The decline of the empire…

Rick Rubin is now co-head of Columbia records. I find everything hilarious at the moment. The music “industry” is on fire and people are pouring petrol on it. No one knows what to do as the ship sinks slowly. It is utter chaos and no one has any saviour answers or solutions. There are no “ABC” routes anymore. It is not just change, but constant change. All business models and marketing models are out the window and people are terrified…the great hope of the internet as the indie panacea never materialized. It is not cds being replaced by something else. It is a fundamental constant shift in economics and delivery.

Who the fuck pays for cds anymore? Who the fucks pays for downloads? the new ipod is 160 gigs, at $1 a pop for a song who would spend $20,000 to fill it?
I don’t have any answers…i am still recording and making music. I am still touring. I have had two distributors of my music go under and withdraw from selling cds anymore. I live from my live shows and sales of cds at shows. I will keep doing this as long as i can. I am not scared. I will still make music one way or another.

It is scary to see special voices like Kristin Hersh questioning wether or not it is still possible to continue making records and touring. She can’t afford to pay her musicians etc. She has just launched a new initiatiive on her site which i hope works for her. Her Blog is worth a read.

Ash have decided they will no longer record albums and will just release music online in groups of 3-4 songs.

Anyway the ship continues to burn. To be honest with you, right this second, I don’t really give a fuck. I am putting my heart and soul into these new pieces of music and treating them as if they are the last collection of songs I will ever write. The same as always.

It’s ok folks…I’m laughing…see you on the road. Come up and say hello. I’m the big fucker with a guitar.