Billy Corgan on the music industry. Brilliant!

Brisk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8z6tU4at30

facepollution

I've kind of had a downer on Billy Corgan for the last couple of years, but he does talk a lot of common sense stuff here.

I was thinking about the current music scene earlier when I saw the Reading line-up announcement, or complete lack of scene to be more precise. What bands will define the last ten years or so? None of it seems built to last, just disposable, flavour of the month stuff.

BIGDaddyWil

Good listen. Why is his hand pink????

Brisk.

BIGDaddyWil wrote:

Good listen. Why is his hand pink????

He has a birth mark all the way down his left arm hence he always wear long shirts (my guess).

But it is unusually red in this I think.

BIGDaddyWil

Brisk. wrote:

BIGDaddyWil wrote:

Good listen. Why is his hand pink????

He has a birth mark all the way down his left arm hence he always wear long shirts (my guess).

But it is unusually red in this I think.

Thanks!

Hugh Freaking Dillon

it's not just the birth mark. I think he has some type of skin condition as well.

Brisk.

Another video up from Google Play:

http://hipstersunited.wordpress.com/201 ... e-blogged/

musicismylife78

i agree with him. ive long been a supporter of illegal downloading for all the reasons he suggested, and support it for the same reasons. The devil and criminal isnt the illegal downloader. and even if they are, its so common now, talk to kids 13 to 30 now. I would be the vast majority, thats hundreds of millions worldwide, illegally download music as opposed to buying it. Its so tiresome to be having a conversation in 2012 about all this, because its so widespread. theres no way to make people stop illegally downloading. its so common. when an album leaks online nowadays its the way a ton of people obtain the music. certainly the vast majority of music consumers obtain their music via either illegal means, or via itunes.

The industry has made the mistake of viewing us, the customers as the villians and criminals, and i think thats an insane idea, and its one that clearly has caused the buisness to collapse. Whatever you may feel about illegal downloading, its just insane to think, as the industry does that fines, threats of jail or worse, threatening letters, shutting off the internet, is going to do anything at all to either win people over to the idea that illegal downloading is wrong, or that they should see the error of their ways and stop downloading.

Bands i think, alot of older bands, bands of the grunge era, and before, I think in many ways are clueless, as clueless as the industry. The difference is the bands dont demonize the fans. But, theres a huge disconnect among bands of a certain generation and the world we now live in. bands should sell their physical cd's, but its not reality to think you will gain any amount of income via that route. you just arent. Nor will you win fans or gain income and fame via old world means like getting radio airplay, or talking to the old guard press like Rolling Stone or Spin. People just flat out dont find out about bands that way anymore. And the bands that go these routes arent stupid. A band that in 2012 promotes their record through radio and Spin, isnt stupid or dumb, i just think they are kind of clueless and are clinging onto the ideas of the past. You look at 2003-2012, and the bands that have gotten famous, and big and are big deals, the next new thing, the biggest bands of this era, these are bands in alot of cases that have found success outside these parameters. Bon Iver, Arcade Fire, The Shins, Head and the Heart, Death Cab, Modest Mouse, Interpol, Fleet Foxes, Broken Social Scene, Iron and Wine, Bright Eyes, Joanna Newsom, The Decemberists, these are some of the biggest bands of the era, and they all found success outside the old world model.

the industry and people who are against downloading have never addressed the fundamental ideas and things put in place to allow illegal downloading to occur and continue. You buy any new computer, it comes with a cd burner. Those things are advertised and sold, and marketed for the purposes of copying and downloading music. Blank CD-R's are routinely advertised in stores, places like Staples or Target or wherever. These items are obviously used for one thing, burning music, downloading music and the like. Additionally, few people have qualms or issues about your friend buying the new Bruce cd, and then you borrow the cd and make a copy of it and burn it. Thats viewed as seperate, but its really the same act. Im an absolutist as anyone would be in this issue. Either all copying and downloading of music is illegal, or none of it is. There isnt a difference in burning a friends copy of the new Dylan cd, verses stealing it online via a torrent. there just isnt. but people rationalize it. Its the same across the board.

musicismylife78

in a seperate interview he did that day, billy talked about how this generation, our generation, or the new generation coming up, the indie music world, would never have a classic band ala the beatles, or the stones, or the who, a band that everyone and your grandma knows, because of how the industry is, and because of the indie music worlds obsession with dragging down bands back to the indie world who are becoming famous.

Is he correct in this assertion? Im not sure if i agree myself. But he does have a point. Bon Iver and Arcade Fire should be the biggest bands in the world, but there are tons of people who still dont know who they are. they arent household names.

facepollution

musicismylife78 wrote:

in a seperate interview he did that day, billy talked about how this generation, our generation, or the new generation coming up, the indie music world, would never have a classic band ala the beatles, or the stones, or the who, a band that everyone and your grandma knows, because of how the industry is, and because of the indie music worlds obsession with dragging down bands back to the indie world who are becoming famous.

Is he correct in this assertion? Im not sure if i agree myself. But he does have a point. Bon Iver and Arcade Fire should be the biggest bands in the world, but there are tons of people who still dont know who they are. they arent household names.

He's totally right, the 'indie world' is full of the most pretentious, fickle pricks around. They lambast any band that dares to write a hit single and before you know it they're cast aside never to be given a second chance. The passion for music just seems to be missing, it's far more about being seen to be into the lastest bands than actually supporting them.

Maybe not the best example, but Kings Of Leon went from being the coolest band around to being lumped in with the likes of Nickelback by many 'fans'. Sure their last two records weren't as good as the first three, but there is some good stuff on them.

musicismylife78

facepollution wrote:

musicismylife78 wrote:

in a seperate interview he did that day, billy talked about how this generation, our generation, or the new generation coming up, the indie music world, would never have a classic band ala the beatles, or the stones, or the who, a band that everyone and your grandma knows, because of how the industry is, and because of the indie music worlds obsession with dragging down bands back to the indie world who are becoming famous.

Is he correct in this assertion? Im not sure if i agree myself. But he does have a point. Bon Iver and Arcade Fire should be the biggest bands in the world, but there are tons of people who still dont know who they are. they arent household names.

He's totally right, the 'indie world' is full of the most pretentious, fickle pricks around. They lambast any band that dares to write a hit single and before you know it they're cast aside never to be given a second chance. The passion for music just seems to be missing, it's far more about being seen to be into the lastest bands than actually supporting them.


to a certain extent i agree. kings of leon is a great example. i still remember them as some no name indie band touring with pearl jam in the early 2000's. and now it could be argued they are the biggest or one of the biggest bands in the world. i never really understood the hate for KOL either. I just listened to Only by The Night again last week, and there are so many good songs on there.

I dont know about the indie scene pulling bands down after they become success. I think its pretty accurate to say we will never again have a single band thats the biggest band in the world. But to say there wont be any classic albums from the indie scene that will be remembered for decades to come, i think is sort of crazy. I think Funeral for one will be remembered. The Strokes first record. Adele is beloved by people in all genres and i think she will be remembered for a long time. But will these albums be remembered in the same sense Pink floyd or The Beatles, or Dylan or Hendrix are? Will the indie scene produce any such artists or albums? have they already and we just dont know?

facepollution

musicismylife78 wrote:

I dont know about the indie scene pulling bands down after they become success. I think its pretty accurate to say we will never again have a single band thats the biggest band in the world. But to say there wont be any classic albums from the indie scene that will be remembered for decades to come, i think is sort of crazy. I think Funeral for one will be remembered. The Strokes first record. Adele is beloved by people in all genres and i think she will be remembered for a long time. But will these albums be remembered in the same sense Pink floyd or The Beatles, or Dylan or Hendrix are? Will the indie scene produce any such artists or albums? have they already and we just dont know?

Funeral and Is This It will probably be remembered within their genres I guess, but not in comparison to those legendary bands. I think Adele is the only artist I can think of at the moment who will have a lasting impact - to sell 20 million copies of an album nowadays is pretty incredible.

I don't think any recent indie artists will find retrospective fame on a mass scale, if that's what you mean?

musicismylife78

facepollution wrote:

musicismylife78 wrote:

I dont know about the indie scene pulling bands down after they become success. I think its pretty accurate to say we will never again have a single band thats the biggest band in the world. But to say there wont be any classic albums from the indie scene that will be remembered for decades to come, i think is sort of crazy. I think Funeral for one will be remembered. The Strokes first record. Adele is beloved by people in all genres and i think she will be remembered for a long time. But will these albums be remembered in the same sense Pink floyd or The Beatles, or Dylan or Hendrix are? Will the indie scene produce any such artists or albums? have they already and we just dont know?

Funeral and Is This It will probably be remembered within their genres I guess, but not in comparison to those legendary bands. I think Adele is the only artist I can think of at the moment who will have a lasting impact - to sell 20 million copies of an album nowadays is pretty incredible.

I don't think any recent indie artists will find retrospective fame on a mass scale, if that's what you mean?

yeah thats what i meant. thats what billy was arguing. he was saying that in 20 years, 30 years, will there be an classic indie rock station, and will that these types of bands wont be reguarded in the way pink floyd or the beatles are.

Hugh Freaking Dillon

no, there will never be another hendrix, or pink floyd, or zeppelin. but the thing you have to remember, is that has nothing to do with the collapse of the business model of the music industry. that was the golden age of rock. I'll use another industry example: movies. yes, we have brad pitt, and george clooney, and morgan freeman, etc. but there will never be another Audrey Hepburn, James Dean, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, Humphrey Bogart, etc. The movie industry never collapsed, but there's a classic age for everything.

music faced this same kind of hysteria when blank tapes came out. there was even talk about making the sale of those illegal. that didn't destroy the music industry. if anything, I think in the long run this will help it. it will weed out the industry's filler. people are going to realize it's not so easy to become a rock star, since it's so over saturated right now.

everything is cyclical. things will improve.

Thoughts_Arrive

Will watch it tomorrow when I am not half asleep lol

Olivavu

facepollution wrote:

I've kind of had a downer on Billy Corgan for the last couple of years, but he does talk a lot of common sense stuff here.

I was thinking about the current music scene earlier when I saw the Reading line-up announcement, or complete lack of scene to be more precise. What bands will define the last ten years or so? None of it seems built to last, just disposable, flavour of the month stuff.

I totally agree.

Modern music is atrocious.