I have a trench-level view of the attitude lowery is decrying, where I see ivy league college students trying to stroll into warehouse shows without paying the cover, or folks who "love this band" but spend more on their beer tab than they do at the merch table cuz they'll just download that shit later. that's not to say those ppl are disgusting savages, but maybe they just don't get the connection between that $5 cover or $10 CD and the $100 in gas the band needs to get to the next show. explaining those dependencies can sound patronizing or badgering, but it's as much of a reality as "tip your bartender", and arguing against it makes you sound like mr pink.
obv that's a microeconomics perspective, but that same attitude extends to the macro-level, and appears to be more widespread in younger generations. it's not a bad thing for somebody like lowery to pull back the curtain and explain some of the mechanics, to dispel some of the romanticism around being a musician. as mr aerosmith said, touring is one of the few ways to make money nowadays. some folks may say "boo hoo you have to go on the road with your blow and groupies, dl'ing yr album now" but touring is hard on the body and the soul for real, not to mention high risk - bands can be one van break-in away from losing everything they made on tour.
one million xps
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 15:40 (eleven years ago) link
^^ quality post
― here's my lumber, so jack me maybe (some dude), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 15:41 (eleven years ago) link
Anyone notice the price increases for album downloads on both Amazon and iTunes recently? In most cases just a buck or two but it's still significant (iirc, the standard was $8.99, now showing a mixture of $9.99 and $10.99 usd). Not sure if this is at all tied into the July 1st RIAA/ISP crackdown but thought it was interesting.
― musicfanatic, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 15:43 (eleven years ago) link
When was the standard ever 8.99? It's been 9.99 for as long as I can remember.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 15:44 (eleven years ago) link
blow & groupies:tour::big royalty checks:album
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 15:44 (eleven years ago) link
You know, one of the things I tried to find on the internet a couple years ago was:
"The price of LPs and singles through the years"
I remember being shocked at the price of singles going from 50p to 99p back in 1979 or so, albums were £2.99 or £3.99
Since then, they have yoyoed. I remember buying a BAD album for an extortionate £8 whenever it was,
And So On...
― Mark G, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 15:46 (eleven years ago) link
Really? I don't remember ever seeing a 9.99 album with the exception of double albums. I could be wrong though, nevermind.
― musicfanatic, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 15:49 (eleven years ago) link
I remember buying a BAD album for an extortionate £8 whenever it was
this is the kind of childhood trauma i think about when i'm tempted to crack my cd-rs in a fit of guilt
― da croupier, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 15:50 (eleven years ago) link
Exactly.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 15:50 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, I buy a ton of albums off itunes and the standard has been $9.99 for years.
― how's life, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 15:51 (eleven years ago) link
I still remember paying $19.99 + tax for Outkast's Aquemini CD at Warehouse Music back in '98. Don't miss those years.xpost
― musicfanatic, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 15:55 (eleven years ago) link
spend more on their beer tab than they do at the merch table
Wait, who *doesn't* do this aside from teetotallers? Beer is expensive, man.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 15:56 (eleven years ago) link
"I still remember paying $19.99 + tax for Outkast's Aquemini"
Worth every penny.
― Gotye Sports (It's In The Name) (Spottie_Ottie_Dope), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:07 (eleven years ago) link
lol you should have seen me at 90s Cure shows, I would basically buy one of every t-shirt
― Victory Chainsaw! (DJP), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:13 (eleven years ago) link
I think the first 3 times I saw them I dropped $300 on shirts without even blinking
then I looked at a pile of t-shirts that would take me a month to go through and I started blinking
― Victory Chainsaw! (DJP), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:14 (eleven years ago) link
Cor blimey. I don't have anywhere near enough money to do stuff like that. Anyway, even if I drop £15 on an LP at a show, I will have spent at least £20 on booze... I don't really think that because booze is expensive I should have to buy another bloody 7" or something, I've already paid in to the goddamn gig.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:20 (eleven years ago) link
Someone had to keep Robert Smith in hookers and blow eyeliner and pies xp
― gonna send him to outer space, to hug another face (NickB), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:21 (eleven years ago) link
LOL@DJP's extensive shirt collection.
I don't go to a lot of shows (try living two hours from where anyone plays), but I chip in at the merch table when I can. Though one of the last shows I was at, it was nothing but vinyl. I guess that's great for some people, but I haven't had a turntable in 20 years.
The merch table at the Acid Mothers' show was mind-boggling. Musta been thirty albums laid out.
I refuse to pay eight bucks for a shot of cheap whisky.
― Matt M., Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:22 (eleven years ago) link
I usually buy a t-shirt if it's a band I'm really into, or if they have a good poster I'll score one of thsoe
― Peppermint Patty Hearst (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:24 (eleven years ago) link
*those
Aimee Mann @aimeemannThanks for the update! RT @darklordjames: @aimeemann You and most musicians need to learn that your product isn't worth $10 any more.
Thanks for the update! RT @darklordjames: @aimeemann You and most musicians need to learn that your product isn't worth $10 any more.
― Julie Derpy (Phil D.), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:24 (eleven years ago) link
I have a box in our basement storage that has something on the order of 50 t-shirts in it, half of which are Cure and Prince concert t-shirts, that I haven't even opened in 11 years
in summation: 90s touring artists I saw, you are welcome
― Victory Chainsaw! (DJP), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:28 (eleven years ago) link
Hahah um....
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:28 (eleven years ago) link
Haha, Mat Mt, I'll only buy vinyl, so I feel that way about CDs... until I find out that actually the record will never be pressed on vinyl and I really should have bought the inferior format while I had a chance. I will buy demo CDs by new bands for a couple of quid, though, and the odd cassette release.
I wear a tie most of the time so I've kind of stopped buying band t-shirts, as it's difficult to rock a logo and a tie simultaneously.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:37 (eleven years ago) link
Mat Mt? I meant Matt M. Sorry for inadvertent anagramming.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:38 (eleven years ago) link
Make note aerosmith, there's a growing demand for band ties/tie pins out there these days
― gonna send him to outer space, to hug another face (NickB), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:39 (eleven years ago) link
The ability to record and encode and share and stream music efficiently and inexpensively is the greatest thing.
― hot knives, wind was blowin' (Ówen P.), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:40 (eleven years ago) link
"Free music" is like so bloody amazing I can't understand this argument.
― hot knives, wind was blowin' (Ówen P.), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:41 (eleven years ago) link
Oh man, a proper band tie pin would be the most awesomely rad raddest thing.
xposts
― emil.y, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:41 (eleven years ago) link
guilty!
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:41 (eleven years ago) link
Lowery is like one of those American politicians who continue to insist that Americans *should* pay for health care.
― hot knives, wind was blowin' (Ówen P.), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:43 (eleven years ago) link
Sorry I'm having my own private idaho right now, I just tuned in
OK but hey -- people also get to produce and distribute and consume video much more easily and inexpensively now than before the internet, but people who work in TV and movies and the monetized end of web video haven't had their livelihood remotely as endangered by the new reality. there could probably be some middle ground between that and what's happened with music.
― here's my lumber, so jack me maybe (some dude), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:45 (eleven years ago) link
I imagine if he read that his head would explode.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:45 (eleven years ago) link
― emil.y, Tuesday, June 19, 2012 11:56 AM (35 minutes ago)
you clipped the end of my statement which implied spending $0 at the merch table. I'm talking about ppl who never visit a merch table but don't think twice about dropping $20 on beer because they can't download a beer for free. I guess if they could we would have a big long thread about the value of getting drunk and the long hours brewmakers spend cleaning out their tanks.
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:46 (eleven years ago) link
lol at "@darklordjames" weighing in
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:48 (eleven years ago) link
More like an American doctor
― da croupier, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:48 (eleven years ago) link
yeah i mean 'owning your master recordings' as something even on the radar of many musicians as any kind of priority seems like a relatively recent development that we can probably thank diy indie for to some extent
Ray Charles made ownership of his master recordings a condition of signing with ABC in 1959. I don't know how much (if any) precedent there was for it at the time -- the biopic naturally dramatizes the point to make it look like absolutely no one owned their masters. But I always wondered if/how many other artists started making this demand once they got wind of Ray's deal.
― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:49 (eleven years ago) link
Pretty sure Laibach had these when I saw them in '92. Hell, they may have had their own line of ties.
― 誤訳侮辱, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:50 (eleven years ago) link
Not so sure about band logo ties, really, it seems a bit 'zany'. But a tie pin, yes yes yes. Nice neat little logo you can pin on to whatever tie you like.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:51 (eleven years ago) link
xp I'm sorry to take that tired socialist gambit here, but Canada and Europe are filled with OK-paid musicians who back up their tour budgets with grants and publicly/privately sponsored events; their recordings are paid for by licensing deals; they have jobs, too, that don't necessarily require insurance plans.
I don't think any argument can be made about "life sucks for American musicians" without getting to the root of the problem, which imo is America's health care system. Blaming an intern for not taking care of a depressed/addicted songwriter and a paraplegic/depressed songwriter and citing "medical bills piling up" is a reenforcement of free market economic stupidity
― hot knives, wind was blowin' (Ówen P.), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:53 (eleven years ago) link
Like how can there possibly be a creative class if people have to pay $500 for herpes medication
― hot knives, wind was blowin' (Ówen P.), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:54 (eleven years ago) link
i missed the part where Lowery blamed the intern for not looking after songwriters
― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:56 (eleven years ago) link
I used to have Einstürzende Neubauten earrings, but I don't think they were official merch.
― EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:56 (eleven years ago) link
Joe Perry: yo Steve is our tour accounting done yet? bills kinda stacking up here.Steven Tyler: yeah I got it, I've been kind of putting off forwarding itJoe Perry: what do you mean? that was our best tour since Pump, couldn't believe some of those gate numbers! was it time to pay the insurance again or something?Steven Tyler: no, Joe, it's -- it's the tie pins. We're going to have to eat a lot of money on the Aerosmith tie pins.Joe Perry: well, it's just a merch item, right? How much money's left after we eat the tie pins?Steven Tyler: After we eat the tie pins -- carry the 5, right, decimal over three places...there is no money after we eat the tie pins
― decrepit but free (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:57 (eleven years ago) link
I don't think you're supposed to eat them. They're kind of pointy.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:58 (eleven years ago) link
xp and then they ate the rich and it was all good again
― cwkiii, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:58 (eleven years ago) link
pretty sure aerosmith could find an alternate use for pins
― da croupier, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:58 (eleven years ago) link
@ Que actually he does it pretty explicitly, buttressed by "of course I'm not saying this to make you feel bad, I'm just telling you to donate ~$2.5K in their memory"
I present these two stories to you not because I’m pointing fingers or want to shame you. I just want to illustrate that “small” personal decisions have very real consequences, particularly when millions of people make the decision not to compensate artists they supposedly “love”
― hot knives, wind was blowin' (Ówen P.), Tuesday, 19 June 2012 17:00 (eleven years ago) link
The artist only has to “repay” (or “recoup”) the advance from record sales. If there are no or insufficient record sales, the advance is written off by the record company.
I haven't had any first-hand experience with this, but is that even remotely accurate?
― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 17:01 (eleven years ago) link