these people have the talent to put out mind blowingly awesome indie music almost at will - probably have it coursing through their minds all day long. Why do they deprive us of these gifts for five years at a time? They have to get some sense of reward for their work, are they just lazy?
Date: December 3rd, 2024 4:31 PM Author: Dashing navy national
Probably takes 1 year to make the next album, 2 years for a full world tour, another 1 year for various solo projects, films, collaborations, etc, and 1 year to rest up and answer all the fan mail. That's 5 years right there.
They all have jobs on the side they never talk about. Michael Romeo & Michael LePond of Symphony X (a still active band that has released three albums in the last 20+ years) run a chain of fast casual restaurants named "X's" in Princeton and West Windsor Township.
Date: December 3rd, 2024 4:55 PM Author: bistre bateful resort
Cr one of the guys from Alt J owns a coffee shop or something. Dat ADDITIONAL REVENUE. It's the same as pro athletes and actors who are slinging real estate on the side. Iirc Ving Rhames was the highest selling real estate agent in Los Angeles for many years. "Art" as a job is inconsistent for most people unless you are a turbo celebrity but I doubt "Beach House" made more than a few hundred grand at their peak but it opened up a ton of side opportunities.
The job is mostly touring and the overwhelming majority of fans prefer that you play familiar songs rather than new ideas that you're working out. They play like 100+ shows/year after putting out an album. That is a lot of work when you consider planning, rehearsals, travel, sound checks, and doing press. Also if you want to make money sitting at home you need a megahit that will be in movies and commercials, be streamed billions of times. You will make approximately no extra money having 10 albums in your catalog rather than 5.
I prefer when artists put out a ton of work, write on the road and test new songs, etc., but it's still a hit-driven business and people respond to the prevailing model and what the median moronic fan wants. For example see all the 90s/2000s bands who reunite and tour on playing old albums start to finish, maybe encore with a cover, an OK song from a side project, or an unreleased track that should have remained unreleased. It is hard to write great new songs and the incentives are to not bother if you've already got something the audience likes.
Date: September 18th, 2026 9:23 AM Author: big-titted institution boltzmann
music is dead. not sure why anyone bothers making records anymore. there's a mountain of great stuff already out there and there's an unfathomable amount of AI slop on the way.