In 1977, Nick Lowe recorded a song called, “I Love My Label,” an ironic dig at those who “never talk behind my back and they’re always playing my new tracks when I come along.” Gene Simmons, on the other hand, wasn’t being sarcastic when he praised them in a recent interview.
Speaking to Planet Rock in advance of their set at last week’s Download Festival, he said record companies “gave bands money that they never had to pay back — ever! If the band failed and the records were a complete disaster, the advance money was all theirs. What other business would give you that? If you go to a bank and they give you a million dollars, and your business goes under, they don’t care it failed; they want their money back.”
He continued by calling labels “a gift from heaven. Yeah, they’re greedy, they’re this… but they wanna make money just like you do. But they gave you money — millions! And if it wasn’t for record companies, there’d be no Sex Pistols, there’d be no punk, there’d be no nothing. There would be punk, but it would be in a small club. It would never become huge.”
So who does Simmons feel is responsible for the decline of the music industry? “I blame the fans. Because the fans have decided en masse — in other words, the masses have decided — that they should get free music, download, fileshare [...] You’re killing the next Elvis [Presley] and the Beatles and the next Kiss and the next whoever, because you have to give your music away for free [...] It’s disappointing, because they would prefer not to support a new band [...] It affects the next great band, who won’t have a chance. Why? Because the talent isn’t out there? It sure is. The fans killed it. They killed the infrastructure.”
He said that Kiss are exempt from the current model because “we’ve been around a long time and we make a good living.”
The record labels have to take some blame as well. They have always been afraid and/or indifferent to new technologies. In the book Appetite For Self-Destruction, there are a few instances of people at record labels proposing to the label some kind of pay download service. At the time, the labels were fat and happy with strong CD sales, so they didn't care.
I blame the labels completely for not adapting to changing demands quick enough, which in turn enabled the free downloads to take over. They held fans hostage for decades and promoted only what they wanted. Now, suddenly, it is in the fans' hands what they want to listen to and the old fat cats cannot and will not adapt. I truly don't feel sorry for the music industry. Their own greed destroyed it. Bands have never had the final say in anything, it's always been the record labels that ran it into the ground.
I'm watching a KISS concert on AXSTV. This is the first time I've heard some of their newer stuff and I like it. They have done some ridiculous things offstage but they still put on a kick ass show.
Paul Stanley: Ace and Peter Sold Their Kiss Makeup Rights for ‘Not a Whole Lot’
As the controversy rages among Kiss fans over whether Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer should wear the makeup made famous by Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, Paul Stanley defended his band by saying that the answer is simple. In a new interview, he said Kiss own the rights to their “Spaceman” and “Catman” characters, which they bought from the former members for a song.
Speaking to Australia’s 4KQ, Stanley said, “The guys basically sold it off for, you know, not a whole lot, because they didn’t think it was worth anything. Quite honestly, I’ve always thought our image and what we represent is priceless. It didn’t matter to some people — it truly matters to me.”
Stanley added that being in a band is no different from being an athlete on a team, where lineup changes are natural with the passage of time. “If somebody is out, somebody else comes along,” he said. “I don’t think that when you go to see your favorite team, you’re yelling that you want to see somebody who was in the team 20 years ago. Time moves on, but the team lives on. … I didn’t invent the wheel. Somebody is out there who can come in and take my place. … I don’t see a reason for the band to fold, any more than I can see a reason for a team to fold.”
Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider fired a new shot in his ongoing feud with KISS frontman Paul Stanley during a recent appearance on The Real Radio Show.
The war of words erupted between the two frontman after Snider took issue with KISS continuing to use the make-up characters of Ace Frehley and Peter Criss after the two founding members left the band. Snider said that he believed that new members wearing the same makeup as Frehley and Criss was an insult to fans.
During the new interview Snider expressed disbelief shock at the attention the feud has received. He said (via Radio.com, "Look, it's crazy how international this feud between me and Paul Stanley has become. Not bad for a 'wannabe' or a 'buffoon.' " Snider was referred to names that Stanley had called him.
"Let me lay out my KISS credentials," Snider said "[I] own the first seven albums. I bought the first album before it had 'Kissin' Time' on it. I bought it in February, 'cause I lived in Nassau County, they lived in Queens, and there was a rumor about this cool band that had an album coming out, and I got it the minute it came out.
"I have stood in front of a mirror and lipsynched Paul Stanley vocals, made Paul faces in the mirror, okay? So I don't think I'm out of line to say that I have an opinion and that I feel that the Ace Frehley impersonator playing guitar now is an insult to fans."
Snider then took aim at Paul Stanley, "Paul, I love your band, I love your music. Why do you have to be such a dick? Alice Cooper is not a dick. Alice Cooper has inspired a million people and he's the coolest guy in the world, yet Gene and Paul, they've got this arrogance about them, like the world owes them something. We do owe you something, but let us offer it; don't insist we buy it from you."
_________________ "We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors."—College Basketball player Weldon Drew
Everybody see the new Passat TV ad featuring "Beth"? Can you believe KISS would sell out like this?
I have no issue with "selling out". It was amusing to see somebody with a Rolling Stones logo be critical, however, considering their multi-commercial relationship with Microsoft over the years.
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