genres. It felt great leaving that studio even though everyone said I was crazy. I watch this video and realize I did the right thing back then. I make music for the my own reasons and to me, my music is not a commodity. I do my own recording, production, and perform the entire thing, usually in a few hours, except for the drums. I don't play drums and give the drummer credit. I started a RUclips and rumble channel and I stick my homemade stuff up there for free because I have something to say. Sure. I'm virtually unknown and have a tiny following, but I don't have anyone telling me what to do or saying they own my creations. Is it crazier to be the artist you were born to be, or to be some entities little b**** who dresses you, tells you what your image is, and tells you what kind of art you are going to make to fit a target market? I'd rather be a starving artist than a fat prostitute.
"The business of a musician is music. The business of a professional musician is business." - Robert Fripp
Seeing Chester breaks my heart again and again.....
I was just watch a Linkin Park tribute to Chester when this dropped my self
I miss him so much, sometimes I still believe he is still here..
Amen. I miss him too.
Fuck him. He obviously didn't care about you or his fans. Or his wife and children for that matter. He's where he is most useful.
@@stillwelltjz6798 sounds like u don’t understand depression at all.
Rest Easy Chester as a fan of your music I miss you and your voice you were incredible I cannot imagine what you went thru Fame actually ruins and kills our favourite artist the amount of abuse
I can only imagine it would be near impossible to rest easy if I were murdered and framed to seem I killed myself. Such a tragedy with him, Chris Cornell, and Aviici all being involved in exposing things such as human trafficking. Hopefully all that has been hidden in the dark will be revealed in the light
@@tekkzilla619 was just about to say that.
I 3rd that, went back n' forth about posting this, but the more I look at Chester the more I see Podesta, can't imagine his childhood, and I can't unseen what I saw. 🙏 😢... Everything in darkness, always comes to light in God's time not ours. The youth of this County must realize the price of fame, is not worth it. This is all fake, the wealth is in love and integrity. When I listen to his music now, it's painful, knowing the truth. May he rest in God's safety. Away from the monsters of this place. The same goes for Chris Cornell... we know the truth, it may not be as you wanted it, but you did it. Rest in peace, knowing we got your back. Even if we don't know everything, the corrupt pedophiles & trafficking is real, and they won't be able to walk down the street or show their faces! It's already happening.
There are those out there that want too believe Chester and Chris killed themselves I don’t believe that it’s so simple to see his father who is in politics had something to do with him death even Chester’s wife knows this they both were going to expose sex trafficking but corrupt officials in high ranking positions
@@tekkzilla619 found this video trying to look up some stuff on that
Prince was an amazing artist as well as an intellectual.
The 90s seemed like this pivotal point where artists said enough was enough. Prince, Michael Jackson, George Michael…
T Petty was ahead
After they were rich and successful.
@@corail53 go sue a Music label right now then
yes, and coincidentally all three died young, did they have help dying so young?
And they are all dead!....🤔🤨
I interned at a label & the stuff I learned backs up EVERYTHING on this video! Every upcoming artist should literally start their OWN label so They own the masters & control the publishing of their music 24/7! Have strong legal team too!
Most ppl can't afford that route so they take any route they can. It's a shame really that our society is so driven by money because that makes some ppl willing to do anything for money
@@solarpanel8195 or dependant for money to reach their dreamjob. its no different than going to school the fees ae huge. its sad that people still bring babies in to this cruel world
The irony of Billy Corgan exposing the inherent inequality of digital streaming services on the Joe Roegan podcast, which is now exclusively available to listen to through Spotify.
Unless you negotiate a deal you're happy with.
Jre is still free to listen to? And as if you wouldn't take that kind of money to simply move it to another platform. Everyone would make that deal in a heartbeat.
Calum, sounds like somebody jealous of Rogan and Corgan. I love me some Pumpkins man 😉
@@robjones8733 their alright I suppose. I would totally take that deal though
I thought the same thing. Excellent point.
I've been a fan of a band called In This Moment since their MySpace days and they were amazing. The lead singer Maria Brink would scream, dance/headbang and just have so much energy on stage. After their third album they were on the verge of breaking up completely. Then in 2012 their album 'Blood' came out and they turned a complete 180. Now the band focuses on witchcraft and Satanic shit, no energy on stage, backup dancers, changes costumes after every single song. It was bad. Now I turn off the radio when they play
She's from Schenectady which isn't too far from where I live i saw them preform as a headliner band back in 2008 at the least edgefest they ever held. And yeah clearly she sold her soul
Zappa is on point. The "Hip, young" record exec mentality is essentially the Spotify algorithm. All Spotify does is suggest music that sounds like the music you already like. It's a complete shit show. No one doing anything remotely different or outside of the established algo genres has a chance to be heard. Unfortunately, the kids coming up on this stuff are becoming programmed robots. Nothing outside of the suggested, homogenized clown music will sound right. Who would have thought that the cigar chomping, out of touch executives were what kept the music fresh and innovative. These are dark times for music.
most people blindly believe what the TV set or the government and so-called education ie Marxist indoctrinations tells them to believe. So whatever they're told to like in terms of music is what people are going to like
It's really boring. My Spotify recommends the same 5 or 6 albums that were released around the same date in the 90s. Like I just want to listen to some metal while lifting and now I'm having to do the work.
I had that feeling til up recently. That algorithm has to struggle a lot on achieve my taste in music (wich of course is hard already), it finally did and found a lot really Nice music on my daily random playlist. Now i can see the optimistic side on this by hearing people we admire and knows it better that us. The sense of adventure by searching and hearing interesting stuff from the underground is still there yet. If your'e interested in making a decent life out of it though, it is a view that might can change by the pass of time even if you are astonighing good at it. This might be for the better, i dont really know. Forgive my english please.
That's why you research different music genres when you feel like It. I like to predominately 70s music but when I feel like going back to my roots and listening to some NIN then spotify suggests 90s industrial and the like that correlate with my music taste in that given moment of time.
I don't really understand how it's a shit show. . . Maybe you are just sick and tired of the genre you've been listening to which means you need to expand your mind.
When Frank got sick,he told his wife to sell all his gear and get out of the music business because it's garbage. As evil and malignant as the fk'ng cancer that robbed us of his genius IMO. RIP FZ. You are sorely missed!
Anyone see Dave Lombardo video where he talks why he left? Slayer tour made $4 million. Tom/Kerry got around $250k, manager got $1.5 million! Dave after busting his ass on drums show after show got $60k. That's so messed up
The manager GOT or EARNED that money? Someone needs to set it all up and take the risk. Dave left Slayer for several years, so he is not cut the deal as he would if he stayed.
I m NOT disagreeing with you, but there's more sides to the story and investing.
@@CarnagiAngelo Those were his words, he also stated Tom took a side cut not to press charges or something like that. Don’t understand why a legendary band like Slayer even needs a manager
Drummers always get shafted for the simple reason you can copyright a melody (vocal or guitar) but you cannot copyright a percussive rhythm (drums). Check the liner notes of the pre-recorded music you own and see who gets the writing credits. Some bands give equal shares to all members if they have a prior agreement AS A BAND.
Slayer could literally play shows at somebody's farm in the middle of nowhere and people will show up.
@@SerpentStar_ Do You imagine Kerry King in a Cellphone 8A.M in a sunday cold brezze trying to convence somone to buy his band's show? NO
That's why they have a manneger
I knew a guy who had been an agent in the music industry back in the 70s and 80s. He said that any big time label will invariably find a struggling but promising band and then try to push a contract on them that amounts to indentured servitude.
They want to be able to financially benefit and say there were the ones to showcase them while the artists suffer
True. Saw my friends' band get signed onto Geffen in the early 2000s & get bent over & screwed. Completely changed my perception of the professional music industry I previously was laser focused to be part of.
An entertainment lawyer that knows the industry, is invested in your success & actually cares about your goals is worth their weight in gold. At least back then. Nowadays probably a wise investment still.
Prince was intellectually well spoken... i never knew that. The way he explained this is very believable, and made sense.
Omg stop being shocked that black people are well spoken. It’s so annoying when white people say that
@@debravan1167 you assume a lot. It has nothing to do with race or color, and like you really know I'm white?... wth?
@@debravan1167 he didn't assume that at all. I hate when people like you race bait.
@@garyr7027 would u say the same about a white person? That u were shocked that he spoke well? Like really? How did u expect him to talk?
@@Chatchann actually yeah, wth? Wtf does race have to do with it? Omg, there's smart and dumb in every color. Good God you people, all you do is twist shit from a preconceived notion.
“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.” - Hunter S Thompson
Sounds like life
One of Hunter S. Thompson’s most famous quotes isn’t - a quotation, that is.
The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.
It turns out that Mr Thompson wasn’t even describing the “music business.” His actual lines, first published in 1985 in the San Francisco Examiner and later in Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the ’80s by Hunter S. Thompson (New York: Summit Books, 1988), follow:
The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason.
Which is more or less true. For the most part, they are dirty little animals with huge brains and no pulse.
Find you someone who looks at you like everyone looks at Prince. Rest in peace 🕊️
Broads were fine too lol sheesh he could’ve had anything in that room
He was a musical genius and will be remembered 🕊️
“This is: ‘The Music Business’. You want: ‘Loyalty’? Get: a dog.” - Dave Mason. Musician. (Traffic. Jimi Hendrix. The Rolling Stones. Delaney and Bonnie. Paul McCartney and Wings. Fleetwood Mac.)
Rip Frank Zappa you weren't afraid to tell it exactly how it is, godspeed.
Godspeed indeed
@Jason Thompson no we don't? What do those old turds know about music back then? WE know what we want to promote or push as fans and musicians of these genres.
@Jason Thompson and we also need the upbeat big booming voices back announcing the radio stations and contests. Also the funny morning shows and the request Rush hour shows.
@@theatomicpunkkid Preach.
Zappa for President, 2024
And yes, I know he's been dead for decades.
Frank Zappa had it 100% correct, the "hippies" NOT the old school "gangster" types ruined the music industry.
The hippies actually ruined alot. Well as they got older look at them in power now. They are scared of covid and forcing the poison on us all
@@bobspizza7444 Yes. Yes. Yes...
You mean you're scared of the vaccine
@@MrGrey-vo2og what are the long term effects of it
@@bobspizza7444 they were the worst generation so far felt a huge inferiority complex to their parents
Frank zappa.......crazy intelligent and well spoken regarding the industry...
Listening to Zappa is a plethora of I told you so's.
He almost said cigar chomping Jews, but then he let the accent tell that tale...
I liked his video the most, because it's on point: open-mindedness is the key to success. Instead of thinking you know, find out for real. The result(s) may surprise you...🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
Agreed. He is another counter culture icon who just happened to come from a high ranking military/CIA background. Check out Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon and Mark Devlin’s Musical Truth.
Perhaps the easiest way to avoid most of the problems being mentioned in this video: sign with a medium-sized independent record label.
You might not achieve major success, but you'll have far more control and ownership of your career and life.
I didn’t take any of this video as a warning to “fans” at all. It was more of exposing the industry to other artists to take heed of what you are getting yourself in to. Fans don’t care what artists get paid or the lucrative business behind it, they just love the music.
I knew Chester Bennington personally, and I can tell you that aside from being a tortured soul, he was very conflicted with how he felt about the people controlling his music. When I first met him at his house in Newport Beach, California, he had been working on some independent solo stuff that he had taken myself and my DJ partner into his Range Rover to listen to. Away from the house, and our phones that were left in it. He said we couldn't mention it to anyone because it would cause inevitable backlash. Then ten years later, he's dead. And I still can't believe it, but I can imagine why. I pray his son doesn't fall victim to the industry.
He didn’t kill himself his record label mafia did.
Is it true that CB was John Podeata's son?
Thank you for sharing this
The movie "Michael Clayton", although not about the music industry per se, is an excellent movie and gives a good 'overview' of how this kind of thing works. It's hands-down George Clooney's best work, imo.
@@debbiecurtis4021 yes. he and chris cornell were making a documentary about the sexual abuse, torture and murder of children in Hollywood and they were killed at about the same time.
This is what they mean when they say "sign a deal with the devil" or "sell your soul"
Exactly,
Happens to a lot...also...makes for some strange lyricism....Check one two!
Except for those golden boys are even worse
@Joe R the story of Faust is still a allegory for making horrible deals for quick cheap success that will ultimately ruin your life for the gain of a bigger 'entity' satan or corporate its one in the same
@@georgefromgreece4119 What are golden boys?
Frank Zappa is the only one that really hit it on the head as to why we have the junk we do now, nothing stands out, nobody takes chances anymore on something different and new.
In part of that Billy Corgan interview, he talked about how the record label actually warned him about how him being the only songwriter was going to cause a big money difference between him & the other members.
He said they told him they’d seen it get bad to the point where bands broke up over the big difference in earnings, because of songwriting credits.
Billy Corgan thinks he's some sort of thought leader. In reality, he's a deeply twisted fuck. Most of what he says doesn't make sense beneath the surface.
Super talented, though.
they don't write the songs and don't sing on the records
The Go-Go's broke up because the guitar player got all the money with the singer. The others have to work in the food industry.
Pink Floyd called all of this decades ago. "Welcome to the Machine" and "Have a Cigar." Just perfect lol
Music is connected to a higher aspect of humanity, whether dark or light. Musicians are vulnerable.
Being a musician is often glorified, but the truth is, it's not really financially sustainable and it's only fun when you're on stage, which is a small percent of the time.
I used to play at local bars 4 nights a week with a band as the bass player and singer (in certain songs.)
It started off with just me playing bass with them as a guest on open mic nights and then eventually becoming their permanent bass player as theirs moved out of state.
While it seemed great getting paid to play music for people, it wasn't financially sustainable especially since I have two kids, so continued working my full-time job.
Our lead singer/guitarist played for two bands, 6 nights a week. He was nearly 50, with over 20 years of experience, yet he made barely enough to live comfortably.
It all came to an abrupt end, though, when the pandemic forced everyone to quarantine. Bars closed down, making us go on indefinite hiatus. When I was in my early 20s, I had always wanted to make music my career, but now that I'm older with kids and have more responsibilities, I wouldn't want to resent the one thing I love doing on the little free time I have by making it my job. When bars opened back up, I had decided not to rejoin the band and quietly faded from that whole scene. Even though I was playing with them as an official band member for about only 6 months, I had gotten fatigued and started losing interest and motivation. Playing the same songs, constantly drinking, not having time for other interests, no social life. I just couldn't see myself doing this for another 20 years.
I now just play and create music for myself and at times collab with others and simply share it with people on RUclips or social media. I can now play whatever I want, whenever I want to and I'm not obligated to do it.
Pink floyd is a good example of a band that has kept getting jerked around by the music industry. 2 songs that describe it perfectly are Welcome to the machine and Have a Cigar.
"You will own nothing and be happy" -World Economic Forum
The fourth industrial revolution🤣🤣
I think its more like "We will own Everything, And you damn Well better not Grouse about it, and Put on a Facade of Nice when you are asked!!"" Doesn't it seem That Way?
“Brave New World”
Does anyone here even remember when a new album dropped and you had to rush to the record store before they sold out? Not many people get to experience that kind of excitement these days. I remember putting it on while going through the album cover. We all lost something with this point and click shift in society that we need to bring back
I wasn't around for that, but at least I had movie rentals. Man, now THAT needs to make a comeback. It's so damn hard to find the movie you want with every company locking their stuff away behind a subscription fee.
With stuff being downloaded now you do not have the same control of music and payments for sales that once existed in the music industry. It is my belief that you will never see the big money artists used to get in former times. Most modern artists now have to be brand ambassadors for perfume, clothimg and other such merchandise. There is little money in music nowadays for most artists.
I remember when I was 10 my older brother bought me the "Lil troy" album for my birthday I loved the song "wanna be a balla" and it was the greatest joy. I've been making music since I was 12. I'm 32 now... And my first album releases everywhere February 1st produced entirely by myself. I literally spent the last two years learning to professionally engineer my own music because the local studios were eating all of my money with half-assed mixes (so I would come back for more mixing). Advice for artists, learn how to engineer your own sound, don't pay for excessive studio mixing, these studios are no different than the old school record labels, they will suck you dry
I used to love going through the album art and looking at the lyrics.
Having to get a ride to the mall to music lander disc jockey… There is some nostalgia but, God I love Spotify
In today's music industry record labels are obsolete. Social media and digital platforms have made it possible to get your music to the world. Which should be the goal of any musician. If you want to record, play, perform, it's all up to you. Just don't quit on your music and it will happen.
record labels still exist for underground metal though.
Chester Bennington had it pretty rough and he hated the civilian life he had growing up.
He also discovered his talent but he kept getting rejected by other bands and labels.
But by the time he finally made it he found out about the DOWN side to being a celebrity and that he should have known.
Poor guy has been struggling since Hybrid Theory 💿
Having a Satanic biological father (Podesta) would have been a struggle. Him Avicii, & Chris Cornell spoke out *and in Music Videos) of the Child Traffiking and the satan agenda, pizza gate in connection to Podesta! They were all killed, after they started a documentary about it, to expose it to the public! Last music video from Avicii, (that was released) was a Child Trafficking Video 'for a better day' bless them all
I’ve often wondered why the musicians have not gotten together, forming artists-friendly companies that solve all of the evilness that the hipster corporate critters come up with.
Because artist are selfish
It does happen on a small scale. Phil Anselmo and Clutch come to mind.
Sinatra started Reprise because Capital wasn't treating him right. Then treated Reprise artists like Capital treated him!! I think the lure of the "easy money" washes away the good intentions.
Because they want to keep their lives.
@@jimschleich8753 yeah, then he had to sell to Capital. Irony.
Its like social media. Without us, they wouldn't exist but look how they treat us! And these bands work so hard! They overdeliver in concerts.