YOUR BAND SUCKS, AND SO DO YOU.
Monday, May 19th, 2008 at 2:59pm by Vince NeilsteinI usually refrain from re-posting rants from well-known industry curmudgeon Bob Lefsetz — but a lot of the time, in between sounding like an old fart and telling boring ski stories through metaphor, the guy hits the nail on the head. Such as in this rant sent this past Friday, in which he sums up quite nicely how he feels about the thousands of artists trying “to make it”:
Just because you believe in yourself doesn’t mean I should.
I’m constantly inundated with people frustrated that they haven’t made it. Everybody says how great they are, their family, their friends, how come they can’t break through? If only they were on the radio. Won’t someone invest in them?
You’d think that record companies are the enemy. I know, I know, they’re not what they used to be, but do you really think they don’t want to sign stuff that sells? That’s easy to sell? Do you really think you’re being given the brush-off unnecessarily, that the big bad man is out to screw you? Not only the record company man, but the radio guy too?
And sure, both those outlets are now only interested in a narrow category of performer. Probably a pretty face with a number written by a song doctor or the latest urban delight. You’re right, that’s fucked. But the reason they don’t want to sign you isn’t because they’ve got a personal vendetta against you, but because they can’t SELL YOU!
And what’s worse, they can’t sell the records of an established act either. Do you think you’re as good as Elton John? He’s gone on record that he’s not going to release any more albums because no one cares, no one wants to buy them. But since you’ve dedicated your life to music, somehow you think you’re entitled!
Chances are you’re not that good. Or, if by some weird quirk of fate, you are, you’re making music that most people just aren’t interested in. Please accept this. And stop acting wounded. Frustrated that you haven’t gotten your chance. Talk to the big time managers, the ones you wish were pushing you, they’re flummoxed too, they’re having a hard enough time keeping legendary acts working.
But no, the system’s out to get you.
The man speaks the truth.
-VN
I like this… truth hurts. Being from L.A. i see a lot of;
a) talent with a forum
b) no talent with a forum
c) talent with no forum
… the real problem in L.A. is the crapa$$ radio stations that won’t give Metal/Hard Rock the time of day – payola still exists, i don’t care what anybody says.
Another thing is the lame emo/indie trendy sheep that most of the clubs cater to. And anything around that revolves around pay-to-play. There arent many clubs that will support metal, and if there is they are leeches messing up the bands schedule, sound and turn-out. Its amazing the amount of crappy bands that is pointed out here, “most people just aren’t interested” – this Ipod generation sits in A.D.D. land and wont support this type of Music. And there are alot of bands that are trying to “re-invent the steel”, if you catch my drift – record companies, and big chain record stores RIP-its your fault by raising prices as well as lawyers with their hand in the pie. This coming from my experiance as both as a fan and supporter going to the show and a musician trying to do something with the stage – All i can say is GO TO CONCERTS GO TO SHOWS AND SUPPORT ALOT OF THOSE BANDS THAT YOU LIKE, ESPECIALLY THE UNDERGROUND (i go to shows at LEAST twice a month)- AND ESPECIALLY DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT SUPPORT TICKETMASTER!!!
…nuff sed bub!
Another problem with many local metal/rock clubs is that in order to make any money, they have to schedule 5 acts. And they sell the fact that there are 5 bands playing as a GOOD thing. It’s not. When the first band finally gets on stage at 9:30, that means the last band is going to be playing for about 10 lonely souls at 1:25.
But the worst part is that most rock musicians are egocentric pricks who think they’re all titans of rock, believing their band needs a 20 minute sound check. So what you’re left with is 30 minutes of likely shitty music followed by 35 minutes of slow-as-fuck musicians changing out gear. That’s a bad ratio of music to waiting for music.
The flip side is that if you can get a venue to limit the night to three bands, all with longer sets, they run the risk of no one showing up.
The real problem? People like dance music and heard-it-a-thousand-times-before cover music (always classic rock). People are so unwilling to try something new.
Lefsetz strikes again.
@ Sammy.
So true my friend, drunk people go apeshit for the world’s worst tribute band and stand around like tools if they stay at all for an original act. And I live in a small city where anything major will come in the middle of the week which thins the crowd out even more for the poor local opener.
With the plethora of independent labels out there, I see little reason for any act to sign straight away to a major. Stuck in the old way of doing shit, these chumps want to go from Zero to Hero without doing any of the steps inbetween.
Also, most bands suck.
I think the biggest problem is that metal fans are poor and cheap. It’s double dipping in the ass rape. Not only do metal fans make little to no money, they won’t spend the little money they have on metal. Who in their right mind would open a business catering to these losers.
“15 dollars is too much for a cd, damn greedy record labels, waaaaah.”…… Go back to a third world country where you belong bum.
Obviously,this is applicable to SOME cases.It’s true that some bands really are a bunch of whiners and whenever they get rejected by a label they become little emo shits and won’t shut up about it.
But hey,I guess some unsigned bands would be pretty pissed off reading this.I’ve been streaming a lot of unsigned bands that are definitely great and deserve to get picked up by major labels.
Even if they haven’t been signed yet and it’s been a generous number of years they are at it,they’re not whining their asses off,they just keep on getting better since they know they have to,in order to access these labels.
I agree not everyone’s made to be in this business.But some people are actually tougher than those portrayed in this article.
If you want to hear some of those bands,go to http://www.myspace.com/crocpodcast and hear a lot of unsigned talent.
Great post. Also, Vince, think you could teach Axl the art of the blockquote tag? Thanks.