According to U2’s brain The Edge: “There aren’t going to be any record labels in a few years if things carry on the way they are, because CDs – that industry is pretty much all over,”
U2 went to the tarmac and took a flight to never never land. I love how “established” rockers have it all sorted out. Fuck you Edge.. as long as there is a kid with enough dough to get a guitar theres a soul fighting like a pit bull to get it heard. And as long as there are business people with a twinkle in their eye to get these kids exposure (YES they exist) then there will be labels. And maybe those ‘labels’ wont be the fat cat out of touch bastards on the 44th floor..and maybe they’ll be more grass roots… but buddy please…..go fuckin retire and take the Fly with you.
I fully understand ‘ask the experts’ , really I do. But as reported below, why the hell would the Edge be asked this? My theory is he wasn’t. Rather he found some dead air in an otherwise flat interview and opted to fill it with the money shot or in this case the money spew.
We all remember the image of the DJ smashing the record album with the exclamation “Rock and Roll has got to Go” how 50s! We also all heard that cassettes were ruining the music industry. We also watched as gigantic tables full of hot shot rockers cried that the Internet was killing them.. waaaaa waaaa waaaaaaaaa. OK You old guys maybe just maybe it IS taking a slice of your baloney but the truth is… you had a shot. You got to produce and spew sleeve after sleeve of music for years and years and we all ran to get it.
But.. now what. You’ve released your Greatest Hits 5 different times.. in different packages and some of you idiots have the audacity to make ‘collectors additions’ or the same product in 4 different packages. wtf? Way to milk it. Video may have killed the radio but the fact cat acts killed the labels by making them nothing more than factory farms of music churning out your product in creative ways cuz you couldn’t produce.
So the little guy? Well think of old school Alternative Tentacles (hi jello!) or today’s smaller labels who really support and guide up and coming bands. The backing provided the promotion so incredibly needed in an over saturated market. Labels are there to support nurture and ultimately profit. Without their backing your little guy band is on his own like a carnival huckster. To be ‘signed’ is the equivalent of ‘making it’ and any artist who says they never want to be signed is an artist content in the small venue where wings are served til closing. And for some that’s OK.
But for the Edge to get up and spew this as gospel, makes me hate them even more. Get your ego off the speakerphone, you’ve lost touch with the real world. Let them eat cake.
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