Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor
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Eve 6 shaped my early years as a music fan. To this day, they are still one of my favorite bands. Just shy of eleven years later, their debut album still warrants being played all the way through. In saying that, I had the pleasure of connecting with the group's drummer, Tony Fagenson, whose career started to take off in 1998, just before file-sharing, technology, and social media went onto transform the music industry. Sharing his thoughts on these various forces and providing further insights into how they shaped his career, Tony takes a look back on the radical changes that have occurred during his career as a musician.
Q: Looking back on it now, what was your experience like being signed to a Major Label?
Fagenson: I'd be lying if I said the experience was anything but great overall. Like anything it has it's ups and downs, strikes and gutters. Sure they f$&ked a few things up, and communicating ideas could be a very laborious process with a large company...
But we were very fortunate to have a team of people that was behind the band for a long time, and fought hard to break down walls for us and get our music heard. We wouldn't have had that success without the powerful reach and $$ of a major record company. We had a good relationship with many of the employees of RCA at the time and enjoyed seeing the various folks when we'd pass through their particular town or what have you. Lots of bands end up despising their labels, but that never really happened with us.
Q: Having released albums before and after Napster, what's your view on how file sharing has impacted the industry and your career?
Fagenson: First let me qualify this by saying that Napster and file-sharing were inevitable progressions in technology, the way that compact discs were a progression from cassette tapes; there was nothing anyone could do that was gonna stop this thing. That being said, I do believe that pirated music via Lime-wire, CD burning, what have you, is the source of 90% of the music industry's woes over the last 10 years. The biz is in the dumper and it ain't turning around. This is because, due primarily to file-sharing, but to other factors as well, the value of music has declined steeply. People aren't willing to pay for what they can get free. And people can now pick and choose the songs they want and either buy from iTunes or download illegally and never have to worry about getting a full album. The biz used to get by knowing that one hit single could sell a million albums (or more) at $10 a pop. Now, a hit single will most likely only sell a million single song downloads (if that) at 99c a pop, which is obviously 1/10 the revenue. The problem is that it still costs loads of money to actually create, market, and promote the recordings. It frankly hurts everybody. Labels, artists, managers, producers, retailers. No one has come out the better for it, except Apple who's selling the hardware. I think file-sharing was at least a somewhat significant reason for RCA not renewing our option. But it's a fact of life now, and all aspects of the business are looking for ways to make a living given this situation.
Q: Your career took off before social media and networks, how have they changed the way you view yourself as a band and your ability to connect with your fans?
Fagenson: Here's the flip side of the whole file-sharing thing. Right on it's heels came MySpace and YouTube, and I think they've both played a huge part in keeping my band on the radar of people all over the US and world. Even while we were pretty much MIA between 2004-2007, the band name and music was allowed to spread naturally thanks to the online networks, keeping the value of the band alive. Lots of kids make their own videos to our songs and then post on YouTube, which get seen by tens of thousands of people every day. For instance, someone edited our song "Think Twice" to clips from the movie "Unfaithful", and it has 2.5 million views, far more than the actual music video to "Think Twice"! This is the type of free promotion that couldn't happen before the online revolution. And kids being able to catch a few minutes of a live show from clips on YouTube filmed by audience members only excites them to go to the real thing. MySpace has allowed the band to communicate directly with fans, promote shows, and stay connected with the world. It is a great tool and is a major reason why we played so many packed shows in 2008. Both MySpace and YouTube will be very important to our band in the coming years as we put new music out.
Q: Both 'Inside Out' and 'Here's To The Night' had great success as videos and radio singles, how do you feel about the state of radio and TV today?
Fagenson: Well radio is still very valuable and has the capability of turning a nobody into a huge star based on one hit single. And TV has become a very important promotional avenue for music, from American Idol to the unknown artists that get placed on Grey's Anatomy or whatever and break big because of the spot, although the role of traditional MTV has dropped to basically nothing. I think most artists still want that type of success. The state of radio isn't much different than 10 years ago, although it has become more homogenized. The role of the local programming directors at stations has lessened in favor of national consultants and focus-group style research, which is sort of sad. If it wasn't for a couple of bold PDs that fell in love with "Inside Out" back in '98, that song would've never gotten off the ground and I wouldn't be giving this interview. There's a lot less room for that sort of thing to happen now. As for actual music videos, they are basically meaningless because the few remaining outlets such as VH-1 really only play videos in the wee hours of the morning.
Read Part Two (Here)
