Kiss blames fans for 'killing the music industry'

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

By WENN world entertainment news - Tuesday, June 17 02:40 pmKiss frontman Gene Simmons has blamed music fans for the demise of the music industry - and is begging them to stop downloading records illegally.

The musician claims the modern process of downloading songs from the internet instead of buying songs on CD format is taking away artists' passion.

He says, "The record industry is dead, it's six feet underground, and unfortunately the fans have done this.

"They've decided to download and file share. There is no record industry around so we're going to wait until everybody settles down and becomes civilised."

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Nor with the specific band being a had-been (such as KISS).

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Sure, Gene - tell that to Radiohead and other groups that have adapted to the digital age.

[Peikko 1,575]

It's a point. How real it is? I don't know, I am not really that au fait with the industry. However, what I do know is that when I was growing up the influence of the single and the Top Ten on the musical output was phenomenal.

How that translated into actual money in band coffers? There was certainly marketing manipulation.

It is said by some that this direct music transfer gives a truer picture of where popularity lies, and that may be true - if people pay the artist adequately, the method of getting one's music is really not that big of a problem. Whether this 'truer' picture of popular tastes leads to a 'downgrade' in quality is yet another variable - is popular taste a measure of artistic ability?

It may well be that only a minority can even tell the difference between good and adequate - as with literature - but does that even matter? Not so much, so long as the good still gets produced - and it will because the good is a product of passion, not financial gain.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Sure, Gene - tell that to Radiohead and other groups that have adapted to the digital age.

I read somewhere an article about how when they released In Rainbows online it pissed off all their bearded audiophile fans who were annoyed about the inferior sound quality of mp3s

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Sure, Gene - tell that to Radiohead and other groups that have adapted to the digital age.

I read somewhere an article about how when they released In Rainbows online it pissed off all their bearded audiophile fans who were annoyed about the inferior sound quality of mp3s

...bearded you say. LOL.