ION INDIE MAGAZINE November 2016, Volume 30 | Page 12
ION: BACK IN THE DAY, IT WAS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR AN UP AND
COMING LOCAL BAND TO BE SEEN AND HEARD MORE OR LESS
OUTSIDE OF THE PERIMETERS OF THE CITY THEY WERE FROM. NOW
TODAY, WITH THE ABILITY TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA, REVERBNATION,
iTUNES, ect, TO REACH THE WORLD, HOW DOES THIS BENEFIT AN
UNSIGNED BAND? AND HOW MUCH DOES IT HELP YOUR RECORD
SALES?
Jason: Well, it's good and bad! It's nice that people can hear our music
anywhere at any time. And it helps build your fan base for sure. Downside of
this is how people can also hear everything for free now. Most people don't
understand how bad it hurts us as artists when they just stream our songs. It still
blows my mind how so many people think that just because you're signed to a
label, you must be rich. LOL. They don't know that most bands out there today
are broke. They don't think about the thousands of dollars we spent making and
recording the music and the thousands spent for us to tour for them to come to
our live shows. Streaming has killed the music business to the point that if you
don't have money, or a big backing entity, you have little to no chance of making
it.
ION: THERE ARE MANY WHO CLAIM THAT THE "LIVE" MUSIC
EXPERIENCE IS DYING AND ONLINE MUSIC, VIDEOS AND CONCERT
STREAMS HAVE SLOWLY STARTED TO REPLACE IT…YOUR
THOUGHTS?
Neil: My goodness, that is not the case at all. That has only opened the door to
people that may not have come to a show before--or even had an opportunity to
hear our music--to have chance to do so. Many of those people we talk to after
our shows tell us their friends came to the last show and were posting videos of
the songs. They had to come to the next show we had near them. If anything, I
feel like our fan base and live shows have grown due to this technology. I know
some of my favorite bands today, I wouldn’t have heard of if not for people
sharing the videos or clips from live shows. I have since seen most all of those
bands. I'd say it is a tool that we need not take for granted. Live music is
denitely not "dying". Everything is about how hard you work with the tools you
are given.