Is this the greatest Luke rant of all time or what!

[BrickGlass]

Don't know if this was posted here or not, but if not it is amazing. I love the guy when he just lets loose like this in an interview.

Taken from melodicrock.com

LUKATHER TO LEFSETZ ON THE MODERN DAY MUSIC BIZ:Steve Lukather is a man known as a straight shooter and one not to mince words, which is one of the things I love about dealing with him and also listening to him when he talks business. He recently sent a reply to industry commentator Bob Lefsetz in realtion to discussion about streaming service Spotify.
His comments on that and life in general are well worth reading, so here they are in full:

"I just want to know something. ALL this pontificating about how Spotify and the like are the ' answer ' and how ' the artists get paid' etc. How much? Really? WHO keeps tabs and accounting? Maybe I just don't know. I don't see any money and have A LOT of stuff out there over 35 years of making records.
Have you done the breakdown on what an artist get PER tune on iTunes? Pitiful. Now IF you are with a label its even worse cause they take a huge share of that. The breakdown after all is said and done for most it's pennies. TOO many people can make records. Period. No catalog artists are made these days. One hit wonders galore. Sad really.

Now rec. co's don't give budgets like the old days when the great records were made cause they cost MONEY!! They want to make money for nothing and own you for life and a piece of EVERYTHING an artist does. You can sell a million and still OWE them! My 25 year old son has buddies who have platinum records living in a one room studio apt! Broke.
Of course back 'then' rec. companies cared about MUSIC and nurturing artists for a LONG term career and long term money. Sure they got the Lions share but then they invested, believed and promoted it so there was SOME justification.

Now its ' Beats' and how many facebook hits or Youtube hits you get .. ALL which either make NO money or short term dog-**** money with no real way to account for it and truly suck for the most part. What the **** ? People want to be famous NOT good!

It is TOO easy to play 'pretend pop star' now. With all the fakery and auto tune-time correction -cut and paste etc.. **** most young people don't know how to play a song from top to bottom in a studio in tune and in time and with feeling?? Rare. I am in the studios all the time and hear the stories from the producers and engineers.. and yet NO ONE cares that ' so and so' who sold a **** load of records (how much IS that these days?) cant sing or play. They make 'McRecords' for people who don't even really listen. It's background music for people to either find a mate or shake their heads while texting or skyping or doing other things. Environmental noise for the multi-tasker.

Gone are the days of loving , dissecting, discussing the inner workings of 'AN ALBUM”… sitting in silence while it plays.. looking at the liner notes and the few photo's IN the studio .. imagining what a magic place it music be to make such music…Gone. You need a ****ing jewelers eye to read the credits IF one even cares. Most don't.

So if you keep blaming the 'old antiquated artists' who are the only REAL ones left.. who MAY make a great record once in awhile but may be overlooked cause the media chooses to care more about who is super gluing meat to their bodies and other ridiculous HYPE and ******** to get attention rather than LISTENING hard to the music being made we might be in a different place. When we were kids ( yes I will be 108 this year) there were only a handful or artists and they WERE great cause they HAD to be. You could choose not to like some but outside the teenage fodder most deserved their success and NO ONE sounded alike ! No one!

We live in a McWorld that moves way too fast and now even the drugs suck. I mean when I was young and got high I never got naked foaming at the mouth and tried to eat someone's face off.

Time to put on Dark Side of the Moon and chill. Have a nice day and may real music come back and fill our ears. (there IS some great stuff but you know what I mean ..) REAL music played by REAL musicians. They ARE out there. They just don't get a lot of press anymore, or at all.” ~ Luke.

 

[TNT]

That's the absolute "TRUE" picture of the music biz, I'm glad Luke told it like it was!!!

Never the less, perhaps it will circle back one day. As long as EBMM keeps making the choice instruments, there will be true aspiring artists "out there" who will have weaponry, as it were, and the means (talent) to turn things around and make it happen.

At this point music is entirely in the hands of non musician producers, et al, who, as Luke implied, have no concern whatsoever for the integrity of the arts, or how it destroys the beauty and skill of one of the most enjoyable aspects of life.

 

[Gio_Force_One]

So true

 

[Pablo]

Yup, it's sad... To me, the most frustrating aspect is that the great musicians and the great music really is out there, it just isn't getting any backing whatsoever. As a matter of fact, I actually think that the live scene here in Denmark has improved over the last 10 years, yet record sales are down and there is nothing noteworthy being played on the radio.

I think the main shift is in pop music: when I grew up, most pop acts were great musicians (or at least worked with great musicians) and you took pride in the product. Record companies backing great songwriters working with great musicians in great studios with great producers simply added up to great recorded music... being played on the radio.

These days I have to search high and low for music that will blow me away. Wheras turning on the radio just leaves me frustrated, I tend to find my musical gems either web browsing for the muscians that great companies, such as Ernie Ball, back or through discussions on forums such as this. When I do find the gems, I always make a point of buying the artist's product straight from their own web page - sounds trivial, but in my book it's the least I can do to support the music that I enjoy.

Cheers

Eske

P.s.: Case in point: How can a band like Thank You Scientist be unsigned? Amazing musicians, beautiful songwriting, incredibly original... essentially, they're the greatest thing since sliced bread, and no-one gives a rat's arse!!!

 

[DrKev]

I love Luke.

 

[Sweat]

Yes that was awesome read that yesterday someone from TGP posted it, here is the link

mike collins talks music, biz & technologie

 

[guitarp77]

What a great comment.

Myself, I still buy CDs and try to make time to enjoy what I love most, which is listening to music. It is such a superb experience I can't believe how "old fashion" it sounds these days...

 

[Volt]

Great comments from Luke!
It's mind-boggling to me that the mega rock stars can't get together and organize a movement to fix the business.
Organize, unionize, engage protests, strikes.

 

[kbaim]

Tech has ruined the live show as well.
Everyone pointing their iphones at the stage arms above their heads. F'n annoying as hell.
Performer: Any chance you guys can put your iphones down BETWEEN songs and maybe clap for us since we traveled all this way to play for you and not your stupid phones?

 

[Siro Rayge]

"Environmental noise for the multitasker." That sums it up for me. I remember trekking home with an album, new or second hand, desperate to listen to it although I was walking or stuck on a bus or train. Then discuss it, then speak to my friends about it, then listen to it with my friends.
I used to run an after school 'Rock Club' at the high school where I worked, teaching theory and techniques. Some players could perform whole chart hits but were unable to jam over a 12-bar. True music will always be made by a select few who have worked at their craft, they will be found and appreciated by those in the know. Popular music is by definition what the lowest common denominator want. It is usually banal and quickly forgotten. I have always faced opposition from the madding crowd for my choices of music, preferring substance over style.

I've spent most of the afternoon working in the garage, listening to Toto. Steve you rock on so many different levels. . .

 

[ZeroFivefour]

Luke is right on the money.

Music is NO LONGER social media's vanguard. The internet has taken its place. The age of the rock star is simply over.

I was just talking to my wife yesterday as a matter of fact about the state of music industry and its relevance to today's youth and overall culture in general.


Artists don't exist anymore. PERIOD

I believe the age of the rock star is/ has been over for quite some time. Perhaps the early nineties was the last gasp of the rock star, Kurt Cobain perhaps.

Music was once the 'main act' in youth culture. Not any more. It has been supplanted and has fallen to 'side show' status. It is simply not as important and or as powerful a mechanism and or medium as it once was, and therefore not as lucrative a business. The music industry is aware and are now producing, as luke states, MC music. Fast food music. I remember in the late nineties meeting with a small record label who was interested in signing our band to a 'contract'. The contract would have given all rights and proceeds to the company, with the band receiving a very small portion of each cd's sale. How does a band survive on that let alone pay for touring expenses? We did not sign with that label. We eventually signed with another label and received very little monetary support from them as well.

The internet and social media are now much more widely used in the way that listening to records/cassette tapes/cds once were. Gone are the days when people would get together for the sake of checking out a new "album", do today's youth even use the term? Concerts were the mecca of meeting grounds for music lovers, now it's itunes etc... Now folks chat on the internet, posting bs about how awesome their lives are, face book etc... That is the sad truth.

It's no longer the age of the rock star, it is the age of social media. IMHO that just plain sucks, but it is nevertheless.
Rawk on!!!

Cheers,

Tom

 

[Eric O'Reilly]

So true, so depressing. End of days, i was young in the late 80s and early 90s and that was the last gasp as said earlier , i would love to rock on a big stage, but never have the chance to, not because of lack of skill or ambition, but lack of fan interest.

 

[kestrou]

I regularly do presentations to 8th graders (13 to 14 years old) about graduating high school, going to college, etc. - and one of the topics I hit is self-discipline.

I ask students, "how many play sports, or a musical instrument?" - At best, I see ONE kid plays guitar out of every 100 surveyed. Bass or drums is rarer than that.

I swear it wasn't like that 40 years ago...

kestrou

 

[Eilif]

Modern society is too much about instant gratification. Young "musicians" these days can't be bothered to take the time to develop their ability. Record companies can't be bothered to take the time to develop real artists.

Another thing: with all the garbage out there nowadays disguised as music, it's no wonder that kids don't sit down to really listen while they read the liner notes. First off, MP3s don't come with liner notes. Secondly, who wants to sit down and focus on the garbage? It really is good for nothing except for background noise.

 

[Spudmurphy]

I think Luke is spot on, with what he says.
I played some large crowds in the 70's and it was a great thing to do.
You got ripped off then that's for sure (just look what happened to Badfinger), but one saving grace is that there are the green shoots of improvement. I dropped off my lad for his first rehearsal last week and smiled as he regaled me of the stories about what happened at the session.

I'm pretty much the same age as Pops and Luke and find it sad that it is what it is nowadays.
I also have a friend who plays with Budgie and he gets jack s..t from all his albums and cover versions.

 

[JohnL]

I think it's not so bleak as Luke describes it.

Today young bands can more easily promote themselves without record label backing. This is all thanks to Internet and its social media services. Thus, it's possible to get a big fan base early on (which again attracts record companies if things seem to get too big to handle). It of course requires more proactive touch from the bands. The real musicians (as Luke describes them) are discovered when they do this right.

Also the real musicians are crazy good nowadays. For example, there are so many technically and musically skilled guitarists today. And whom do they listen and learn from? The old great ones. The continuity is there.

Maybe mainstream music is complete garbage, but at least it's much easier to find the real artists today. All thanks to Internet.

 

[toaster51]

I'm another fossil, and I have to agree with SL. There is no music scene as far as I can tell anymore. I have no idea how "talented" musicians manage to be heard anymore (any suggestions where to look?). I have no idea how bands improve and develop with so few live gigs. Out of economic necessity it seems like music has become a part time pursuit - something you do when your not at your underpaid day job.

I also agree about todays listening audience - just background noise, along with all the other multimedia crap they're bombarded with - as far as I'm concerned, this trend started with disco. I was just at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, and it was tough to hear the music even close to the stages. Thousands of people enjoying the day, the atmosphere - great, but nobody under 50 was listening at all - yelling at one another to be heard over the act they supposedly came to hear.



But hey, the law of averages dictates that every x million people will produce x number true musician's, who will burn to make music, without the money, without the recognition. Top 40 AM radio in the 60's, with it's one hit wonders, was absolutely stifling creativity in music. Then along came the Beatles, so popular they could change the whole industry (albums), commercial free, underground FM radio (yes, it really was!) and "classic rock" was born. So I'm optimistic. Music will adapt, not die.

 

[BrickGlass]

I think it's not so bleak as Luke describes it.

Today young bands can more easily promote themselves without record label backing. This is all thanks to Internet and its social media services. Thus, it's possible to get a big fan base early on (which again attracts record companies if things seem to get too big to handle). It of course requires more proactive touch from the bands. The real musicians (as Luke describes them) are discovered when they do this right.

Are these self promoting bands making more money than they did back in the day? Not so sure about that. Do they have careers that can last? Do they even have music careers anymore or is music just peoples hobby now with little to no hope of a career in music? I wonder how many of the artists that have come out in the last 10 years will have what you could call a career in music. Will they be playing on their 30th anniversary tours? I highly doubt it. It is even worse now because you are doing all the work promoting yourself and you still don't make much. At least when you are/were signed to a label the label would promote you, or at least you hope they promote you, instead of you doing it yourself. Take all the time you spend promoting your band and practice being a better musician.

And if you think the "real musicians" weren't as you put it "crazy good" back in the day you must not have been alive back in the day. The difference is that now you can seem "crazy good" because you can fix your screw ups with the click of a mouse. Not possible in the past. There have always been great players and the guitar has evolved a great deal in the last 4 or 5 decades

Also, you say "at least it's much easier to find the real artists today". Um, just about everyone was a "real artist" back then. Now you can have some people seem like they are great, because of technology, but in reality they suck.

 

[Craiguitar]

Some thought provoking stuff here. I think ZeroFiveFour's post was spot on too. It's horrible to generalize, but the numbers don't lie. Here in the age of social media etc, everyone generally born from the early nineties onwards is (in their own minds) a superstar in their own right, the centre of attention. They don't feel the need to look up to or be inspired by rock stars or musicians.

Music is indeed now sidelined as a less important medium. It can heard everywhere but never really listened to. Certainly not to the point where an individual is emotionally moved by a piece. Therefore the quality doesn't have to be that good. The audio quality doesn't need to be good either. Some office colleague shouts up: "Hey everyone, check out this bangin' tune!" and proceeds to play this awful thing on their iphone. It sounds like rasher of bacon being fried in a pan. Everyone goes nuts over this garbage for about 10 seconds, then promptly they go back to their lives and forget all about it. This happens regularly.....

As someone who can just sit at home and listen to a vinyl LP all the way through, no interruptions, reading the liner notes, and completely immersing myself in the music, getting a true emotional experience from it, it's somewhat depressing to know that this kind of joy is never going to be experienced by the generations that follow.

 

[toaster51]

Never is a long time!