Gene Simmons: The fans destroyed the record industry.

[Shark Diver]

Again, lots of bands making $ and they deal with free downloading. Has nothing to do with it. I doubt Katy Perry or Justin Bieber miss their mortgages because of illegal downloading. I'm sure Lady Gaga has had more of her stuff ripped off than any Metal band. She's not living in her Van. Like someone said before: Disco use to be the biggest thing on the block. Just like the autotune pop crap of today is the bully now. It won't last.

If others are making $ in the business environment that exist, then you can't blame the business environment because you're not. About as simple as logic gets.

 

[satannica]

About as simple as logic gets.

About as poorly thought out as it gets

 

[petethorn]

There's a lot of truth here.. but I don't think it's as bad as he makes it out to be. The biz is just way different, and smaller than it was. Still possible to earn a living but you just have to go at it differently.

In some ways it's much easier- for example, technology and itunes has made it possible for me to create music that sounds good and put it up for sale instantly with no middle man required. Am i gonna get rich? No, but I can make some bread, without having to pander and kiss ass to some label douche, and everyone's happy. It ain't so bad.

 

[Heritage Softail]

Again, lots of bands making $ and they deal with free downloading. Has nothing to do with it. I doubt Katy Perry or Justin Bieber miss their mortgages because of illegal downloading. I'm sure Lady Gaga has had more of her stuff ripped off than any Metal band. She's not living in her Van. Like someone said before: Disco use to be the biggest thing on the block. Just like the autotune pop crap of today is the bully now. It won't last.

If others are making $ in the business environment that exist, then you can't blame the business environment because you're not. About as simple as logic gets.

This is absolute scientific truth. Take into account the ethical stand of most of our fans on illegal reproduction of your music, and there is your delta factor on your income

But I think it is entertainment people want. They pick a genre to escape in. As a teen it becomes your alternate persona. Later on it is just what we like.

I can get into almost anything except fucking rap... Hate that shit...

 

[ChadVanHalen]

Having growing up with personal laptops in my class room in my 3rd grade class I definitely came up in the downloading all my music scene. Hell even today most of the music on my computer is torrented.

But after making a concerted effort to make this whole guitar thing a career choice I thought about records and downloading music. Now, there's no way to reverse this technology, there will always be places to download music... But for myself I held tight the "band makes money touring" thing so I didn't feel too bad. Then you start talking to people you play with about touring (Nothing too serious cause you're fucking 17 and a senior in high school... Have fun touring) and the cost of going on a tour. And the fact that you got to pay a lot of that up front. And recording. And this. And that. Being in a band is fucking expensive man! First off time = money right? How much money did you spend taking all that time in your entire lifetime to play the damn instrument? And how much did you spend on pro gear? And how much money did you spend to schedule studio time? And how much did the producer cost? And the engineer? How much did it cost in gas to get to your rehearsal space? How much is your rehearsal space?... And this is before you even make any money! (Granted you could be playing live locally during this, but you're not making much)
After you get an album out, that's when you try touring to promote your album... Not only do you have to buy more equipment than you already bought, but you have to get a large van/truck or rent a uhaul, pay the extra gas bills, food for who knows how many people, pay a friend or two to help out, lodging, emergency equipment failure, etc.

You need a certain amount of cash upfront to do this, but after you put your own money into recording that investment should then help fund the other parts, but with downloading it just doesn't work like that anymore! And I realized this and immediately felt shitty, especially with up and coming bands (Alright, I don't feel AS bad for downloading Appetite for Destruction or Back in Black... But downloading the Halestorm stuff before they got their popularity boost recently? Man, they could've used my spare change)

While the bands make their money touring thing is a good argument, getting to the tour part is expensive and they need all the financial support from the people who want to see that tour they can get. That's what people like me didn't get for a long ass time.

 

[Shiny_Surface]

Don't blame the technology, embrace it imo. The industry has stumbled because they couldn't or wouldn't adapt and tried to adhere to the old business model. And like a leaking sieve the world embraced technology with or without them.

The industry is a byproduct of the technology available at the time that they came to prominence.

That technology was a limited physical medium so they came up with marketing/packaging to fit what they could on the media albums, EPs, LP's, etc. The medium was controllable and they had tight control over how it was to brought to market.

As time went on they still held on fine in the cassette and then CD era's. Once technology made physical media not a necessity anymore they started to stumble and instead of being savvy enough to adapt they rushed to litigation/lobbying efforts to help keep the old model relevant. The industry has no one to blame but themselves for the debacle.

In some ways the limitations of past technology brought us some great music/bands. The industry could have adapted and still did that, now it's a rush to the bottom because that's how the industry chose to adapt (easy to do) and it's up to you to find the music you want to hear without them.

 

[gtr31]

I side with Gene 100%

On line downloads is "STEALING" .I tunes tried to step up and at least make some money available to the artist ,but limewire and the like should not exist.
Yes there is greed and corruption in the record industry to but pirating music should be illegal . You ARE taking money from the artist pocket
The" well everyone else does it and I can is BS"

If someone left the keys in a Ferrai and left the door ajar while he ran into the store ,would you take it ??

No you would not ,just because something is easily accessible does not make it morally right

 

[TrueTone500]

I side with Gene 100%

On line downloads is "STEALING" .I tunes tried to step up and at least make some money available to the artist ,but limewire and the like should not exist.
Yes there is greed and corruption in the record industry to but pirating music should be illegal . You ARE taking money from the artist pocket
The" well everyone else does it and I can is BS"

If someone left the keys in a Ferrai and left the door ajar while he ran into the store ,would you take it ??

No you would not ,just because something is easily accessible does not make it morally right

Liberals will most certainly disagree with this statement.

 

[shgshg]

On line downloads is "STEALING" .I tunes tried to step up and at least make some money available to the artist ,but limewire and the like should not exist.
Yes there is greed and corruption in the record industry to but pirating music should be illegal . You ARE taking money from the artist pocket
The" well everyone else does it and I can is BS"

If someone left the keys in a Ferrai and left the door ajar while he ran into the store ,would you take it ??

No you would not ,just because something is easily accessible does not make it morally right

Oh please, when you call it "stealing" all that does is show that you don't understand what stealing is.

 

[romanianreaper]

I got all kinds of crap from my friends at work when I tried to defend Metallica and other artists about the "illegal downloading" thing and was pigeonholed as an old man that just didn't want to embrace technology.

Besides the obvious, I have two reasons for not loving the idea of everything being online. I enjoy the packaging and the idea of having something in my hand instead of downloading a song. When I was in high school, we would read the lyrics, see what equipment our favorite band was using, see who they thanked, etc. Now it is all gone. Looking at the back of KISS Alive II while listening to it, was a religious experience.

The other thing is that sometime down the road, when CDs and albums, etc. have all gone away, everything is going to be online. Some of the more rare recordings will be gone forever. I can still play a 1920's record if I want to because the technology still exists. If a band records an online-only recording and it gets lost in the shuffle, how do I find it again?

I've come to the conclusion that for the most part, the only people that fully embrace the downloading thing are ones that listen to Mumford and Sons or other "catchy" songs on the radio and always want the newest, popular songs.

 

[romanianreaper]

Don't blame the technology, embrace it imo.

I embraced the technology when it came out but unfortunately that comes at a price. When Tower Records went out of business I was like "well, here we go".

I guess like anything, there is good and bad involved.

 

[ChadVanHalen]

I side with Gene 100%

On line downloads is "STEALING" .I tunes tried to step up and at least make some money available to the artist ,but limewire and the like should not exist.
Yes there is greed and corruption in the record industry to but pirating music should be illegal . You ARE taking money from the artist pocket
The" well everyone else does it and I can is BS"

If someone left the keys in a Ferrai and left the door ajar while he ran into the store ,would you take it ??

No you would not ,just because something is easily accessible does not make it morally right

Liberals will most certainly disagree with this statement.

*Looks at my post... Looks at my voting trends*

 

[TrueTone500]

On line downloads is "STEALING" .I tunes tried to step up and at least make some money available to the artist ,but limewire and the like should not exist.
Yes there is greed and corruption in the record industry to but pirating music should be illegal . You ARE taking money from the artist pocket
The" well everyone else does it and I can is BS"

If someone left the keys in a Ferrai and left the door ajar while he ran into the store ,would you take it ??

No you would not ,just because something is easily accessible does not make it morally right

Oh please, when you call it "stealing" all that does is show that you don't understand what stealing is.

...Because they're out there.

 

[Purpleibby]

I don't agree with the rationalization.....you can embrace modern tech with out stealing from artists.......and it's obvious romanianreaper means downloading without paying....looks to me like he knows exactly what stealing is....he's just not doing it then rationalizing it........same old bullshit....that's what's truly old, tired and fucking everything up......the entitled mentality and the manipulative rationalizing that goes along with it!

 

[tubortski]

 

[gtr31]

On line downloads is "STEALING" .I tunes tried to step up and at least make some money available to the artist ,but limewire and the like should not exist.
Yes there is greed and corruption in the record industry to but pirating music should be illegal . You ARE taking money from the artist pocket
The" well everyone else does it and I can is BS"

If someone left the keys in a Ferrai and left the door ajar while he ran into the store ,would you take it ??

No you would not ,just because something is easily accessible does not make it morally right

Oh please, when you call it "stealing" all that does is show that you don't understand what stealing is.

You obviously don't have an issue with it ,so carry on.

The definition of stealing is taking something that does not belong to you . The music is a product .A product is released for sale.
If one person takes it an then distribute it on a pirate site to 20,000 more people world wide what happens to the album sales? if one cd is $12 and the artist is making say 3 or 4 dollars .You have taken that money from the band.
The artist has invested money and time to bring out a product for Sale , that you have Taken for free

 

[Mailman1971]

Watched this.....
my opinion is its not the fan. But the technology as someone posted earlier.
If back in the day I could watch or download rare stuff or get music at will?
Wouldnt bat an eye. We had to mail order $20.00 for a 3 track ep for some odd ball recorded live song or that "B" track that was never available. Remember them days?
But I did it....why? It wasnt easily available.
Used to go to concerts....watch the shows....buy the merchandise. Was awesome back then.
Now.....can watch most of the stuff on Youtube.
So if you want to blame anyone? Blame the movement of technology and the Internet.

So its a double edge sword.

 

[gtr31]

Watched this.....
my opinion is its not the fan. But the technology as someone posted earlier.
If back in the day I could watch or download rare stuff or get music at will?
Wouldnt bat an eye. We had to mail order $20.00 for a 3 track ep for some odd ball recorded live song or that "B" track that was never available. Remember them days?
But I did it....why? It wasnt easily available.
Used to go to concerts....watch the shows....buy the merchandise. Was awesome back then.
Now.....can watch most of the stuff on Youtube.
So if you want to blame anyone? Blame the movement of technology and the Internet.

So its a double edge sword.

Agree 100%

 

[Shark Diver]

About as simple as logic gets.

About as poorly thought out as it gets

Ok.

Don't have a counter argument why other artist are making $, just insult. Very Metal of you

 

[Anonymous]

About as simple as logic gets.

About as poorly thought out as it gets

Ok.

Don't have a counter argument why other artist are making $, just insult. Very Metal of you

Well, I think the only argument you can make is that downloading/technology killed the record industry and not the music industry. Whether you are Lady Gaga or any other artist, you now make your money through touring now. The industry is upside down from where it was. You used to make your money on record sales and the tours were to promote the album. Now you pretty much know the album will be downloaded and you won't make much money on that. You now charge $500 for a concert ticket, instead of the $25 it used to be... The more your music is downloaded, the more people are gonna show up at your concerts.

IMO, in general, people who listen to music don't value it anymore. They think of it as "free" because it is easy to get it free. Of course, it's wrong to do it, but there's no going back now...

Steve