I was watching an interview last night on Gene Simmons of the band Kiss. He made a statement that the music industry has been murdered with illegal downloading and that kids expect everything for free. He said you will never see any new bands be iconic in the future. He said the reason for that is there is no structure in the music business anymore and you need that structure to be an iconic band. He said from 1958 to 1988 there were hundreds of iconic bands. He asked Dan Rather to name an iconic band after 1988 and he could only name Nirvana. My question for you is to you think what he is saying is the truth or is he just pissed off because music tastes have changed and Kisses music is just yesterday's news.
I agree with most of your statements except the one of free sex. As long as woman are in control (and yes the men know what I am talking about) you are going to have to pay for sex one way or the other. I don't think the Internet is ever going to change that.
What Gene Simmons from Kiss is saying about music downloading/streaming new business plan and the lost of music icons today, in comparison to the sex/porn industry on the Internet (viewing/streaming), and also on what Neil Young and Prince said recently on their removal of all their music from the streaming music companies because of poor sound quality (but they don't say directly that it also affects their financial revenues/future royalties from their artistic/musical talents), drew me to this verisimilitude we live in today with the Internet on how it affects all icons/artists, not only in the music industry (Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Kiss, AC/DC, ...) but also in all other industries, from Hollywood to Florida to movie and porn stars* (sex, money, rock&roll).
Who profit the most now? ...The managers...the streaming music companies and the movie downloading companies with the people behind...the organizers, the perpetrators, the entire free access created by the Internet with all the viewers and listeners. ...It's like a vice that we can't get rid off, and we all created it, including Gene Simmons, Neil Young and Prince. They are part of it like all their fans. ...So, Prince and Neil Young decided to not be part of it anymore and removed all their music from all streaming music companies, except for Tidal from Prince.
These talented artists/musicians are well outspoken people...they say what they have to say regarding the world we live in and about the music industry.
Iconic music bands like Metallica, Kiss, Guns & Roses, etc., ...are the last vestiges from yesterday's old music business' strategy.
Today the new iconic music artists/musicians are a different breed...more discreet, harder to find within so much more music bands of all levels...from real real bad to excellent.
The Internet is the full globe...much more access to much more great musicians that we would never know if we couldn't stream music like we can now.
So, these guys, Simmons and all, they can say all they want, complaint the way they do without telling us directly that it is their bank accounts that they are more concerned about, the fact stays that the benefits are way more advantageous than their selfish egocentric financial state-of-mind. ...They only see their own disadvantages without looking @ the full picture...other artists/musicians that we can finally discover and appreciate more for their true talents...purity and creativity for the music they love playing and sharing.
I'd say to Gene Simmons and Neil young and Prince and Metallica: Do as Bob Dylan do, Play Live.
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* As for the above 'connection' I made between the streaming music business and the sex/porn streaming online business:
=> Where are the new iconic stars now, now that VHS tapes are dead, and people are not buying DVDs and 3D porn movies on Blu-ray, but instead are downloading illegally from an industry in deep decline and created by the profit makers...all of us one way or another.
The music industry has been murdered with today's technologies. ...And all of us we are using those technologies...on our iPhones, iPads, iMacs, and all that Microsoft jazz.
Do we think that we can stop this madness? ...Just no way Jose; it's here only to expand more and more...so might as well accept it and adapt with it the best we can...by buying vinyls and 8-track tapes from the music we love and created by the true talents/artists/music icons from our youth and way before...Mozart, Back, Beethoven, Chopin and the rest of the gang.