Drummer Tommy Lee Says "No One Buys [Complete Albums] Anymore"

Oh, I think you're being pretty quick to judge.

I find a lot of new music to like. Just not many whole albums of it. I've been disappointed too many times this decade. too many albums I wanted to like, but they just didn't cut it. Decemberists, Josh Rouse, Beck, Saint Etienne, Air, to name a few -- they make some appealing stuff, but not appealing albums, IMO. Apart from a few I can count on one hand, I don't know who does.

But one does not "mature" out of the Beatles. That's crazy talk.

 

With album sales tanking, I like Trent Reznor's approach for the up and coming musician. The smart artist adapts to the climate they're in. I'm sure many of you have read it already, but it's a good read if you haven't.

http://forum.nin.com/bb/read.php?30,767183,767183

The successful independent artists I know all have something on bandcamp (http://www.bandcamp.com) or a similar service. Many might not be household names, but they are doing better financially than a lot of household names on major labels.

I also think young people get a bad rap about the whole "not buying" music thing. Truthfully, the problem is with every generation today. From teens to the elderly. Sure, a lot of young people download stuff, but take a look at the charts, aka the stuff that is selling. It's still dominated by music that skews towards a younger demographic. This isn't an issue of taste. There is no accounting for that. I'm simply talking about the small number that is still actually buying music. Whether one thinks Justin Beiber, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lil Wayne, Drake etc are manufactured junk that sucks is irrelevant. The fact is that they are selling, and it's young people moving those numbers. So while many kids download stuff, the stuff that is selling, as small as it is compared to sales years ago; it's still younger people who are buying it. The people who aren't buying anything are older people. Both tangible music and live music. I remember tagging along to a Rolling Stones concert with a photographer friend a few years ago, and what struck me was the amount of young people in attendance. Here we have an "old band", but most of the crowd looked like they were under 40. A big chunk of them looked no older than 30. They obviously didn't grow up with the Stones, yet they were there. The oldest people in attendance were probably the Rolling Stones themselves. So where were all the older people? As dismal as music sales are now, I don't think the blame can fall squarely on young folks. Quite frankly, they are the ones going to concerts and buying music as is. Comparatively speaking of course. This isn't blind guessing on my part. For many years I covered concerts and live events. No matter what generation the artist was from, one constant was that older people rarely made the majority of any crowd. The kind of person who waits for hours for a show is the kind of person who still buys music.

 

Well, old people NEVER buy music. I mean, sure, the people here on this forum are all hobbyists, we buy music. But my parents and my inlaws combined have bought probably four albums in thirty years total. In fact, old people don't buy much of anything, compared to the consumer goldmine that is young people. That's why they're the favored advertising target.

 

Phones double as music players. Why just have just an iPod when you can have everything in one little device?

Trust me, they do dance and get into it.

Not true! How many clubs do you really go to? I've been to a few in the last couple of years.

 

Not true! Not that many people buy it anymore, but they DO buy music they like! I know of quite a few older people who even illegally download music. That stereotype of old people being totally ignorant of computers and other technology is changing. If anything, the young people are increasingly more ignorant of computers and technology. They grew up in that world, so it's becoming too commonplace for many of them to care. Teenagers rebel. It makes sense that some of them are beginning to shun some forms of technology.

 

Tommy Lee is sort of right... No one is buying full 'new' albums anymore. When is the last time anyone heard a full album of new music that was any good, anyhow?

Archival product... way different story. I can't imagine buying it any other way.

 

A few weeks ago?

 

A few days ago!

 

Today.

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Every Tuesday on release day?

 

This quote should be the forum motto.