LAZARUS A.D.’S JEFF PAULICK SUPPORTS SPOTIFY
(photo from old_skool_metal_head’s Flickr)
Axl and I went to Summer Slaughter in NYC yesterday. That second bottle of whiskey was a really bad idea. But before said second bottle we got to see Darkest Hour… and any time I see Darkest Hour I have an incredible urge to listen to nothing but Darkest Hour the following day. Thanks to Spotify I have their entire discography instantly at my disposal and I’m letting Undoin Ruin rock away my hangover at this very moment. If anyone else at the show had the same urge they could do the very same thing instead of being driven to piracy (because we all know people are cheap-asses and ain’t gonna shell out for DH’s ENTIRE discography at once), so at least Darkest Hour gets paid something instead of nothing at all.
What kind of ass-backwards world do we live in where Victory Records is doing something right and Century Media isn’t? Can I get an “AMEN”???
ANYWAY, the metalnets have been surprisingly quiet when it comes to bands voicing their opinions on Spotify, especially if those bands are on Century. Maybe they’re afraid to speak up, maybe they’re against Spotify and don’t wanna look like this generation’s Lars Ulrich, maybe they just aren’t sure yet; I don’t know. But Lazarus A.D.’s Jeff Paulick (whose band and label are on Spotify, btw) has broken the silence and come out in support of Spotify in a guest blog for Metal Insider, specifically with regards to the whole Century situation. What I like about Paulick’s rant is that it seems very representative of the new, young generation of musicians that understand and accept music is not going to be a huge source of income in their lives. Here’s the money quote:
I am not depending on selling music for my income. In fact, I have two jobs when I’m not touring to help with my income. I’ll take a page from a good friend of mine Buz McGrath of Unearth. On one of our first tours he told me that he wasn’t in the music business, but that he was in the ticket and t-shirt business, and there is nothing closer to the truth than that.
Every band from Metallica to the local hit in your city makes their money on tickets and t shirts. NOT SELLING MUSIC. I’m sure Metallica sees money on music, but I would wager that’s not where the bulk of the cheddar is being harvested consistently (Ok the Black Album sold like 21 million, so that might be a bad example). KISS sells records, but they sell EVERYTHING else. They made a brand, they marketed that brand, and they made a shit ton of money off of it, and people still go to see their show. This is exactly what all bands do and will continue to do. And the last part of this paragraph…I do not, I repeat, I DO NOT need to sell my music to continue my creativity. I created music before the label, I create music while I’m on the label (with or without their financial support) and I will continue to create music well after there aren’t any labels. My creativity stems from my passion and love for music, the struggles and triumphs in my personal life, the drive to be successful and to experience life to its utmost possibility, not from a fucking advance check from the record label.
The farther away we get from the golden age of recorded music the more this kind of thinking is going to take hold. Don’t worry, good music will survive whether there’s money to be made in it or not.
-VN
