SC interview: You Only Make Money When You Sweat

[DirtyMartini]

http://www.download-not-available.com/#copeland

I haven't had a chance to read the interview yet, but while skimming I did catch this:

[quote]
L2: In your view, has the live portion of the business gone from a supporting role to the lead role?

SC: Oh, it’s beautiful to see. Live Nation are masters of the Universe. The poor little record company guy showing up at the show, I mean, do they even get a backstage pass? Uhhh, maybe. I don’t know…go talk to [Live Nation Chairman Arthur] Fogel. The president of Universal? Go talk to Fogel.

It’s absolutely the case that we put out an album, we sold maybe 300,000 units, and they’re breaking out the champagne. Me, I was embarrassed! What do you mean, 300,000 units? I think we even got a chart position out of 300,000 albums.
[/quote]

[smudge]

Ughh. I'm not sure which is worse: knowing that this is how it is for most of us, or knowing that it is now moderately difficult for the corporate record company peeps. The irony dripping from the quoted phrases kinda smarts.

Just ughh.

On the upside, given the recession/depression/general fucked-up-ness of the economy, maybe now is a good time for folks to pull down this particular house of cards. It is feeling very mid-late seventies over here....

[IndyGirl]

Interesting article.

[bella]

Excellent interview. Love how he compares them to furniture. Good one.

And I hadn't even thought of the fact that now you make the money from the shows and not the cd. That's so true!

[visions]

Thanks DM

[DirtyMartini]

[quote="smudge"]The irony dripping from the quoted phrases kinda smarts[/quote]

It is a pretty pointy interview.

It's a pretty strange environment these days, even compared to just 10 years ago, let alone 20-30. Someone like Jonathan Coulton doesn't have a household name, but he's done quite well by busting ass, both in creating music and performing it -- and he's been able to make a lot of his own rules, from deciding that rather than make an "album," he's just going to keep releasing "singles" to choosing where to perform based on where a good number of fans request a show. Also, niche. Very smart. (As his personal life goes though, I haven't a clue.)

[Chatchka]

Apologies, this threadjack simply cannot be ignored. I can't believe none of the floozies, kazoozies and kryptoozies jumped(har) on this quote, lifted from the article...

"You’ve got to spread it wide so you can get it deep."


mwahahahahahhahaah

unrelated to the threadjack above...
Oh yeah, Jordan, Listen to your dear old dad! Bring your music over here to America, dammit. Could you, perhaps, do a show in NYC while Deitmar is here? I know a few enthusiastic people who would attend.

[njperry]

Stewart is the only member of this site who thinks highly of VileNation:

[quote]Oh, it’s beautiful to see. Live Nation are masters of the Universe.[/quote]

I love him anyway.

[sockii]

I think the interview (as well as the entire Live 2.0 webjournal) raises a lot of interesting points and makes one wonder about the good/bad of the current situation.

I definitely think the record industry of old is long dead. I myself hardly buy cds (or even purchase mp3s) any longer, unless it's an artist I know well and trust to produce work I know I'll be glad to have purchased. Yet I listen to a wider variety of music regularly than I ever used to (I'll leave it up to y'all to figure out how...)

My justification? If I end up liking an artist, they'll get more than enough money out of me through concert tickets, t-shirts, and other merchandise. With those things being so pricey, I'm not going to pay for something I can get for "free". And yes, I think many tickets/acts are outrageously priced, but still...prices will be what the market can bear. CD/mp3 prices have had to drop because no one is willing any longer to pay upwards of $20 for an album which was probably leaked a month before on the internet. Artists are looking at new ways of sharing and releasing their music. The "niche" market Stewart talks about is dead-on, I think.

I had...more thinky thoughts on this all earlier today, but shoveling out from under sloppy/icy snow has rather exhausted me mentally and physically...

[policefan]

[quote="Chatchka"]"You’ve got to spread it wide so you can get it deep."

mwahahahahahhahaah [/quote]



Chatchka, you crack me up!

[TOWOS]

Visual proof of the title of the article <---

Caption: Stewart making money.

[Chatchka]

Policefan, It wasn't me, it was STEWART. It is a direct quote.


Sockii and Stewart,

Something you said clicked with me. Sometimes I feel like the music I listen to is obscure; music that no one else seems to appreciate. So it makes me wonder if I have unusual taste in music, or if I'm getting old or unhip. I wonder sometimes how one stays clued in to what is good out there without ever entering a music store or being really attentive to the pop cult of personality; Britney and Justin make me want to stab my ears out. Other than that, I hadn't really given much thought to how I find the artists that I like, but I seem to find them often enough. The niche notion is pretty cool though -- room for everyone, something for everyone.

[sockii]

[quote="Chatchka"] I wonder sometimes how one stays clued in to what is good out there without ever entering a music store or being really attentive to the pop cult of personality; Britney and Justin make me want to stab my ears out. Other than that, I hadn't really given much thought to how I find the artists that I like, but I seem to find them often enough. The niche notion is pretty cool though -- room for everyone, something for everyone.[/quote]

I think that's one of the reasons I've become such an addict of last.fm lately - I love the "recommendations" feature as well as various group radios. I've discovered a bunch of new artists this way that do seem to match my tastes in what I already had been listening to.

Satellite radio, as well, as there you have a plethora of "niche" stations for everything from hard rock to metal to new wave, etc. A much wider variety of music than you'll regularly hear on terrestrial radio.

Plus you've got internet radio these days, myspace, etc for discovering new music...technology really seems to make it a lot simpler these days. Used to be I'd have to rely on recommendations from friends (still do that, to an extent!) or trust in the reviews in the music press, occasionally risking some of my money on an album based on the reviews for it. Sometimes that would pay off, but a lot of times those purchases would end up in the resale bin of a used cd shop...

And live performance definitely can draw me into loving an artist or band if they put on a good show. I remember being very lukewarm about Fiction Plane, for instance, when I'd just heard their album and one live performance. By the time they'd finished up their leg with the Police, I was hooked and following them avidly.

[themudderqueen]

Interesting interview - a mighty meaningful myriad of metaphors in there.

[luddite lady]

Thanks for posting this DM. It's full of great insights delivered in a way that only Stewart knows how. I really enjoyed it.

And hey! It's in English! Even though I love translating French swear words and the like, I'm glad to see this. Perhaps it'll open the flood gates to a slew of English language interviews in more mainstream media.