There’s No Music Business Anymore

We all know there’s hardly any money in streaming services and selling records these days. So much so that one artist even called for the unionization of musicians against streaming services so everyone could maybe ease off the constant, never-ending cycle of touring.

And while Exodus bassist Jack Gibson isn’t directly addressing those comments, he’s certainly on the same page. In an interview with Danielle Bloom, Gibson said the industry has changed enough to the point where he’s not sure to how to properly give advice to young musicians anymore.

“I don’t know what to tell young musicians today because I am jaded. And it isn’t that I’m just jaded, it’s that there’s no music business anymore.

“When I was young, there was a path, there were steps to take. You got your band together, you put your music together, you started looking for shows, and if you could draw people to your shows, then the next step was that label people would be interested. Then you had to get your promotional pack together to give to the labels that were interested. And then you tried to get signed and then you tried to make records and sell records.

“And those steps don’t exist at all anymore. Now the step is make a band — or not even make a band. Let’s just go viral. I don’t know to do that. Don’t ask me how to fucking do that. I’m in my fifties. I don’t know how to do that shit. It’s totally a mystery to me. I don’t know how things get popular now, other than just total luck. So I don’t know.

“Here in Nashville [where I live now], young musicians, they ask me that all the time. And I kind of feel like a dick when I’m answering, because I’m, like, ‘Guys, I don’t know.’ I don’t know what makes things tick. The bands that are real popular, I don’t know why those bands are popular. And I’m not saying that they’re not good; I just don’t know why those ones are the ones that stand out from the other ones right now. It all kind of sounds the same to me. I guess it’s probably because I’m just old. But I don’t know what direction to give anybody.”

Gibson then addressed the hard truth that there really isn’t money in selling records anymore. Or as he puts it, “I’m a t-shirt salesman. I’m not a musician.” Which is really hard to read coming from a guy who’s in a band as successful as Exodus – if there’s no hope for a guy like Gibson, the rest of us might be well screwed.

“There’s no business. Once they started giving the music away, there’s no business. We don’t sell shit for records. If we don’t go out and sell t-shirts, we don’t make money. I’m a t-shirt salesman. I’m not a musician. I’m literally a traveling tchotchke seller. That’s what we do. We play music to try to get people to the store and sell them our fuckin’ stuff with stuff printed on it. That’s the business. If you can’t fill up a room, 50,000 units moved on the Internet, then they don’t wanna talk to you. And any day now, we’re all gonna lose our jobs to these fuckin’ robots. Once the A.I. figures out how to actually make music that people enjoy, they’re not gonna pay us to do shit.””

Exodus will hit the road across North America for their t-shirt sellin’ tour with support from Havok, Candy, and Dead Heat. The tour kicks off on November 2 in Tampa, FL, and will thrash across North America, ultimately concluding on December 7 in Los Angeles, CA. Tickets are available here.

11/2 Tampa, FL The Orpheum
11/4 Orlando, FL House of Blues
11/5 Pensacola, FL Vinyl Music Hall
11/6 Atlanta, GA Heaven Masquerade
11/8 Dallas, TX Granada
11/9 Austin, TX Empire
11/11 Denver, CO Ogden
11/13 Des Moines, IA Wooly’s
11/14 Joliet, IL The Forge
11/15 Columbus, OH King of Clubs
11/16 Baltimore, MD Soundstage
11/17 Bethlehem, PA Wind Creek Event Center
11/18 Montreal, QC Beanfield Theatre
11/19 Toronto, ON Phoenix Concert Theatre
11/21 Worcester, MA Palladium Upstairs
11/22 Brooklyn, NY Warsaw
11/23 Pittsburgh, PA Preserving
11 Detroit, MI Majestic Theatre
11/26 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater
11/27 Winnipeg, MB Exchange Event Centre
11/29 Calgary, AB Palace Theatre
11/30 Edmonton, AB Union Hall
12/2 Vancouver, BC Rickshaw Theatre
12/3 Seattle, WA El Corazon
12/4 Portland, OR Hawthorne
12/6 Berkeley, CA UC Theatre
12/7 Los Angeles, CA The Regent