Be Honest: Would You Ever Sell-Out?

[lousybassplayer]

$10,000 a week playing with lady gaga? don't count on it! if you made $2000 a week, i'd be surprised.

Considering thats about what I make in a month, consider it sufficient. That's what they make good in-ears for.

 

[Rumblefisher]

Let's say you were in an underground band that's being courted by a big corporate label. If you signed with them you'll be promised fame, fortune, and a fleet of supermodels. Instead of playing hole-in-the-wall clubs, you'll be playing stadiums. All you have to do is change your sound to more commercial viable pop music. Sign away your artistic integrity and all this could be yours..

would you sign?

If I were good enough, maybe I wouldn't need to change. Also, there's a lot to be said about taking an "accepted" style and making it your own while adhering to the limits of that genre's sensibilities. Now, would I change it up a bit for financial security, women, and the chance to lend my thoughts to millions of people...yes, yes I would.

 

[opium89]

+1 Signing a deal with a major label couldn't be farther from the scenario you are presenting. You're far more likely to get dropped from the label the first year than you are to be partying with "super models" and riding in limos. 90% of all signings get dropped the first year with an average record sales of about 8000 units. Unless you're sure you can sell 1 million records, better get use to balogne, peanut butter, and maybe a gaggle of half-witted strippers. Here's an article that may be of interest.

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Change vote option one to "Long hours on the road, double cheeseburgers, sleeping in a van when you are not driving with 3 other dudes, for a small chance to make some money since pirating music and the economy people dont go to as many live shows or buy legit music, to maybe break even and not owe the corporate label the money they loaned you to record and market your album". You are forgetting a key factor here, even if you sell out, people have to buy your music and merchandise for you to make the label money so you get a paycheck. Supermodels......lol.

 

[JimmyM]

If I were good enough, maybe I wouldn't need to change.

whether you would or not isn't going to stop some idiot from the record company from trying to change you because "he knows what the kids want." he's a record company executive, so he has to know way more than you, right?

and they really think the music business is in the toilet because of downloading.

 

[lousybassplayer]

whether you would or not isn't going to stop some idiot from the record company from trying to change you because "he knows what the kids want." he's a record company executive, so he has to know way more than you, right?

and they really think the music business is in the toilet because of downloading.

OTOH, maybe the kids are actually clamoring for crappy music?

 

[dj150888]

I figured that would draw someone out. I'd submit that the music in the little holes is just made out of a different kind of plastic.

Well I'll respectfully disagree.

For the record, I've no problem with other people playing music I don't like and making some coin. Its just not for me.

 

[bareass]

hmmm.... play my bass, or sit behind this desk....
i wonder what i should do.

 

[bareass]

fads come and go, but bass players remain!

 

[Spinal Tapper]

In a heart-beat!

Quick story: My buddy is friends with one of the guys who plays backup guitar for The Jonas Bros. He has a zillion hookups in the music industry, gets to play live for 50,000 screaming fans on a nightly basis, gets to hang out and pal around with the other backup musicians who I guess are pretty cool dudes, AND he can work on his own original project in the mean-time.

SIGN ME UP!

 

[zachoff]

Depends. I wouldn't be in a band where I didn't like the music... Plain and simple. If someone wanted to pay me for making music I like then yup... I'd sell out. If someone wanted to pay me to play music I didn't like then nope.

 

[Drkwdsman]

The only band that I can think of that quit b/c they got to popular was Jane's Addiction. Past that, I assume you are playing music to "A" Make money "B" for the enjoyment, so combining both sounds like a win/win.

 

[JimmyM]

OTOH, maybe the kids are actually clamoring for crappy music?

well 10 year old girls will always have horrible taste. they did when i was a kid and they do now. but i'd say that since the majority of top grossing acts for live work are considered oldies acts at this point, and cd sales are in the toilet except for a select few acts, i'd have to say they're really not.

 

[JimmyM]

The only band that I can think of that quit b/c they got to popular was Jane's Addiction. Past that, I assume you are playing music to "A" Make money "B" for the enjoyment, so combining both sounds like a win/win.

right, and you saw how quickly they put it back together once the money ran out from the first run.

 

[lousybassplayer]

well 10 year old girls will always have horrible taste. they did when i was a kid and they do now. but i'd say that since the majority of top grossing acts for live work are considered oldies acts at this point, and cd sales are in the toilet except for a select few acts, i'd have to say they're really not.

I don't know what these kids are into these days to be honest, but spending 15 bucks or more to get the one song you already hear on the radio ad nauseum when you could just download it seems pretty foolish to me, nevermind the having to listen to the other 11 tracks of filler garbage.

 

[pklima]

well 10 year old girls will always have horrible taste. they did when i was a kid and they do now.

I think the average musician has far more atrocious taste than the average 10-year-old. Kids that age aren't jaded yet, aren't trying to convince themselves that they're better than those "sellout" successful musicians, and aren't out to prove that they're smarter and more cultured than other kids who like other music. They still mostly want music to sound good and have lyrics about stuff that's interesting to them. Musicians, on the other hand...

Didn't Evan Taubenfeld say in some interview that he thinks record labels should be run by teenage girls because there's more power in the lovers than in the haters, or something of that sort?

Come to think of it, at Saturday's gig somebody had brought a friend's 9-year-old daughter along, and I'd say the songs she was most into were the best ones. I even suggested that since we need to cut our material down to one 60-minute set for a corporate party gig coming up soon, we should play the songs she liked best, and our singers agreed.

 

[brotherbassj]

my answer is hell yeah! I have 4 kids and would love to make as much money as this "fantasy scenario" mplies!!!!!!!! I am actually in the process of getting ready to sign a 20+k deal for a disk and merch which will result in the cheeseburgers/break even thing..........

 

[JimmyM]

I think the average musician has far more atrocious taste than the average 10-year-old. Kids that age aren't jaded yet, aren't trying to convince themselves that they're better than those "sellout" successful musicians, and aren't out to prove that they're smarter and more cultured than other kids who like other music. They still mostly want music to sound good and have lyrics about stuff that's interesting to them. Musicians, on the other hand...

Didn't Evan Taubenfeld say in some interview that he thinks record labels should be run by teenage girls because there's more power in the lovers than in the haters, or something of that sort?

Come to think of it, at Saturday's gig somebody had brought a friend's 9-year-old daughter along, and I'd say the songs she was most into were the best ones. I even suggested that since we need to cut our material down to one 60-minute set for a corporate party gig coming up soon, we should play the songs she liked best, and our singers agreed.

you know, you make a convincing argument in favor of 10 year old girls

 

[dogofgod]

yes

 

[billhilly66]

me too, where do I sign?

 

[lousybassplayer]

you know, you make a convincing argument in favor of 10 year old girls

THere was a good deal of truth in what he says about jaded musicians. I myself have found that the more I know about stuff, the harder it gets to just sit back and enjoy it, this applies equally to music and basses.