How Oversaturation Hurts The Touring Industry
In an interview with Subba-Culcha, Jim Root of Slipknot and Stone Sour got asked his opinion on the state of the music industry and the devaluation of recorded music. As someone who hasn't left the road in almost 11 years, Root knows all too well that touring is the only way to make money from music. He also foresees the ongoing and upcoming oversaturation of act on the road that will plague the concert business for years to come. Root has an interesting view to share. Take a look:
Rob Sayce asks Root, "What’s your take on the way that music has changed in the beginning of the digital age, the way that it’s become devalued in many people’s eyes, almost throwaway?"
"It absolutely has become that, it’s almost reminiscent of when rock ‘n’ roll first started getting spun in the fifties.
Everything was single-based, nobody cared about records until bands like The Beatles, The Who and Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd too of course, started experimenting with making full-length records. It’s kind of a weird evolution, because in some ways we’ve been seeing things going down the toilet.
It’s already started effecting touring, the only place a band can make any money at all anymore is by touring.
That’s part of the reason that I haven’t come off the road in the last 11 years. And now you’re going to have every band in the world, even if they’re successful on radio or successful in the pop world, having to hit the road in order to make money. They’re not making any money from publishing, and they’re not making any money from selling records, so they have no choice.
And what you’ll see from that is such an over-saturation of every band, y’know, touring bands might be playing in your city on any given night, all fighting to pay their mortgages, I guess! (laughs).
You can certainly see it that way. It goes pretty deep, and it’s not just that…
The culture of buying an album on CD or vinyl has gone out of the window." ( Read on.)
Touring is where artist will most likely get majority of the fianaces, as always. But once the touring industry suffers the same the music industry is currently enduring, what’s next? I know that’s something people don’t think about.
I will simply put it like this. I love albums(LP,EP) and that is a monumental creation when you give it some thought. I will treat it like a body of work because that is simply what it is. THAT WILL NOT GO AWAY because of what it can offer compared to singles. I’d rather listen to an album that will keep me occupied with an artist message or intended purpose, if it’s worthwhile. I understand this is a generation situation. People streaming/download singles is YES, what they want. But that doesnt mean the albums have to be singled out because of newer options. We are marketing only towards the younger audenice without surveying ALL ages. That is misinformation at it’s finest. Sure,time and culture changes. But as far as I concern, we live in the 21’st Century. A selfish, short-attention spanned, arrogant, uneducated corrupt culture where…
1. We are told that DIGITAL is considered the ONLY option. I ENJOY IT’S CONVIENECE. It gives diverse options, yet that doesn’t mean physical retail SHOULD DIE. No one can tell me that there isn’t a place for physical music merchandise. We just need BETTER marketing/promotional strategies and probably a new physical format that beats the CD. When one format doesn’t last, come up with another. Be creative.
2. Distriubutors don’t know how to market things properly or distribution can’t work the way it used to work because of certain reason (in this case, record industry is broke, expansion of digtal media and methods, and REBOUNDIND FROM THE RECESSION).
3. Singers/Songwriters/Producers/Album Engineers who really do not know how to construct a GOOD album.
4. Performers don’t know how to perform. Lack stage presence and all. They don’t need to tour at all
5. The Music industry is at a desperate state with a few bright spots. As cliche as it sounds, it’s the truth. Both “mainstream” and in some ways “independent”(that sounds segregated). I still want to know the fool who signed “Ke$ha” because he committed a crime of all time the second he signed her.
6. The lack of artist’s effort to experiment sonically and creating methods that help your music get heard.
7. More that I can’t even name right now.
These are my two cents. Fill free to comment, whether if it’s a contradiction or supporting comment. If I miss anything, let me know cause I really WANT to know. Take care people.
PS- Just because “times have changed” doesn’t mean that things have become better or quality has advanced.
If you do contradict, PLEASE HAVE SOME CLASS AND MANNERS. I read the boards here all the time and nothing is worse than an haughty hippocrite, whether it be a blogger or record exceutive who intelligenty types his words with a snooty aura that I can feel from a computer. Whatever happened to RESPECT AND DECENCY?
My take is that if the only way to make a living is to play live par-tay music, the only thing that we’re going to have is par-tay music, and it’ll be like the disco era all over again.
Careless writers might be worse than “hippocrites”. And forget decency. Those days are over.
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