Iron Maiden’s death dodger, jet salesman and frontman Bruce Dickinson has been in the music business for a lot longer than most of our readers, and that gives him a different scope regarding the current industry and the changes since his times like online streaming and the internet in general and he’s not really happy with the latter.
During an interview with comedian Jim Norton and That Metal Show co-host Don Jamieson on Opie Radio, Dickinson gave his opinion on whether streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music are ripping the artists off, to which he replied:
“Yeah, they are. But it’s just like one of those, kind of, ‘Damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ moments, really. I mean, it’s this thing of… Kids love music, and people love music now more than probably any other time in human history, right? So what do you do? Do you say that people that love everything, ‘You’re all criminals, just ’cause you love it.’ That’s what sank all the record labels, who didn’t figure out that, actually, these people are not trying to do harm. They just love it, you know?”
Dickinson’s sons are both active musicians with their own bands and he discussed about their experience with the new online service:
“My two boys [are] both doing their own thing and they both just got signed to record labels and stuff, and so they’re going through the whole process right now and the deals that they’re looking at… ‘Cause, I mean, I go down the pub with my guys, and they sort of say, ‘Dad, you wanna take a look at the contracts and see if we’re getting ripped off?’ and I said, ‘Well, I don’t really have much of a clue what I’m looking at here, but let me have a look.’ [And then I went], ‘That one looks a little dodgy to me. You might wanna ask them about that one.’ For example, on one contract, there was this thing that said, ‘Yeah, we’ll give you X thousand advance’ — and it’s only an advance, so, I mean, it’s not a huge amount. The money is, like, 20 percent of what it would have been fifteen years ago, so, for starters, all that is way back. Plus, they wanna be selling T-shirts for you, and they wanna be taking a slice… The record companies are taking a slice of everything.
As you can imagine, people speculate they were able to get those contracts for being related to the Iron Maiden singer and online trolls are the first ones to voice their opinions about it but little do they know, Mr. Dickinson is aware of them, as he elaborates:
“Austin was in a band called Rise to Remain, and they got signed to EMI, and then they — as most bands do — they kind of imploded and they started something new. But that was… He had to take the full force of all the haters and all the trolls and all the Blabbermouth idiots and all the rest of it. They were, like, ‘Oh, yeah, well, obviously, he just got the gig ’cause he really can’t sing, and he’s not as good as his dad.’ And all that stuff. Oh, it’s hard, it’s harsh. But he bashed his way through it, and I’m really pleased for him.”
If you ever wondered if famous musicians like Bruce Dickinson or probably Dave Mustaine go to metal news websites to read your troll comments, now you know. In case you’re wondering which bands his sons are. Austin Dickinson is in As Lions, signed with Eleven Seven Records and are recording a new album and his other son Griffin is in Shvpes, who are signed to Spinefarm Records.
[via loudwire.com]
