Like every year, the music world is at SXSW, and like every year, there is a lot going on in Austin, and in particular talks and panels about the future of music and other unnecessary waste of time. Musicians should play and sing, but should they get involved in these sorts of things?
According to NME, a panel featuring Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, Arcade Fire’s Win and Will Butler, Berger Management’s Nicky Berger, Nielsen’s Tatiana Simonian, and Grantland’s Rembert Browne, had the hard task to discuss about ‘the celebrity economy in music’, asking the harsh and thorny question about money in music… how artists are gonna make a living in music in these Spotify times?
After Simonian talked about the survival necessity for young artists to work with big brands, Win Butler said:
‘It is selling out, though. You can afford to get a chipotle burrito if you manage your tour right.’
‘Essentially, artists have been getting screwed over at pretty much the same rate, but now slightly different people are screwing us over.’
Coming from the biggest rock band of the moment, doesn’t it sound arrogant? Arcade Fire never had this problem, they started at a time when people were still buying CDs, and now, they are such established artists that they can have the luxury to say no to brands but I wonder what Win Butler would do if he were to start a new band right now? This is the mentality of the 90’s and does Win Butler know we are in 2015?
I was watching TV this evening, and two car commercials came up, one with a Pixies’ song, another one with a Maroon 5 one, meaning even the biggest bands do it because times are hard. And it is true for almost everybody, would Win Butler say to David Bowie’s face that he is a sell-out? Because Bowie’s music (and face) has appeared in tons of commercials, from Vuitton to Pepsi Cola!
True, Arcade Fire has never sold a song to a brand to my knowledge, but I can’t wait to see what will happen when the band’s popularity will decline, because it will happen ineluctably, and so what?
