Bruce Dickinson

It wasn't exactly subtle at all, he outright said it was a dig at Metallica at more than one gig on that tour. It was a way to bring publicity and come off looking like one of the "cool guys", we don't care about piracy, as long as you buy the album if you like the new song. Obviously it didn't really pan out that way, but that's on the devaluation of music as a whole rather than on him or the band.
 
srfc said:
His angle is, as a music punter, he thinks won't get to hear a lot of new bands in the future because there's no money in it for them.
Click to expand...

Again I must disagree. Decades of rock music have exhausted the pool of new ideas. I'm afraid that I don't hear this kind of whining from the electronic music guys, their thing just left off 20 years ago and they have wider spectrum of sounds to utilize and they don't have to follow any kind of conventional structures.

Rock and roll has been going on for 70 years. It is genre of music largely based around one melodic instrument - electric guitar - which hasn't really spawned its true family of instruments, like classical strings. Even if electric guitar and bass could cover whole string spectrum akin to chamber music, which they can't, 99% of these instruments have frets and are tuned in the same key.

Imagine a genre of music based around simple violin arrangements, largely in 4/4 time and ordinary major or minor scale, 5 minutes a piece on average, just utilizing half a dozen structures. And then try keeping the novelty and the wow factor to keep the interest/profit in it, for 70 years. This is what these people are asking for...a simple overdriven minor pentatonic riff to be interesting today as Paranoid in 1970.
 
Let me get this straight Zare, you’re saying rock musicians can’t make money on their albums these days because the music sucks and that the fact that an entire generation has been trained that music should be free has nothing to do with it?
 
I remember when I paid $18 for a concert ticket and $25 for a CD.
Now it’s $9 for a CD and $118 for a concert ticket and a nobody is paying significant cash for a concert ticket to see a young Iron Maiden
 
Zare said:
I can't see his angle, though, because Maiden is actually selling compared to other artists.
Click to expand...
I agree with most of your previous comments. I just can' believe Maiden isn't making money on records. Less than what they used to, certainly, but it is still a profitable activity. And I think Maiden have made the best out of the Internet: they have embraced the new medium, and have been largely repaid. I don't see it as a coincidence if Bruce's return and Maiden's return to success are contemporaneous. As the father of a guy who is trying to make it into the business, though, Bruce must be highly preoccupied, and when he is talking about younger bands, I find him more coherent.
 
Well they spend money on a studio, a producer, packaging, artwork, promotion, distribution, and are signed to a label that is going to take a large cut. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if they’re not making any money.
 
It's a pretty well-known fact in the industry that albums don't make artists money anymore, they're just tools to promote tours, which is where the real money is (and merchandise). There's absolutely nothing unbelievable about that statement in 2018.
 
Well, then, if Maiden is not making money, a vast majority of bands must be losing a big amount of money each time they hit the studio.
I'd like to get the actual figures though.
 
Bruce has done this rant before, about new bands not being able to make any money. Last time it was to do with his kids, so maybe one of them is having another go.
 
Chicken foot is not making records any more because Sammy Hagar loses money in the effort.
 
Ruflux said:
It's a pretty well-known fact in the industry that albums don't make artists money anymore, they're just tools to promote tours, which is where the real money is (and merchandise). There's absolutely nothing unbelievable about that statement in 2018.
Click to expand...

Lets say Maiden have sold 200.000 copies of TBOS in US and UK combined. Lets also presume they sold 100.000 in the rest of the world. Lets also say that 70% of CD sale goes to Maiden and 30% to rec.company. Lets also say that average CD price on world market is $10.

From the rest of the world lot, they'd have $700.000 to take care of complete album from idea to release cycle. From the US/UK lot, they can pay themselves out, effectively cashing $200k+ per member.

$200k per 5-6 years (whatever they take to make an album nowadays) isn't much but it's tertiary source of income for them.

Do you think this is unresonable hypothesis?
 
As far as the US is concerned, since 1999 the median inflation adjusted income is down about 10% and student loan debt is up 500%. There have been several cuts made in peoples' everyday lives due to lack of discretionary income. I don't know the average age of people buying music over the years, but I'd venture to say those under 35 were a large majority. These are far greater factors contributing to the fall of music sales than Napster. Hell, most people out there now are not pirating music, they just pay for a subscription streaming service. Napster and the like were just the gateway to streaming services. It was inevitable in an ever changing technology driven society.
 
Time to get back to listening to solo Bruce.

SKUNKWORKS:
Space Race - Good opener; I'm excited to listen to this somewhat different album. 9/10
Back From The Edge - Wow, this song was even better. Completely roped me in! 9.5/10
Inertia - The lyrics seem like Deja Vu, Part II. Another cool song! Why did I put off listening to this? 9/10
Faith - I liked this one too, just not to the same extent. 8/10
Solar Confinement - Also good! One part reminded me of Queensryche. 8/10
Dreamstate - This is such a strong album. Also good! 8/10
I Will Not Accept The Truth - See above. 9/10
Inside the Machine - See above. 9/10
Headswitch - See above. 9/10
Meltdown - See above. 9/10
Octavia - See above. 8/10
Innerspace - See above. 8/10
Strange Death In Paradise - See above. 8.5/10

Overall: There is no stand-out track on this album. There is also no bad song on this album. Instead, everything works together to build a fortress of impenetrably awesome Brucie workmanship. Loved it. 9/10

Also listening to this for obvious reasons:

R 101 - WTF is
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top