Kiss frontman criticizes them for letting fans pay as little or as much as they please for their latest album “In Rainbows,” and says every file-sharer should be sued off the face of the earth.
The always outspoken and always hustling Gene Simmons of Kiss had much to say recently about the state of music, illegal file-sharing, and Radiohead’s decision to let fans choose the price of the recently released “In Rainbows.”
There’s no doubt that Simmons comes from the old school music biz where people had to trek down to the local music store and wait in line to buy an overpriced CD each time their favorite music artist made a new album.
You can tell by a recent interview that he hasn’t quite figured out yet that times have changed, that CDs are pretty much finished and that music is slowly becoming a commodity that nobody wants to pay for any longer unless the proceeds go directly to the artist themselves.
“There is nothing in me that wants to go in there and do new music,” he says. ” How are you going to deliver it? How are you going to get paid for it if people can just get it for free?”
He then goes on to criticize college kids, and every “freshly-scrubbed little kid” who illegally shares music files and they both “…should have been sued off the face of the earth.”
The record industry doesn’t have a f*cking clue how to make money. It’s only their fault for letting foxes get into the henhouse and then wondering why there’s no eggs or chickens. Every little college kid, every freshly-scrubbed little kid’s face should have been sued off the face of the earth. They should have taken their houses and cars and nipped it right there in the beginning. Those kids are putting 100,000 to a million people out of work. How can you pick on them? They’ve got freckles. That’s a crook. He may as well be wearing a bandit’s mask.
I’m not sure about the freckles and the freshly-scrubbed faces, but I do know that it’s ironic that he defends an industry that robbed artists and fans alike for decades! Musicians from the earliest days of recorded music through the 1970’s were routinely tricked out of the rights to their music and ended up living lives of poverty while record labels bathed themselves in profits. Also, who is the mystery million people who are supposedly unemployed now? Store clerks at Tower Records don’t count.
The notion of free music, where artists then make money exclusively through touring and sales of merchandise also rubs him the wrong way.
Well therein lies the most stupid mistake anybody can make. The most important part is the music. Without that, why would you care? Even the idea that you’re considering giving the music away for free makes it easier to give it away for free. The only reason why gold is expensive is because we all agree that it is. There’s no real use for it, except we all agree and abide by the idea that gold costs a certain amount per ounce. As soon as you give people the choice to deviate from it, you have chaos and anarchy. And that’s what going on.
But, considering that that’s how most artists make their money anyways is it really such a wild idea? With CD sales in decline, and artists making only $2 bucks per CD, concerts and merchandising are the real bread and butter of their livelihood. If giving their music away for free meant higher turnout and sales for both the wouldn’t be a good thing? Free music could be its best method of advertising. It would show people why you should go seem them play or buy a t-shirt that tells everybody just how good you think they are.
For years fans were also made to pay $20 bucks for a CD that music artists got only $2 bucks for anyways. So who’s the real loser here? Is it artists or record labels? I think its the former, but Simmons seems to think its the latter. The internet has taken distribution power from record labels and finally put in the hands of the artists themselves. They can make music and sell it to anybody in the world for whatever price they choose AND all of the money goes to them. How is that not a good thing?
He criticizes artist like Radiohead and Trent Reznor who are trying to find a new business model where fans dictate price.
That doesn’t count. You can’t pick on one person as an exception. And that’s not a business model that works. I open a store and say “Come on in and pay whatever you want.” Are you on f*cking crack? Do you really believe that’s a business model that works?
I guess nobody told him how well “In Rainbows” did or that record labels were charging almost $30 bucks for a NIN CD in Australia. Fans are more than willing to support an artist directly and I think Radiohead proved that beyond a doubt.
Simmons also says that he feels sorry for artists trying to make a buck these days and to make it big. “But imagine being a new band with dreams of getting on stage and putting out your own record,” he says. “Forget it.” I guess nobody’s told him that the internet gives everybody and anybody their own stage to succeed on. Just ask the Arctic Monkeys for heavens sake.
Looking for more stuff to watch or download?
Democrats: ‘Colleges Must Stop File-Sharers or Lose Federal Aid’
The ‘Pirate Act’ Resurfaces, Would Allow Govt to Sue File-Sharers for Damages
Tips on how to not get busted for file-sharing
3 Quick Ways to Watch Movies for FREE!
3 quick ways to watch TV shows for FREE
BitTorrent torrent sites & search engines
uTorrent – A Beginner’s guide to BitTorrent downloading
News Tip? Comment? Suggestion? jared@zeropaid.com
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Can you sue him off the earth for:tal’
1# Making terrible ‘me
2# Being that stupid
3# Never washing he always has got the same make-up :p
HA! i had no idea he was such a dumbass asshole. does he even pay attention to facts and figures or is he that dead-set in his opinion that he never checked if it was a good one? Sure his comments are like being the biggest troll here on these forums so we are going to react negatively to him but still….
Along with The Doobie Brothers “Black Water ” Most KISS Records were some of the Most Boring Rock Tunes of Alltime !!!! Now Detroit Rock City was an exception It was a Great Rocker. In fact the Whole Album was Good. Gene if You’re reading this I Bought it on Vinyl Tape and CD !!!!!! So don’t have a Cow Take Three ‘Ludes and a Big swig of Whiskey and You will be Normal Again !
@mach
Yah other than that “I want to rock all night” whatever that song’s name is they have squat for good tunes.
The funny thing in all this is that KISS merchandise probably brings in the majority of his wealth. Even just touring he can make an easy $100 million but apparently thats not enough for the rich bastard. Thankfully he is straddling that age of grumpy old fart who is upset with the world and grumpy old fart who is delusional. This is a far cry from a rocker who made it big trying to break the norms of society. Gone from the cool anarchist to the man must feel great.
Well look at him now – most of the money he can make is from CD or merchandise sales so he will do or say whatever will benefit him the most.
He needs his tongue cut off so he will shut the fuck up!
Gene is one of the most greediest people on the face of this planet!
This guy is a total asshole he doesn’t even know what he is talking about. Makes me wanna seed his albums out of spite
People outdated as Gene Simmons should die. Just fucking die already. Why does HE give a shit what Radiohead does with their album? Moron.
Thank God I’m more like Slayer and Type O Negative fan so that I wouldn’t be embarrassed by an artist being this much retarded.
Who in the flying hell does this dead brain fried washed up rocker think he is? Who gives a flying damn what they do with THEIR OWN MUSIC? Sued off the face of the planet? I bet his merchandise and concerts would be fucking empty because he wants to rape all of his fans out of steep cd prices when he barely sees any of it anyways. Who gives a flying shit what this old bastard thinks anyway? KISS hasn’t done shit since forever ago it seems like… Personally I think people like this are a prime example of why the new business Radio Head and Trent Reznor are trying to get going is a big deal. Why? Because only the smart would survive. No more riding on the coat tales of a company fucking you and your fans just so you can get a little extra money. Personally I am not sure what the difference is between selling a cd for 2 dollars a cd.. and selling 12-15 320kbps mp3 files for the same thing is. They would get the SAME AMOUNT of money per cd sold and MORE people would buy it instead of download it illegally. If they had an individual song amount that would be EVEN BETTER. Because I don’t necessarily want a whole album and just want a couple songs. Nothing wrong with that release quality material next time. Although it might not be my taste I am sure QUITE a few people would get the whole cd anyway because there are usually nice gems of songs in the other ones that haven’t been made completely public through radio music videos etc. Guys like Gene Simmons are just ridiculous. Besides that poor bastard is making family tv shows for money… because shit like this. So next time he opens his mouth about people making more money than him.. he should be shot.
…. oh dear ….!
… (the Hard-Ons did a good cover of Rock N Roll All Night by the way) …
And to think…He’s such a pussy that on one of the episodes of his show he got all pissy because ended up getting a Vibrator super glued to his hand. Oh wait I’m sorry Gene…it’s a “Back Massager”
Oh well.. Another ex. artist I will no longer support in any way. Goodbye Gene as you slip into the void of nothingness. You might just have to get a real job now.
Who is this guy? I can’t remember any song by him and what happened to his face? =S
Why we even gave them voice? Just to see how ignorant arrogant and greedy they are? Who didn’t know that already?
I find it really ironic that a guy who paints his face like that is upset with “chaos and anarchy.” Kiss’s music was based upon chaos and anarchy! Gene’s music is good no doubt. That’s not the issue here.
I have this to say to him (and this comes from a fifty-seven year old mind you) : Gene you’re OLD! Not physically–though some may think so–but mentally. It’s over Gene. Change or get out.
Simmons has always been a marketing-man second a musical artist third…and a douche-bag first and foremost. Howard Stern (who is a fan of KISS) even busts Simmons’ balls for being such a greedy corn-holer that bilks his fans for every penny he can squeeze out of them.
gene simmons and kiss are classic. but he is a zionist lewd. he needs to relax and let people like him for his creativity and not his criticisms. big problem with these types…never satisfied until they get what they want which is usually more $immon$. suprising since he is getting up in age. i would hate to leave life as a greedy yet brilliant iconoclast…radiohead they are deep musical creationist and at least they are still around being CREATIVE. i don’t really care what they are doing but i do care how they are doing it. good on them…
Fuck him and his sissy bullshit music he’s the worst bass player in the history of rock. Fucking moronic old junkie should take another sniff or two to let his brain shrink some more. Radiohead are thinking ahead the statistics were wrong about their sales. The big labels brought this bullshit story out in the public when in fact they sold a lot of records via their donating system. I hope that many will follow the example of Radiohead fuck you Gene Simmons!
Hi I’m anti-semitic so my comment has been moderated.
I have to admit I love KISS but i’m gonna have to hand Gene a strapon so he can give it to his record company they’ll know what to do with it since he’s been having it done to him all these years
Can someone ban and remove the racist bigotry of schizobion lowers the quality of the site.
That’s not racist bigotry. He’s talking about Gene Simmons fulfilling a negative stereotype that sadly is based on a small amount of truth. Just because Gene Simmons is Jewish or of Jewish descent doesn’t make him a bad person. But it is certainly not a good thing that he has shown himself to be as greedy as the negative stereotypes would make him out to be. I’ve seen his show a couple of times. He has become more of a business man than a rocker. He owns the rights to the KISS music and he is afraid that he is going to be lifted from his position of top dog not having to do a thing in order to continue profiting off of KISS rather than doing as many artists who have been around since the 70’s and even 60’s are doing now and make music like a musical artist does.
So now I will do with KISS as I have done with my childhood favorite band metallica. Not that I was ever a huge KISS fan but there are a handful of their songs that I like very much. I am now going to shun them and not even give them the publicity of sharing their music. Gene Simmons and Lars Ulrich just don’t understand how distributing music for free over the WORLD WIDE WEB (Yes that means world wide publicity all at once) can help them as a band more than hurt them. As a child I owned enough me tallica T-Shirts to wear a different one every day of the week (BTW now I own enough Zeropaid T-Shirts to wear a different one every day of the week). I totally would’ve even bought a genuine me tallica cock-ring if I was older and it didn’t mean putting a hole in the most sacred areas of my body (WTF BTW). I love going to concerts and will pay the $40 to $150 that it usually costs for a popular band to play near driving distance of me in Anchorage. My problem is that there aren’t many bands who come to the frozen north and when they do they rarely return.
So to Radiohead and Trent Reznor I salute you. To Gene Simmons and metallica go suck a fuck. I’ll do as you want and not share or even download your music but I’ll not spend a cent on musical media or merchandise either. You are dead to me and there are plenty of more talented bands than you worthy of my financial support.
Actually it is racist because he is attributing a negative quality to a race/religious group that is racism in its purest form. Just read the definition The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others if his comment is not racist tell me what is?
@MR
Moderated
This shouldn’t suprise anyone to say one thing before they make and say a different thing once they make it. I though Kiss was in it for the music and not the money. Oh well that one fantasy now is Santa going to come by this year.
The only good side of Kiss is their music I do enjoy their music and the CD is Destroyer that Detroit rock city is from.
I think you Gene Simmons shouldn’t listen to these dumb record company and do what is really right do a cd for the music and not for money. The money would come from having fans paying for stuff that can’t be converted to digital like live gigs shurts etc.
Gene Simmons if everyone didn’t use p2p or copied it then less fans would heard the music and less fans would go to their gigs or buy their items. Most of the music I have are good but I wouldn’t pay to listen to it. If I had to pay for it then I wouldn’t listen to it. The most important part this is the music not the money.
The only fans that would be hurt by Kiss and other singer/group not making another cd doesn’t hurt the free market but the pay market. There are some poeple out there willing to pay up to $20 for about $1 worth of matural.
How funny. Kiss was the original production band put together by marketing execs for a tv show! If it weren’t for that not a single member of Kiss would have even been in the music biz at all. They would have sold insurance or worked at circle K instead.
That’s why he still wears 30 year old makeup. No wonder he’s scared. Without a label Simmons may have to find do something. I bet he was even paid to sign the letter.
Both NIN and Radiohead would be making music no matter what.