billy corgan thinks everything sucks

[solarbird]

This is going around: Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins thinks everything sucks. Here’s a YouTube embed:

Basically he agrees the major label system sucks, but not for the same reasons we do; being one of that tiny percent to actually make money in it, he thinks that part is just fine. He just thinks the people who do manage this feat are the “winners.” What he hates is what he calls the “singles mentality” and homogenisation, combined with the death of the album form, which he sees as removing the connection between little indie band (j0) and MEGASUPERSTARDOM RAR!

And he also spends a lot of time crying for the mass cultural experience.

But at the same time, he also hates on the indie scene, mostly on his exposure to it through alternative rock, declaring it eternally “precocious” and incapable of sustaining an audience or band, dismissing it entirely as, “What’re you going to do, sell albums to the same 10,000 people every year?” and saying bands that go that route are just going to be working back at Burger King in ten years.

As opposed to almost all major label artists who end up back working lousy day jobs and bankrupted.

Personally, if I can sell 10,000 albums a year, I’ll be totally psyched. I’d also be making more money than most major label artists. But to him you don’t count unless, as he puts it, grandmothers know about you. You have to CHANGE THE WORLD, MAN. Like he, um, didn’t. (Sorry, guy, got news.)

I don’t actually want to spend this entire post hating on this interview, because he has a bunch of things to say in there which are varying degrees of legitimate, like how goddamn behind the technology curve the major labels have been and continue to be. But god damn, dude – do some fucking math. The label-and-album system that did work for you (and for about 10-15 other artists a year) didn’t work for anybody else. Except the labels, of course.

You’re so concerned about all this, about the “little” and “indie” bands who are so “precocious?” How about floating some goddamn ideas instead? Because the album as an art form may come and go – Dick Tracy Must Die isn’t just an album, it’s a goddamn concept album – but changing fashion of forms isn’t going to save anybody. Not even the labels.

Meanwhile we, the eternally “precocious,” will be over here, trying to get some work done. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll figure some shit out.

Mirrored from Crime and the Blog of Evil. Come listen to our music!

Comments

[lickingtoad.livejournal.com]

Billy Corgan is a megalomaniac and a douche. The Smashing Pumpkins' last good album was 'Siamese Dream,' or maybe the album of b-sides after that. 'Pisces Iscariot.' (That is, when there was a band and they worked together -- as soon as he decided he *was* SP, he veered off into insanity and craptacularity.)

[solarbird]

A variety of total douchebags have had things to say which were worthwhile. This was being passed around as one of those; I don't disagree with everything he has to say in this interview - just a lot of it.

[hugh_mannity]

I can't say I'm a fan either of him or his music.

I am, however, a fan of all sorts of indie artists across any number of arts: music, "fine" art (paintings and stuff), clothing, jewellry, furniture, etc.

I'd far rather see my hard-earned cash going to the artist than the system and although I think the Rolling Stones put on a pretty good show for a bunch of old guys, I liked them a lot better when they were still relatively unknown and playing in clubs. Stadium shows suck.

[solarbird]

This is more or less what we're hoping to find, over time. To be a little bit fair to him: he's talking about the bar-and-club indie rock scene, which has long been heavily influenced by hipsters who are pretty much dilettantes - they actually won't stay around. His big mistake - and he's asininely dismissive of somebody who tries to bring this up - is thinking that's the only indie model. I'm hoping it's not.

[hugh_mannity]

I don't think the bar-and-club thing is the only indie model. There's also the internet, which provides a number of interesting options from the obvious ones of YouTube, podcasts, and artist blogs to things like on-line concerts through Google+ or some other free or low-cost web meeting type format.

The internet's big advantage is that it enables people to experience the work of artists who aren't local to them. This has been a huge thing in the fiber arts community -- there's been a massive increase in the availability of stuff from small producers now they can advertise their products and sell them online.

It's fascinating because on the one hand, there's the whole locavore thing going on -- buy local produce, support local stores, listen to local musicians, etc. While on the other hand there's this huge virtual marketplace where you can check out the work of people all over the world -- and buy it! If you're in a niche market, the internet is a huge sales boost.

Indie music is an ideal thing to sell over the net because you can provide it as downloads, so there's both instant delivery and no shipping costs. While there are some disadvantages -- if your preferred performers live a country or two away hearing them live is going to be difficult, but that's true even of the ultra-mega-superstars.

As the technology of telecommunications changes, I think it will get easier to host web-concerts and stuff like that -- even perhaps to the point where you can hire a band in Seattle to play "live" over the internet at your party in New York. Or Singapore, or Hamburg, or Ulan Bator. Basically pick any two points on the planet :)

The biggest difficulty is going to be preventing the MPAA and RIAA from stopping technology from doing its thing. Bunch of reactionary, protectionist arseholes!

[solarbird]

I've been playing these Google Hangout events that Leannan Sidhe have been setting up, and they're shaky - problems with dropping, things like that - but when it's working, it actually does work. There's also a bit of a Second Life concert scene - I'd love to get a chance to set up to do one of those shows. (You need someone to run your avatar(s) while you play, of course.)

G+'s limitation is 10 connections in a hangout, of course; Second Life's limitation is that it's audio only. But that's not much of a limitation under the circumstances.

I would love to see turntable.fm expand to host shows. Or a similar live-shows venue. That would be epic.

[hugh_mannity]

I think that more than 10 people can be in a hangout, if they're only watching and listening, not participating and that hangouts can be recorded and then posted.

About 9 or 10 years ago, my psycho ex and I did a weekly internet radio show -- a mixture of music and political rants. We never quite managed to get phone in working, but we'd have conversations with listeners who emailed us while we were live. One of us would read the email and the other would respond. We also did several interviews with interesting people. It was great fun, but a horrendous amount of work for me -- I'd spend about 10 - 15 hours researching and writing for a 3-hour show. With more people collaborating, we could have carried on longer I suspect but as it was it ate almost all my free time. Especially when we did interviews.

But the whole concept -- that anyone with a computer and internet connection can set up a radio or TV station, or even an online newspaper is pretty amazing really. I'm so glad I live in the future some times :)